Bad experience at the ER

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hello Everyone!!! I have a question to ask about something that happened to me about 2 years ago, that has always bothered me. I have a history of chronic pancreatitas cause I have pancreatic divisum and one night I was having severe pain and was vomiting badly. Well this pain and vomiting went on for about 6 hours before I decided to visit the ER. Also at this time I was also recovering from a MVA where the car rolled down the hill, so I was taking a strong pain killer at this time, but I had not taken it this one night cause I was so sick and couldnt keep anything down. Well when I arrived to the ER, of course I told the triage what I was taking. Well the doctor came in and assessed me, and gave me phenergan by IV, and she offered a narcotic by IV, but I told her I really didnt want it cause the feelings IV narcotics causes me is horrible, so she gave me Toradol. Also I should mention that I had to wait 4 hours to be seen by a doctor, so this is 10 hours of nonstop vomiting. Well after she gave me the meds, I was STILL vomiting so she gave me Zofran, which to my surprised didnt work, caused it was a mircal drug when I was pregnant. Well after my blood tests came back saying I wasnt having a pancreas issue, she told me she would "absoutly not refill my narcotics, and I dont need to lie about pain". Well at first of course I was too sick to argue, and went home and vomited another couple of hours before it finally stopped. Well since that happened, it has bothered me so much, cause I NEVER mentioned anything about needing refills, cause if I needed one, I would have gotten one from my pain specialist. So I am so confused on why she said this to me and then proceeded to throw me out of the ER in the same condition I came in, because til this day, I never figured out what happened. And also I am now off of the pain meds cause I feel like my pain has been treated by physical therapy, and acupuncture, so I am and never was a drug addict or drug seeking. But why in the world would this doctor say that to me, and unless I had an out of body experience, I know I never asked for meds or refills to take home.

Anyways, after my long Rant, what is your guys beleif on what happened, I need answers cause this has been bugging me for so long, and this is coming from someone who would love to work at a ER, so I know it seems silly, I guess I am just a very sensitive person lol. Thanks for listening.

-SillyPinkbunny

while i agree with your sentiment, it has no relevance to the post you quoted, nor the OP

Morte, you are right..... my statement has little to do with the OP. My understanding of the post that I quoted is that the poster felt that not all doctors understand chronic pain, including ED docs. I was merely pointing out that the ED should not be taking care of chronic pain issues.

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I do feel you were treated coldly. But you know what, it is time to leave it go. What can you really accomplish by rehashing this two years later? It drags you down. I can probably list 10 times in the past where I was treated in less than sterling manner by health care providers. However, I prefer not to think about it, better to step into the future. Now you got it off your chest, let it fly away.

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Morte, you are right..... my statement has little to do with the OP. My understanding of the post that I quoted is that the poster felt that not all doctors understand chronic pain, including ED docs. I was merely pointing out that the ED should not be taking care of chronic pain issues.

actually, what retired lady was speaking of was chronic pancreatitis no chronic pain......

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actually, what retired lady was speaking of was chronic pancreatitis no chronic pain......

noted

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.
A lot of doctors don't understand chronic pancreatitis. When you have this, your enyzmes will not go up always, your pancreas is not working correctly. Pancreatitis has the worst pain that there is. After a while, the ER doctors will just have that look on their faces that says drug seeker. Especially, when the patient knows what works and what doesn't, because haven't they been through this before. Not all patients are unintelligent. That's my rant. I just feel that they don't always get the care that they deserve, because the doctors don't deal with it very much.

Retired lady - I have to agree with you there. Some docs just don't really understand chronic pancreatitis, at least that is the feeling I have had. I started having trouble with mine at age 19, while I was in nursing school, and I was so miserable I thought I would die. Thank God for the physician that I started seeing at that time. He was very caring and was very compassionate in his care. I suffered with pancreatitis exacerbations for so long, or at least it seemed. He finally removed my GB, and we still weren't sure if that would help or not. Thankfully, it did, and that was in 1992. Since then, I've only had one acute exacerbation - that pain is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. It's been so long now since he started treating me, and I still thank him for being so good to me and the great care he gave me.

Anne, RNC

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, ICU/CCU/NICU, EMS, Transport.
If you had to wait 4 hours to get seen then it means the staff in the ER were very busy that day.

Not necessarily. I see patients wait for even longer than four hours sometimes due to reasons other than being "busy".

Seekers are notorious for refusing iv narcs so they can get their po narc rx filled. When you refused the iv meds and your labs came back normal you fit the profile of a seeker.

I disagree. And my experiences I have seen just as many drug seekers requesting the IV push meds to get to more rapid high. I don't think your statement about drug seekers refusing IV medications is entirely accurate. I would hesitate to label somebody a drug seeker just based on that observation alone.

The Doc answered a question that they get asked a million times by seekers before you could ask it. It was a pre-emptive answer. The attitude from the doc was because seekers are a drain on ER resources and they delay care for other patients.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, ICU/CCU/NICU, EMS, Transport.
A lot of doctors don't understand chronic pancreatitis. When you have this, your enyzmes will not go up always, your pancreas is not working correctly.

... However, just because the enzymes to elevate, does not mean that it is acute pancreatitis either. Many people with chronic pancreatitis have elevated enzymes all the time. So it is important to note that really the enzymes are just one piece of the entire puzzle. You have to put the whole clinical picture together to make a diagnostic statement about the acuteness or chronicity of the problem at hand

Pancreatitis has the worst pain that there is.

... HMMMMM, I would be interested to know if this indeed is a scientific truth. I mean, other than subjective pain reporting scales, how can we begin to possibly quantify pancreatitis as the "worst" pain there is?

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, ICU/CCU/NICU, EMS, Transport.
gee, i thought most of the seekers would be thrilled with the iv, a quick high, and THEN get the script filled.....

.. my point exactly!

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Specializes in none yet.

Thank you for the replies

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Specializes in none yet.

LOL, I just wrote this huge reply, and it disappeared..GRRR...Anyways, thank you so much for the replies. Since I have "chronic" pancreatitas, does that mean when I get in severe pain and start vomiting, I shouldnt go to the ER ever?? Usually I would call my doctor, but it seems like these things always happen at night, and usually I am treated with IV antibiotics, but I never thought that I shouldnt go the ER, no matter how much I'm suffering with fever and vomiting up bile and one of the worst pains I've ever felt, I shouldnt go cause this is a chronic problem?? Just very confusing. Now I can understand if I went to the ER everytime my back acts up with severe pain, now that would be a silly problem to go, but I just take some tylenol and take it easy, but I would never go to the ER for that. But I always thought of my chronic pain and chronic pancreatitas was in two diffrent catigories, where one is an emergency sometimes, and the other is never an emergency. But maybe I'm wrong, please tell me if I am. And as of right now, I am taking enzymes for my pancreas, so its not like it's not being treated by my pcp, I am doing everything in my power to stop the pain and nausea, and on a strict diet my doctor told me to follow. Well sorry for talking on and on, I could go on forever if you'd let me. thank you again.

-SPB

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

SPB, if this is a common occurrence, you might ask your GI doc or pain specialist for some PRN meds that would help you get through your pain/vomiting episodes.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

We're sorry you've had to endure much pain and illness with this.

The members of allnurses.com cannot advise you in the way you require as to when or when not to go to the ED when you are vomiting. Please, if you are not receiving the care you expect, and you should expect top-notch care by a healthcare provider, please seek out another opinion.

Discuss your concerns with your provider. Get a game plan in mind when these attacks occur and that way, you will not be hesitant if and when the time comes to do something.

We wish you good health...

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