Drug Seeker Stories

Well I had one of those lovely drug seekers the other night. Patient said she had a kidney and was peeing prue blood. Well, I had her get a CC urine. When I went back to get her urine, I noticed her finger was bleeding and some blood spots on the sheet. And her urine was a weird pink color. So I told the doc and he had me cath her....her urine was completely clear. Of course, she tried to make up a story about how sometimes she pees blood but sometimes pees clear too. Whatever...sent her out the door...

Also had someone come in 3 times in one week who used a new name everytime. Turns out he was going to ER after ER in my city using differents names for drugs...sent him out the door and to jail.

Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.
one of the er docs said we can't give this to patients who are allergic to asa. so, is there asa in it

no, there is no asa in toradol. but, like any other nsaid, people with a true allergy to asa can have a cross-reaction to toradol.

Maybe I am way out of order here, I am what you so ignorantly refer as a "migraine". I have been seen by neuro's, and a specialist in Illinois. My diagnosis? A small blood clot in the brain which may or not cause severe headaches. I have secure headaches now and then, so bad I feel life putting an icepack thru my brain. I seek help, usually thru the ER. The very second the words "Severe migraine" the eyes roll and the sigh begins" Note I never go to the ER, or not never but I have never been to tis hospital since the ae of 20 (many many 10's of years.) My neck with stiff and the doctor was so convinced I was drug seeking even though I was 100% honest about the meds I take and what works, no beating around the bush. He give me my med and let me go in 5 minutes, he never checked my neck even tho I told him all about it and he allowed me to go without even seeing if I was OK. The nurses were pretty good, I did complain about this doc and I am not done with him yet!! Would you consider me a seeker?

Please excuse my spelling I am really mad thinking about it and when I am mad I type too fast making may errors and I have to leave so no time for Spell check

Specializes in Hospice, ONC, Tele, Med Surg, Endo/Output.

I recently took care of a man whose wife and he had put items in his rectum and member. He had to have an I & D and had an open wound at the base of his member and at his rectum. He refused me to do his dressing changes and insisted on doing them himself by grabbing the drsgs out of my hand with his bare hands and slapping them onto his wounds. He was in isolation. Here's the drug seeking part: He was on norco atc, dilaudid q 4 prn, ativan q 4 prn, valium prn. He pressed his call light every few minutes begging for all of the meds at once. He kept me so busy just answering his light that i could barely see my other patients. Then he came out of the room naked and proceeded to complain to management that i would not give him any meds, even though he already had norco twice, dilaudid twice, ativan twice, and valium once. This jerk got me fired from my travel assignment because even drug-seeking bums have all the power and nurses have no rights, especially if you are a traveler. I wasn't even given a chance to give my side of the story and the manager could see that the meds were given as requested but not all at the same time. I dislike being a nurse mainly because of patients like this--they do not care that the nurse is a professional and has bills to pay just like every one else. They love to get nurses in trouble. Even though he is an uneducated, useless bum he was smart enough to figure out that management is only interested in the bottom line, kissing the patient's butts, and does not care about the nursing staff. I am so depressed i can't stand it, i lose sleep as i wait to start the new job i just got--thank God it is a hospice job where i won't be trapped in a large hospital with pigs begging to get high all day and night. However, my lights, cable, cell phone, water bills, etc... are about to be shut off due to this man's actions, and i will have to wait another 3 weeks for a paychecks. Due to this @#$%^& patient's lies i could not even collect unemployment in the interim to keep my head above water. I hate drug -seeking patients and their stupid family members. You can work yourself nearly to death, be professional, pleasant, compassionate, and all that other garbage and nonsense and they appreciate nothing. I've told my teenage daughter to avoid the medical profession because sick people and their families are cruel, selfish, and are complete babies who set out to destroy anyone who won't give them what they want.

How about "I'm allergic to 2mg of dilaudid. But I can take 4mg okay."

So, even though I'm currently a CNA at a pain management office, I do get my fair share of "drug seeker" interaction! For example, yesterday, I had a new patient. Now, on new patients my job is to log into the Kentucky Kasper System and put in the pt infor to get the current report, then do their vitals and set them up for their U/A, then they're off to the nurse then doc. Anyway, I had this guy, he was only 25, when I pulled the Kasper, it was insane. Now, on the intake forms, the guy had said he hadn't been seen by and doc in 2 months and that the last time he had any meds, he was prescribed Lortabs. Sure, that sounded pretty good, until the report was ready to be viewed... Turns out, a week prior to coming to our office, he had been to a doc and gotten 100 Oxycodone 30 mg and 30 Oxycodone 15 mg. Now, not only was he about 3 weeks too early for any meds from anyone, but he's also out of the bounds of what we prescribe (Percocet 10/650 QID max). I showed it to by supervisor, whom was getting ready to go to a meeting with the office manager, "He's SOL get him outta here!" Sure thing. So, I call him back, Kasper report in hand, tell him, "I'm sorry that you've sat for x hours, but, it turns out that we won't be able to take you on as a pt." Of course, the reason is questioned, so I decided to be frank with him, "Sir, it looks like you saw Dr. Z on the 7th and recieved a month's worth of meds." He denied this, "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He wanted to argue it, but I just said three little letters: DEA. He got up and left...

