Last night I got home from a 16 hr shift around11pm. I smooched around on my hubby, got a snack and sat down to surf the web for a while. I started coughing, thinking "ugh these allergies suck". but the cough kept on, getting worse. it was a hacking cough. i felt like i had a mucus plug stuck in the bottom of my throat that i couldnt cough up. i started wheezing very badly and suddenly felt like i couldnt get any air. My extremities got flushed, felt like needles were pricking me and then i started having chest pain.
i use a bipap with O2 bled into it at night so being the good nurse i am i put some O2 on. I have a h/o COPD and am a smoker. the chest pain kept getting worse and so did the feeling of something stuck in my throat (but not like i was choking, more like mucus stuck there still). i was using my inhaler trying to open myself up to cough this out but the chest pain got worse.
then suddenly i got this horrible feeling of "omg i am going to die". i cant explain what it felt like but it was kinda like God was yelling in my head "go to the hospital!". (i have only been to the ER once in my life and that was a PE 2 yrs ago but this didnt feel like it did with the PE). it was the most horrible feeling i've ever had, like this impending doom that i was having a heart attack. my chest kept hurting, i was nauseated slightly and still trying to cough that out of my throat.
it freaked me out so bad that i had my husband take me to the ER. he is the sweetest man. he felt i was having a panic attack from over using my inhaler and tried to calm me but i kept saying "i really think something is horribly wrong" so he took me to the ER.
about 15 min of being there, after the EKG, stat labs, ABGs, o2 I was able to cough and it felt like that plug in my throat cleared then my chest pain went away and i was able to calm down. it was at that point i realized my husband was right, i had freaked out because i couldn't breathe well. all my symptoms completely cleared in less than an hour of being there.
thats when i started feeling like the biggest idiot that ever walked this earth. here i was, an RN for God's sake, not to mention i work with these people...and i had over reacted like an idiot.
thats when i told the nurses "omg, I'm so sorry, can i just go home?" (lol, yeah like they were going to let me just leave, lol, but i tried). they were the nicest guys! a patient couldnt have been treated better. i told them all i was sorry for wasting their time AND their trauma room. i wanted to crawl in a hole i was so embarrassed.
they had all my test results back in no time and i was there less than 3 hrs. the doc said he thought that i had panic'd and also had some muscle spasms in my chest. i think i just freaked out from the albuterol and the wheezing.
like i said, that was only my 2nd time in the ER and i really feel like a big ole drama queen today.
have yall ever done anything stoopid like that or had a patient do it? i feel like sending them a card or something, lol.
I for one am very glad you're ok. Stuff happens, and you couldn't have known. When I worked the ED, I would much rather see someone in your situation come in and have it be anxiety rather than someone with your symptoms not come in until it was too late. Honest.
In this situation you were the patient, not the nurse.
All the time. I'd rather someone comes in and goes home with a diagnosis of anxiety than wait at home only to die of an MI. Besides it wasn't like you went in demanding "Dilaubid" and a "sammich" "cause "I pay your salary".
I don't think you're an idiot. How many times have we thought someone, who should know better, was an idiot because he or she didn't go to the ER despite all the classic symptoms of an MI?
All the time. I'd rather someone comes in and goes home with a diagnosis of anxiety than wait at home only to die of an MI. Besides it wasn't like you went in demanding "Dilaubid" and a "sammich" "cause "I pay your salary".
thanks alot, you've made me feel like not such a big idiot. i felt like i wasted their time last night. i was so embarrased. i felt like i should know better, ya know? i figured they were out at the desk thinking "aint nothing wrong with the drama queen in 2" lol.
but they were SOOO good to me! i'm going to give them the best survey ever when i get it. they made me feel so safe and comfortable. even the guy nurses were sweet as can be with me when they were putting the pads on for the EKG and i kept trying to cover myself up so they couldnt see my fat and my chest.
they tried to give me some morphine when i got there because of the chest pain but i freaked on them "omg no! dont give me that". i guess they thought i'd lost it because i'd forgotten to remind them im in recovery. they were like "***? everyone begs for this stuff" lol.
there was this girl in the bed next to me. my husband and i could NOT believe how she was acting. she was yelling at them "i've been here since 4pm (it was now 4am) and you people havent done a da*n thing!" she left AMA after screaming at them "you better not bill me for this".
the nurse that was giving her the AMA papers was a darn saint. she was so sweet to her with not an ounce of anything but concern in her voice. i dont think i could have done that if she'd been my patient. that girl was horrible!! as far as i could tell, nothing wrong with her but her nose was running. she was yelling at her "nobody's been in here to see me! not a nurse, not a doctor...nobody!". the nurse was in there with her when i got there for God's sake.
ive never worked in the ER but i've read a lot of the ER threads here but still had never seen someone act like that before. is that the norm??
thanks again, you guys have really made me feel better and not such a drama queen.
