Last Wednesday I encountered the reason for the sometimes crappy treatment I get in the ED concerning my migraines. I actually met a real life in the flesh migraine faker! :
I was waiting in the Ed waiting room, waiting for my boyfriend to get off work, and noticed a couple sitting across from me. They were chatting happily, laughing and pigging out on candy bars and chips and cokes. I noticed the hospital bracelet on the girl and after about 10 minutes, I couldn't help myself.... I asked her what brought her to the ED at 3:00 in the morning. She looked at me and says..."Migraine"
I'm in shock at this point but then I get angry!
I say" YOU have a migraine and you can EAT and DRINK? Isn't the light bothering your eyes? You do NOT have a migraine and you know it!"
I turn away disgusted. Well....guess what...she goes into "migraine mode". Gone are the chips, the chocolate and the cokes, and out come the dark sunglasses, the cold ice pack and she puts her head down on her boyfriend's shoulder and starts to grimace in "pain"
I start laughing out loud. :chuckle I could not believe it! I still can't!
I have to drag myself into the ED, feeling half dead, wishing I was, and I get the red flag because the staff encounters people like this girl!
When I finish nursing school I want to work in the ED and I'm guessing I can't do what I did Wed, but I think I'm going to have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.
Honestly, I never quite understood how the cynicism towards migraineurs came about until now. Another part of me can't see how the real thing can be confused with these obvious cases of faking it. A dilemna that shouldn't exist I suppose.
How do you handle people like this? Can you get your license taken away?
okay,...so if your in pain but don't know it,.or can't remember then are you really in pain? Pain meds are to make people feel better, to allow them to rest or relax,..morphine isn't intended to "cure" any disease process,.it's purpose is to make you feel better. If you are asleep, what is the point of waking you up for pain meds? If your pain isn't enough to interrupt your normal functioning does it really require narcotics? Just ranting here,..I understand the whole "pain is what the pt says it is", but sometimes it really makes no sense to me!
Insulin isn't going to cure Diabetes either but we stilll give it:twocents:...Medicines by nature are not cures....they help symptomatically.
Whats wrong with old post. I have found some for them to be rather enlightening.
nothing.....it is "thrown out there" so you wont be expecting an answer from the OP.....i migraine, and i dont think i had seen this one before....I found it interesting....take care
okay,...so if your in pain but don't know it,.or can't remember then are you really in pain? Pain meds are to make people feel better, to allow them to rest or relax,..morphine isn't intended to "cure" any disease process,.it's purpose is to make you feel better. If you are asleep, what is the point of waking you up for pain meds? If your pain isn't enough to interrupt your normal functioning does it really require narcotics? Just ranting here,..I understand the whole "pain is what the pt says it is", but sometimes it really makes no sense to me!
Insulin isn't going to cure Diabetes either but we stilll give it:twocents:...Medicines by nature are not cures....they help symptomatically.
No...but insulin is going to lower your blood sugar, which prevents all the horrible effects of chronic high blood sugar. If having high blood sugar was painful, we would still give insulin,.fix the cause of the pain and the pain goes away. We might also treat with pain meds, but again it would be to make the pt more comfortable not to fix the cause of the pain.
ok nurses, let's think about this. I am seeing lot's of comments about not being judgemental coming from people who appear to be judging one another. Let's get real. Some of us need to vent. So what if I make fun of the freaks that are attracted to my ER. Watch what kind of job I do, do not worry about what I say.
All these meds should be decriminalized and sold over the counter. I must be completely pain free; so what if it causes me to run your kids over.
I am all for decriminalization of these meds. Sell them over the counter. Include marijuana also. I never seen anyone get better relief from depression than someone who smokes Weed
okay,...so if your in pain but don't know it,.or can't remember then are you really in pain? Pain meds are to make people feel better, to allow them to rest or relax,..morphine isn't intended to "cure" any disease process,.it's purpose is to make you feel better. If you are asleep, what is the point of waking you up for pain meds? If your pain isn't enough to interrupt your normal functioning does it really require narcotics? Just ranting here,..I understand the whole "pain is what the pt says it is", but sometimes it really makes no sense to me!
Insulin isn't going to cure Diabetes either but we stilll give it:twocents:...Medicines by nature are not cures....they help symptomatically.
No...but insulin is going to lower your blood sugar, which prevents all the horrible effects of chronic high blood sugar. If having high blood sugar was painful, we would still give insulin,.fix the cause of the pain and the pain goes away. We might also treat with pain meds, but again it would be to make the pt more comfortable not to fix the cause of the pain.