Oh, and today, another new patient, another Kasper report. This time, it's a female. Pt has been pretty adamant that she needs to be seen "NOW!!!" The poor receptionist kept telling her that it wouldn't be much longer, yadayada. Anyway, get her report, and she's been on Suboxone since December of 09. Now, I personally have nothing against this med, if you need it and it works then great, but my personal feelings aren't the procedure of the office. So, off to the supervisor's office. Yep, you guessed it, SOL and outta here. So, call her back, apologize that she's sat for x hours, and she denies the suboxone use. I asked her, "If you don't mind, why where you taking it?" She cops to the rehab, "Well, Mrs. Y, if you've been going through a rehab program since December and you've made it almost 10 full months, why break back over?" She was speachless, and she left.

Thing is, we deal with this pretty much everyday :( I hate to say that I've kinda gotten used to it. I don't know, maybe this experience could come in handy in an ED, maybe not! But, I can say that I have a lot of respect for those nurses that do work in ED. ;)

We have an interesting and effective way of dealing with these drug seeking, experienced consumers of healthcare services ( love that phrase!)

After we determine they DON'T have pathology...and treat them with the NSAID dijour, we look at their face sheet and if they (invariably) live more than ten miles away from our ED, we put their address into mapquest, print up a map, and put little red dots on the map to indicate the approximate location of all of the hospitals they passed on the way to our ED....

This, all done with the highest degree of compassion( with a straight face) and, with the hope that their future care is not delayed due to their being unaware of the resources available to them closer to their home.

I can see what you are saying acutecarenp; however, I would like to add an exception to this. I rarely go the ED myself. However, when the rare instance comes up (and hasn't in nearly 4 years), I go to the hospital which I feel is the best. My PCP and other doctors are in the same system. They have records immediately available to them from every doctor's visit I have within the last several years. If I have to go on that rare instance, it's nice to know that all my records are available to the ED docs. Easy for me, and them. On the way to that hospital, we pass two other hospitals where we could stop, but then I'm left explaining everything to them. Anyway, I certainly don't want to be a wet blanket, but there are reasons to pass up other hospitals. I do hope you understand what I'm saying. BTW, I didn't notice the date on your response. This is a thread from 6 years ago and I'm not sure you are here.:)

enchantmentdis - I am so sorry that this happened to you. ((hug)) Obviously you did not deserve to be treated this way by management, nevermind that patient who had self-inflicted injuries and was demanding all his drugs at once. I got mad just reading your post. Although I am happy that you were able to get a new job, it really stinks to be in a position that you have bills to pay and no way to pay them and you are getting cut off. Oh, hon,I wish I could do something for you... I just got so angry that a hard working nurse got fired due to his insatiable appetite for drugs. Hang in there, hon. ((hug))

Kellie626 - Patient - "I'm allergic to 2mg of Dilaudid, but I can take 4mg Dilaudid." This made me laugh so hard! What are some people thinking?! Maybe a few points for creativity, but, still... one of the stupidest things I've heard in a long time. Just when you think you've heard it all... Thanks for posting that, I, for one, got a good laugh out of it.

Miss Julie - Now those are the sort of unbelievable stories that have entertainment value. It's really amazing what drug seeking people will try to do in order to get more and more and more drugs. They just don't realize that CII drugs are so highly controlled and watched via systems by the state. They may think they are clever and fooling the system, but what a rude awakening they get when caught! Bless your heart for putting up with their tactics. It's too bad that people in true pain have to get behind these yahoos...

Can I leave you all with my one story of someone not getting their drugs in the ED? It ends with true appreciation for our ED nurse who helped us. The early morning of our planned vacation, DH sat straight up in bed and told me he had CP and felt that he needed his BP taken NOW. Since he was undergoing EXTREME stress with his job, this was one of my fears, that the way he was going he was going to end up with an MI or CVA. Since I didn't have a cuff with me, I took him to a 24 hr pharmacy and discovered that his BP was elevated. Even though I suspected that this was stress, no way was I going to mess around with this. We scooped up our sleeping daughter and went to the hospital. Pretty soon they had him on monitor. And then, the most wonderful, most appreciated thing happened. His nurse came into the room, explained in detail what was going on, what could happen next, and did an excellent job calming our fears. Keep in mind that she had worked 7p-7a. She could have taken that time to finish up her charting and getting ready to give report (oh, I forgot to mention that this was about 6:20am), and just getting herself ready to go home; however, she took quite a few minutes to take time to explain to our family what the labs showed so far, what we could expect, etc., and as stated above, spent a bit of time with us, in an honest way, to calm our fears. This was just sooooo appreciated.

