Demerol, YUCK!

nursejanedough · Mar 6, 2001

Amen, mustangsheba. Sadly, the South, I think is still far behind on certain medical issues.

nursejanedough · Mar 6, 2001

Amen, mustangsheba. Sadly, the South, I think is still far behind on certain medical issues.

opie · Mar 6, 2001

Nursejanedough, do you now have some disease that makes us afraid to treat you? It's great to read about other nurses that recognize that it is almost impossible to objectively judge someone else's pain. As far as the addicts go that come into clinics, er's, etc. I am glad some of you nurses give them something for "pain". Then I don't have to worry about them robbing me or my children or burglarizing my home so they can steal money to buy some illict drugs off the street.

opie · Mar 6, 2001

Nursejanedough, do you now have some disease that makes us afraid to treat you? It's great to read about other nurses that recognize that it is almost impossible to objectively judge someone else's pain. As far as the addicts go that come into clinics, er's, etc. I am glad some of you nurses give them something for "pain". Then I don't have to worry about them robbing me or my children or burglarizing my home so they can steal money to buy some illict drugs off the street.

nursejanedough · Mar 6, 2001

opie, you are right. Better to give a potential drug seeker his "fix" in the ER, than to let him go and do "God knows what, stealing, or getting harder illegal drugs". I don't have all the answers. At this point, I am still against legalizing drugs, I have seen too much heartache out there.

nursejanedough · Mar 6, 2001

opie, you are right. Better to give a potential drug seeker his "fix" in the ER, than to let him go and do "God knows what, stealing, or getting harder illegal drugs". I don't have all the answers. At this point, I am still against legalizing drugs, I have seen too much heartache out there.

minurse · Mar 7, 2001

There is an article in a recent AJN that describes all the awfull effects of demerol.(very informative). We rarely ever use it on our intermediate ICU.

minurse · Mar 7, 2001

There is an article in a recent AJN that describes all the awfull effects of demerol.(very informative). We rarely ever use it on our intermediate ICU.

Born 2 B In OB · Mar 7, 2001

Another thought on pain management...

Think about infants that have surgical procedures done without the use of pain meds (i.e. circumcision, etc.). This is a perfect example of experiencing pain but not remembering it; however, we do know that infants respond to pain through crying, increased heart rates, respiratory rates, etc. With that said, what psychological effects does this type of pain cause? I'm not sure that anyone knows the answer to that question; therefore, we really should hesitate before saying that having pain but not remembering it is suffient for pain relief.

Just a thought from someone without a medical background!

[This message has been edited by Born 2 B In OB (edited March 06, 2001).]

Born 2 B In OB · Mar 7, 2001

Another thought on pain management...

Think about infants that have surgical procedures done without the use of pain meds (i.e. circumcision, etc.). This is a perfect example of experiencing pain but not remembering it; however, we do know that infants respond to pain through crying, increased heart rates, respiratory rates, etc. With that said, what psychological effects does this type of pain cause? I'm not sure that anyone knows the answer to that question; therefore, we really should hesitate before saying that having pain but not remembering it is suffient for pain relief.

Just a thought from someone without a medical background!

[This message has been edited by Born 2 B In OB (edited March 06, 2001).]

bigjay · Mar 7, 2001

In my experience and in the literature, demerol is a crappy pain control drug. Lots of side effects, poor pain control and only IV or IM routes have any effectiveness at all.

On pain control all the literature agrees that patient report is the gold standard. Period. Pain is subjective. There is absolutely no objective test that can determine pain with any reliability at all. So when someone tells you they're hurting, whether they're laughing or crying, smiling or grimacing, they're having pain. Different people express pain differently.

Just my two cents.

Cheers,

J-P

bigjay · Mar 7, 2001

In my experience and in the literature, demerol is a crappy pain control drug. Lots of side effects, poor pain control and only IV or IM routes have any effectiveness at all.

On pain control all the literature agrees that patient report is the gold standard. Period. Pain is subjective. There is absolutely no objective test that can determine pain with any reliability at all. So when someone tells you they're hurting, whether they're laughing or crying, smiling or grimacing, they're having pain. Different people express pain differently.

Just my two cents.

Cheers,

J-P