Even nurses do stupid things ....

Nurses General Nursing

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So I just had a baby 1 week ago. He's totally wonderful and perfect in every way, but it's quite an adjustment, most notably in the sleep department.

Because I have arthritis, before he was born, my OB was treating me with darvocet. Then I had a C-Section, and got a prescription for norco for pain.

Being tired and not paying attention, I took a norco for pain. After about 30 minutes, I realized I was hurting worse than I thought, so I went to grab a second norco (prescription is for 1-2 every 4-6 hours). I grabbed my darvocet bottle by mistake and popped one down before I thought about it.

When I realized what I had done, I started freaking out. Called the pharmacy, and they said it should be fine - I just might be sleepy, and if my breathing gets shallow, then there's a problem. I can't imagine that a darvocet is going to make me sleepy, especially since I was taking it for awhile, but it still freaks me out.

I always have wondered how people do such stupid stuff with medications ... well, now I know. I'm even a nurse, and wasn't careful enough to separate my medications or look closely enough at the bottles to verify what I was taking. Hopefully I'm lucky enough to not have anything bad happen to me, but I have a lot more empathy for the stupid things other people do.

I remember one time, i think my daughter was 6. She had to do a 5 day titrated dose of prednisone.

It took three days before it occurred to me why my normally sweet little girl was acting like the spawn of Satan.

"PREDNISONE"

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once i had cramps and numbness in my foot that won't go away while i was on birth control. thinking i may have a clot, i took 2 aspirin. my stomach starts hurting so i took some pepto bismal. the next morning my stool was very tarry so i thought i'd induced GI bleed (got a weak stomach) and panicked all morning. later it occured to me the tarry stool was from the pepto bismal and my numbness to the foot was from new shoes that was too tight.

in my case my nursing training made things wrose :D

Hahah, thanks for a good laugh =)

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.
So I just had a baby 1 week ago. He's totally wonderful and perfect in every way, but it's quite an adjustment, most notably in the sleep department.

Because I have arthritis, before he was born, my OB was treating me with darvocet. Then I had a C-Section, and got a prescription for norco for pain.

Being tired and not paying attention, I took a norco for pain. After about 30 minutes, I realized I was hurting worse than I thought, so I went to grab a second norco (prescription is for 1-2 every 4-6 hours). I grabbed my darvocet bottle by mistake and popped one down before I thought about it.

When I realized what I had done, I started freaking out. Called the pharmacy, and they said it should be fine - I just might be sleepy, and if my breathing gets shallow, then there's a problem. I can't imagine that a darvocet is going to make me sleepy, especially since I was taking it for awhile, but it still freaks me out.

I always have wondered how people do such stupid stuff with medications ... well, now I know. I'm even a nurse, and wasn't careful enough to separate my medications or look closely enough at the bottles to verify what I was taking. Hopefully I'm lucky enough to not have anything bad happen to me, but I have a lot more empathy for the stupid things other people do.

I have dosed myself twice in one day with powerful depression meds. I was in the ozone that day.:uhoh3: There was the time I accidently took my husband's Lasix--that was not a good day. :clown: I have double-dosed the kids on cough medicine, antibiotics, and tylenol #3. And then there was the time I overdosed my youngest child on his seizure meds. :eek: I have Poison Control on speed dial and I'm sure they have a big old red flag when my name comes up.

I promise you, I am not this scatter-brained at work~:nurse:

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.

I tripped on the steps, fell forward, and dropped her. And split the back of her head open.

The only thing we had in the freezer was frozen berries. No ice. So I popped a bag of frozen mixed berries wrapped in a washcloth against her head, put her in the car with me, and drove to the ED. The ED in the hospital where I work.

So this is how we look when we arrive. Me: Dusty, sweaty, stinky, tears streaming down my face, covered in my spilled coffee, knees and elbows bleeding, dressed in my classy cut offs and tank top. My daughter: Mulberry stains (looking remarkably like bruises) all over. Once white t-shirt covered in blood, coffee, berry juice, and dirt. Barefoot. Wearing old swimsuit bottoms. Screaming like a banshee "Why did you drop me, Mama? WHY?" Back of head split open.

It was lovely. I was so embarrassed when I realized how we appeared. I didn't even tell them I worked there until someone recognized me. The doctor actually asked me about my daughter's "extensive bruising" and told me we couldn't leave until a social worker came to see us. Fortunately, my daughter's pediatrician was also there and could vouch for the fact that my daughter was seen very regularly in her office and always appeared well cared for and well adjusted (she had a chronic condition which required close monitoring and frequent visits for a good chunk of her childhood), and the nurse was able to show that bruises don't at least partially wipe off with an alcohol pad. Several staples in her head later, my daughter and I were both calm enough to tell the whole story. An ED nurse I knew went to the cafeteria and bought my dd a huge, spiral lollipop and a new iced coffee for me. Ten years later, the ED doc still gives me a hard time about it when I float down there. My daughter's only memory of the event is "Remember when you dropped me, and I got to go to the ED and get that awesome lollipop and they thought you had beat me up?"

Yeah, I remember, and that was great, honey. Thanks for reminding me.

Ahh, yess, good times :smokin: I once had to explain to the ER staff how my non-verbal, very mentally handicapped son fell and broke his humerus at 11 o'clock at night. They did full body Xrays to determine the extent of his injuries and found a chipped bone in his left wrist. "When did Christian fracture his wrist, Mrs. D?" Huh? :confused: Never...then he showed me the Xray and sure enough, there was an old fracture. I have no idea how we missed that. I had some 'splainin' to do...

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

Just because we are nurses, it does not mean we are perfect. Even though the public thinks we should be. :p

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It makes me feel better to know other people have done stupid stuff like this, too. I was really freaked out last night, thinking any moment I'm going to stop breathing ... intellectually I knew better, but still.

Thanks for all the congrats on my baby! We were infertility patients - told we had a 1:30,000 of ever conceiving and were in the process of saving money for in vitro when we had a spontaneous pregnancy. It was rough - I was sick as a dog for the first 14 weeks, then had problems with my joints (psoriatic arthritis) during the second trimester, and then had gestational diabetes and severe preeclampsia during the third trimester, making me be on bedrest for a month, followed by induction. But it was all worth it - baby is the most perfect, fabulous thing ever!

And I have now separated my norco from the darvocet, so at least I won't make *that* mistake again (though I'm sure I'll do something else stupid, but at least it won't be the same thing.)

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

Reminds me of this clip from Two and a Half Men

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