I didn't say that right before she came in, there was a huge disturbance next door. As the walls were a little thin and the voices violent and loud, I overheard everything. A man and a woman got violent because they felt that the nurses were doing nothing for whoever was the patient, and began yelling because he wasn't getting narcs IV ("The one that starts with a "D"!!! You people don't listen and don't care, and you aren't even giving me something for home" - that was the gist of the convo). They were freely shouting all the swear words in the book and physically fighting whoever was in there. Now, I work in L&D on staff at a local hospital, so I've heard my share of words, but my 3 y.o. was so scared. She got in the corner with tears in her eyes, and started sucking her thumb heavily. I wanted to take her out soooo badly, but in order to do so, I would have had to pass the commotion (which had gone out into the hall at this point) to get to the WR. Also, the nurse who had spent so much time with us, could have had to take time away from us to tend this this person, but she felt it more important to spend time with us....

I can not begin to tell you all how much we appreciated this. So much so that when we came back from our short vacation (hubby was just fine and the ED doc insisted that he go on vacation [he was thinking of canceling]), I called and asked to speak to the ED manager about how this nurse had gone way above and beyond, and how much we appreciated her. I only got her first name, and "BSN" from her scrub top, but I'm sure they can look at the records to see who we were talking about. I even wrote her a little thank you note, but I'm not 100% sure she got it. I hope that she did.

I know that this is quite long, but I just wanted to say "thank you" to all the ED nurses who spend time which they don't have because they are concerned about their patients well-being. I can not adequately convey how much this is appreciated. I just want to say "thank you." I know that this post is so long, but wanted to convey to those who may be discouraged, there are more patients who appreciate you who may not voice their appreciation. I admire you all!

Again, "THANK YOU" sometimes just doesn't cover it. :yeah::flwrhrts::tku: :hug: :kiss

Specializes in Emergency Dept, ICU.

I was very lucky when I went to the ER a few months ago with chest pain. I could have easily been labeled a drug seeker. I am only 28 but was having symptoms of a heart attack. I had chest pain worse when I layed flat. It radiated to my neck and left arm. I was also Hypertensive. I needed something to get rid of the pain and find out what was wrong.

I had no medical history, was an ER nurse myself, and went to another ER b/c I was ashamed of coming in with severe chest pain and going home with a likely diagnosis of Costochondritis. I knew how quickly a normal EKG in a young chest pain patient would cause some nurses and doctors to immediately think i was psych or drug seeking.

Luckily after everything came back normal my doctor sent me to CT for a chest with contrast. Found a medium sized pocket of fluid on my heart. Diagnosed with pericarditis and percardial effusion. Cardiologist helped me get rid of such. Interestingly enough though I got nothing for pain while I was there....

mmutk - I really don't think that it's stupid, or should be embarrassing for someone of any age to go to the ED for chest pain. You did the right thing, obviously as there was pericarditis discovered.

Stories like these always remind me of the two-time gold medal pairs skater, Sergei Grinkov, who died in 1995 of an MI while practicing. He was married to his partner, Ekaterina Gordeeva, and she was with him when he went down. It turned out that a genetic disorder caused him to have a massive MI. This guy was an athlete, in very good shape, tested frequently in Russia to be sure he was in top physical condition. Autopsy showed extreme blockages as well as evidence that Sergei had a small MI the night before. If he had not ignored the pain, he may be with us today. He was 28 years old, his wife became a widow at 24, leaving her to raise their three year old daughter, Daria. :crying2:

Didn't mean to hijack this thread, but obviously, if one is having CP, most of the time an ED visit is appropriate.

