You know its a seeker when . . .

Specialties Emergency

Published

"Well the last time the doctor gave me these pink oval pills with watson stamped on them, what was the name. . .? (waiting on you to say . . Oh Lorcet, I'll get the script now:jester:!)

"Or, . . .That dilau. . that Hydromor, . . .Oh what was that called?"

. . . .anyway, Whats your seeker's dead give aways?

Specializes in Adult/Ped Emergency and Trauma.

Wuh, I would never call anyone with a kidney stone a seeker, been there done that, hauled xxx to ER. I WOULD RATHER DIE SUDDENLY THAN GO THROUGH IT AGAIN!

When they say "i'm allergic to Torodol, and tylenol 3" !!!

Specializes in ER.

My dead give-away is when they stop groaning for a split second as you are ready to push some narcotic IV and say:

"push that fast"

(even better if they tell you to follow with a fast flush)

My response:

"This isn't adenosine, Ma'am!" and carry on pushing med at textbook rate like nothing happened

(wish I was lying when I say this scenario happens quite frequently)

Specializes in Care Coordination, MDS, med-surg, Peds.

I rarely take pain meds of any kind, but when I have a kidney stone NOTHING helps except demerol and phenergan for the nausea. I am not a drug seeker, I just know what works.

The last kidney stone 5 MM in size was "stuck". The ER nurse gave me toradol, said it was the wonder pain med for k stone pain. I said go for it!!!! 40 minutes later, when I was white as a sheet, BP climibing sky high and very very restless and throwing up from the pain, she gave me the demerol/phenrgan and ahhh... blessed relief!!! Seriously...I wish the toradol had been effective, would have preferred that!

Oh, BTW, I cannot take morphine almost died after a dose after rotator cuff repair surgery, so I prefer non-nacs when possible.

How do I recognize a seeker?

"Don't dilute the . It doesn't work for me if you dilute it."

"Push the IV narc fast. It doesn't work at all if you push it slowly."

"Make sure to have my next dose ready at XX time. That's exactly 3.75 hours from now, which is when my doctor says I can have it."

"I'm setting my cell phone alarm to wake me up when it's time for my next pain med."

"The only thing that helps my migraine headaches is Dilaudid. I'm allergic to Tylenol, Motrin, Toradol, caffeine, Morphine, and anything you can think of that might help but is non-narcotic." (this, btw, from a person who obviously has no migraine headache, as only one who DOES suffer from them can attest).

I'm not an ER nurse, but unfortunately I've had to go in a couple times when I've had kidney stone pain beyond what I can cope with and the urgent care is closed. The second time I told the nurse "The only thing that seems to help this kidney stone pain..." and at this point I can see the shoulders slump, the eyes beginning to roll, and then I continue..."is Toradol". Her whole demeanor changed! Once I was not writhing in pain we shared a good laugh about how sure she was that I was going to say Dilaudid or Vicodin or something. Truth is, hydrocodone does not touch my kidney stone pain and just makes me feel awful. Torodol is a wonder drug for me. I actually declined a script for vicodin the ER doc wanted to send me home with. No thanks.

There's an urgent care doc that I'll see if I get a back flare up on the weekend. I tell him I'm there for the good stuff, the medrol dose pack. :)

Specializes in being a Credible Source.

When they're getting shipped out for severe pneumonia and the last thing they say is, "Now Dr X will call down and tell them that I'm supposed to get 4 mg of Dilaudid every 90 minutes, right?"

When they're brought in for acute asthma attack but ask for pain meds and antianxiety meds before we've even gotten them off of the EMS guerney.

When they have all their pill bottles except the narcs.

When they're allergic to toradol, morphine, all NSAIDs, Ultram... anything that doesn't start and end with a "d"

And then we have the ones up on the floor who set their phone alarms to wake them up to ask for their pain meds.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

All my patients are seekers--that's how it is in detox, kids :)

That being said, the ones that raise the red flag are those who swear up and down that they didn't get their medications (hence why the med station is on-camera 24/7) or those who just vomited but flushed the toilet because they "forgot" that I'd have to verify the pill was yacked up.

I'm not an ER nurse, but unfortunately I've had to go in a couple times when I've had kidney stone pain beyond what I can cope with and the urgent care is closed. The second time I told the nurse "The only thing that seems to help this kidney stone pain..." and at this point I can see the shoulders slump, the eyes beginning to roll, and then I continue..."is Toradol". Her whole demeanor changed! Once I was not writhing in pain we shared a good laugh about how sure she was that I was going to say Dilaudid or Vicodin or something. Truth is, hydrocodone does not touch my kidney stone pain and just makes me feel awful. Torodol is a wonder drug for me. I actually declined a script for vicodin the ER doc wanted to send me home with. No thanks.

Unfortunately I was the lucky one to be on the opposite end of that one. Admitted to a local ER after MVA I had shattered part of my pelvis but with not a scratch on me. Doc orders dilaudid IVP after my screaming when being rolled off the back board. ER RN decides not to give, I end up begging for pain meds as I'm rolled onto shattered side of pelvis for xrays with no pain relief. It wasn't until after the xrays came back that she gave me the dilaudid.

As she was giving it she was apologizing saying she sees a lot of RN's that divert and since I had nary a scratch assumed I was just seeking. :mad: I was none to happy that scrubs = drug seeker for that RN.

I'm not an ER nurse, but unfortunately I've had to go in a couple times when I've had kidney stone pain beyond what I can cope with and the urgent care is closed. The second time I told the nurse "The only thing that seems to help this kidney stone pain..." and at this point I can see the shoulders slump, the eyes beginning to roll, and then I continue..."is Toradol". Her whole demeanor changed! Once I was not writhing in pain we shared a good laugh about how sure she was that I was going to say Dilaudid or Vicodin or something. Truth is, hydrocodone does not touch my kidney stone pain and just makes me feel awful. Torodol is a wonder drug for me. I actually declined a script for vicodin the ER doc wanted to send me home with. No thanks.

Couldn't you keep some Toradol at home?

Unfortunately I was the lucky one to be on the opposite end of that one. Admitted to a local ER after MVA I had shattered part of my pelvis but with not a scratch on me. Doc orders dilaudid IVP after my screaming when being rolled off the back board. ER RN decides not to give, I end up begging for pain meds as I'm rolled onto shattered side of pelvis for xrays with no pain relief. It wasn't until after the xrays came back that she gave me the dilaudid.

As she was giving it she was apologizing saying she sees a lot of RN's that divert and since I had nary a scratch assumed I was just seeking. :mad: I was none to happy that scrubs = drug seeker for that RN.

You should report her, not only for causing you needless suffering, but for being stupid or inexperienced. Lack of signs or symptoms does not necessarily indicate no injury.

The opposite is also true. I saw a seriously swollen and bruised ankle that supposedly was not fractured. I'd bet my boots it was.

And plain films don't show every fracture.

How do I recognize a seeker?

"Don't dilute the . It doesn't work for me if you dilute it."

"Push the IV narc fast. It doesn't work at all if you push it slowly."

"Make sure to have my next dose ready at XX time. That's exactly 3.75 hours from now, which is when my doctor says I can have it."

"I'm setting my cell phone alarm to wake me up when it's time for my next pain med."

"The only thing that helps my migraine headaches is Dilaudid. I'm allergic to Tylenol, Motrin, Toradol, caffeine, Morphine, and anything you can think of that might help but is non-narcotic." (this, btw, from a person who obviously has no migraine headache, as only one who DOES suffer from them can attest).

[/quote Don't judge other people by your own experience. I know it's hard not to, but everyone is an individual.

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