Absolutely! A health emergency is a health emergency, whether it happens to a health care professional or not. What if it wasn't just anxiety?
My husband has dragged me to the ER for something that turned out to be minor as well. Then again, it's better to be safe...
Heartfelt wishes for your success in quitting smoking. You can do it!
i guess i am feeling like a dork because it wasnt an emergency after all. but you guys have really made me feel better tho! and you're right...what IF it had actually been something. i'll stop whining at myself now, lol.
and thanks alot for the well wishes! anyone want to quit with us??
I don't think you're an idiot. How many times have we thought someone, who should know better, was an idiot because he or she didn't go to the ER despite all the classic symptoms of an MI?
ahhh, very good point you have there.
i guess i just felt like an idiot when i realized it WASNT cardiac but just anxiety. it makes me feel better to know that others have done the same thing, lol.
PLEASE don't feel like an idiot. If it helps, I have lost count of how many times I've been in the ER and things turned out to be nothing............a lot of times, though, you DON'T know, and I've never gone without obviously thinking it could be more (belly pain is a good one; working in med/surg your brain goes "appy? chole? SBO?" LOL). Plus, I have chronic pelvic pain (from endometriosis) and I've gone in not being able to distinguish the pain I was having as being chronic or a new problem. That's why they have ER's, honey....they help you figure it out! So many symptoms are common for both "simple" and "complex" things, so how would we ever really know?
I ALWAYS feel lame when I find out things are *fine,* but I've never had anyone be too bad about it. It happens a LOT, trust me (from all kinds of patients). Better, much better, to be safe than sorry!!
PLEASE don't feel like an idiot. If it helps, I have lost count of how many times I've been in the ER and things turned out to be nothing............a lot of times, though, you DON'T know, and I've never gone without obviously thinking it could be more (belly pain is a good one; working in med/surg your brain goes "appy? chole? SBO?" LOL). Plus, I have chronic pelvic pain (from endometriosis) and I've gone in not being able to distinguish the pain I was having as being chronic or a new problem. That's why they have ER's, honey....they help you figure it out! So many symptoms are common for both "simple" and "complex" things, so how would we ever really know?
I ALWAYS feel lame when I find out things are *fine,* but I've never had anyone be too bad about it. It happens a LOT, trust me (from all kinds of patients). Better, much better, to be safe than sorry!!
lol, thanks for letting me know i'm not alone in my "lameness", lol.
when it started last night i did like you...a million things running thru my head of what it COULD be. i suppose that just made the anxiety worse tho, lol.
BTW, my sister is the same way as we are (she's not a nurse, but has a fairly good medical knowledge, and what she doesn't know, she asks me :) )..........she always gets REALLY down on herself when she goes in to the ER and it ends up that maybe she didn't have to after all.
A month or two ago she went in with REALLY bad belly pain......I was thinking appy, too, just watching her move and listening to her talk. The first ER trip, they did a CT, etc, and all was fine. She was upset for 2 reasons, one that she went in for "nothing," and two, that she was being discharged still in pain (I know, contradictory, but she was so confused and very upset). I had to calm her down (once she was willing to talk) and I said I would bet ANYTHING that she was scanned too early. I told her to give it the night, and re eval. She called me the next morning, in worse pain yet, and back in we went (although that took some convincing, she didn't want to go back in for "nothing" again). CT showed torsed epiploic appendicitis (say that three times fast ). No surgical intervention needed, BUT at least she had an answer! I told her she has to listen to me more, I was right about the CT scan and she had no reason to feel stupid for going. :) Nature of the beast, I guess, huh?
). No surgical intervention needed, BUT at least she had an answer! I told her she has to listen to me more, I was right about the CT scan and she had no reason to feel stupid for going. :) Nature of the beast, I guess, huh?
southernbeegirl, BSN, RN
903 Posts
so other people do this too?