I just reread my post and it looked like an 8 yo typed it. Sorry.. No wonder I got no feedback, and No I am not a nurse. I have no clue about what really happens in your ER's, on a daily basis and I will never claim too. I have never had any issues with any nurses, and have always appriciated their ability to take care of any pain I was having promptly. It's MD's I have the beef with. I am gonna try to make sense this time. About 2 weeks ago I was at the local ER, I have chronic Migraines, that day had been day 2 with a horrible migraine, slight fever and neck stiffness. When I got to the ER, I was seen quite quickly, the second the doc heard "Migraine" he got that glazed look in his eyes, he told me to bend my neck down, so I did with some stiffness, which was worse if I bend my neck backwards, and I told him this. He didn't do any type of exam, and left it at that. The nurse came in with IV and drugs in hand. I was given Regulan, Benedryl and Toradol. I went with it, usually it never works when the headaches get this bad, but I was desperate for any relief. 45 minutes go by and the doc comes back in and asked if it worked. I said no, nothing at all. He got snippy and asked what works and I didn't beat around the bush, I said Narcotics!! I said Dilaudid. I specifically said, I am not asking for it, I will take anything you think will work, he ignored me as I repeated it and walked out of the room. 5 minutes later they gave me a large amount of Dilaudid and sent me home after another few minutes. I am NOT a seeker, well scratch that, yes I am!! I was seeking relief to very real pain, and was treated like a druggie. I was so mad I called the hospital and told them what had happened. They were nice about it, and said the doctor had disiplanary (spell) action taken against him. So he was wrong not me. I was so messed up from the Dilaudid that night I still don't remember much of what happened that night AFTER the med was given to me. The dosage was way too big. Unless that med is meant to really f you up.

BTW I went to my PCP and was told the reason for those symptoms was because of a bacterial infection I had in a wound that I hadn't paid much attention too. DUH!! Blood test!! Bacterial infections can be detected in blood samples, and isn't a work-up usually done for migraines with stiffness in the neck? Thanks Alot Doc!:mad:

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

First we aren't allowed to give medical advice here, so the below is just some general information and not a recommendation that you do or not do any of it.

I'm sorry you had such a difficult experience mommanonurse. Many Emergency Room docs see the same types of complaints and the same requests and unfortunately, that causes some to jump to conclusions. It sounds lke the doctor did a quick assessment for meningitis and probably some things to rule out a stroke if you told him about your past medical history about "a little blood clot in your brain". It can be very difficult to rule out every single possible reason for a headache in an ER visit. They don't have the resources to readily view your complete medical history, such as CT scans, etc.

If you told them "I have a migraine" he may have automatically decided you were "one of those", and you're right, it isn't fair. Sincere and straight-forward patients do get labelled as seekers, because to be honest, the true "seekers" demoralize the staff after a while.

It isn't always true that an infection somewhere in your body will cause you to have bacteria in your blood. It could indicate an elevated "white cell" count, but that means your body is responding to an inflammation or infection (usually) but not where or what type of infection it's trying to protect itself from. A small infection can lead to a big one or full-blown sepsis or bacteria in the blood, which is very serious and life-threatening. (That's how Christopher Reeve died), so don't delay in getting that treated.

It's always best to see your PCP on a continuous and regular basis, excepting rapid worsening or sudden onset of symptoms that don't fit your regular pattern. Hope you are feeling better!

I love that we can see visits from other facilities within the same company.

Provider: What brings you in to the ED?

Patient: Back pain

Provider: Have you ever had back pain before?

Patient: No

Provider: Are you currently on any medications?

Patient: No

RN: Are you still on the 4mg of dilaudid 5x daily, the tramadol, the lorazepam, the morphine, percocet, vicodin...?

Patient: No, I don't know what that is for.

RN: Looks like you've been treated for back pain in the past...most recently a few days ago.

Specializes in Emergency, Critical Care Transport.

What's tough is when someone is legitimately sick and it's most likely from their drug use. I felt sorry for this dude (keep in mind, HIPAA so I've changed some things), but what he had done at a prior hospital was to get as much IV ativan to bring him down off a high, and then AMA'd. Then he came to us...

Guy comes in, "I haven't slept in 2 days. I don't know what's wrong. My stomach hurts." Writhing in pain, looks like he's really hurting.

"I was just at [other hospital] and they sent me home. I came to you guys because I don't know what's wrong. I'm scared." We do an EKG, draw labs.

His heart rate is 120-140, ST. He has JVD. He is diaphoretic.

Then we look up his history. Oh, wow, 2 months ago: Meth positive U-Tox. Oh wow, yes CHF, CAD, most likely methamphetamine-induced heart problems per last H&P.

"What kind of drugs do you do?" we ask (resident and I)

"None. I don't do them. I used to but I don't now. Can I have some Ativan or something to calm me down? I'm freaking out."

Huh.

Guess what came up positive again? And HE DENIED USING METH!!! Are you kidding me?

He just repeatedly asked for Ativan (which we gave him a one-time dose of)- he'd be asleep, HR around 95, and I'd do something in the room to wake him up on accident and he'd immediately ask for Ativan. Then he'd fall asleep.

His BNP was over 2000...

Poor guy. No matter how frustrating an interaction with a drug seeker is, at the end of the day, I am grateful to go home and to not be living that person's life. When I keep that in mind, I'm a lot less frustrated.

+ Join the Discussion