Pain can increase someone's BP, if you have a co-morbidity of HTN, not only would that morphine help the pain but help to decrease the BP. If you hyperventilate with pain, and already have COPD, reducing the pain would help decrease the work of breathing. I could give many more examples. I just feel that as I said before... Sometimes pain meds allow a person to finally get relief from their pain enough to give them rest, and if you don't continue to give in regular doses, studies show it takes more of a dose to bring the threshold of pain to a tolerable level than it would have if they kept on a schedule. We aren't curing anyone with insulin, or BP meds or oxygen, or many many drugs we give....meds treat symptoms....rarely do they cure...
I am, and have been, in moderate (I never allow myself to think "severe" -- that's what happens when you get shot in the chest or something) pain constantly with various spikes or peaks throughout the day.
I am also an addict. I recently broke my left fibula (into three parts) and collected myself up off the sidewalk, hobbled into my apartment, went to the bathroom, came out and told my girlfriend that I broke my leg. She started freaking out.
I never say "10" on a scale of 1-10. I will say 7 or 8. When a car knocked me unconscious and I woke up in the hospital with two small subdural hematomas in my head, I said, "give me morphine"!
I don't whimper, pout, or cringe. I just explain that I am in pain. I usually mention that I am a heroin addict.
Doctors will -never- treat my pain because I'm honest about being an addict. One exception was the car accident, where they gave me morphine every hour and dilaudid every third. The truth is, therapeutic doses of narcotic analgesics do -NOT- get me high. They barely temper the pain.
I'm curious what a doctor might do if I faked a migraine.
Still, I'm as disgusted as you are because people like -THAT- prevent people like -ME- from being prescribed drugs in doses that would help with my chronic back pain. I always tell myself that when I'm old they'll finally listen to me.
What I need you to know is that -those- people, the fakers actually -hurt- people like me.
I am, and have been, in moderate (I never allow myself to think "severe" -- that's what happens when you get shot in the chest or something) pain constantly with various spikes or peaks throughout the day.
I am also an addict. I recently broke my left fibula (into three parts) and collected myself up off the sidewalk, hobbled into my apartment, went to the bathroom, came out and told my girlfriend that I broke my leg. She started freaking out.
I never say "10" on a scale of 1-10. I will say 7 or 8. When a car knocked me unconscious and I woke up in the hospital with two small subdural hematomas in my head, I said, "give me morphine"!
I don't whimper, pout, or cringe. I just explain that I am in pain. I usually mention that I am a heroin addict.
Doctors will -never- treat my pain because I'm honest about being an addict. One exception was the car accident, where they gave me morphine every hour and dilaudid every third. The truth is, therapeutic doses of narcotic analgesics do -NOT- get me high. They barely temper the pain.
I'm curious what a doctor might do if I faked a migraine.
Still, I'm as disgusted as you are because people like -THAT- prevent people like -ME- from being prescribed drugs in doses that would help with my chronic back pain. I always tell myself that when I'm old they'll finally listen to me.
What I need you to know is that -those- people, the fakers actually -hurt- people like me.
I too have chronic pain....open book fracture when I was 8 after flying through the air off of a tire swing spread eagle onto the corner of a picnic table. Years later I was a cheerleader who fell off of a 3 tier mount onto my lower spine and broke my tailbone.....then when 7 months pregnant fell onto that tailbone again. I live with pain...lets say a 3 daily....I take motrin and head off to work that is stressful and heavy lifting entailed....I do it....
You as n addict should not be given morphine, unless of course you want to be an addict again? I cannot take narcotics because I work and no-one would want a nurse who takes narcotics working on them....
People deal with their pain...others seek any avenue to get narcs....thankfully we are not one of them.
"Doctors will -never- treat my pain because I'm honest about being an addict. One exception was the car accident, where they gave me morphine every hour and dilaudid every third."
Wow. That's cold. Because you are honest about your addiction they're just assuming that you never, never have pain unless you're in a car accident. A human being in a human body will have pain some time even when not in a car accident. They need to reevaluate their assumption and praise your honesty.
"Doctors will -never- treat my pain because I'm honest about being an addict. One exception was the car accident, where they gave me morphine every hour and dilaudid every third."
Wow. That's cold. Because you are honest about your addiction they're just assuming that you never, never have pain unless you're in a car accident. A human being in a human body will have pain some time even when not in a car accident. They need to reevaluate their assumption and praise your honesty.
There are plenty of non-narcotic pain relievers out there for addicts, and I disagree that Docs never treat pain of those who suffer an addiction. It's kind of unfair to suggest that a physician refuses to treat you because you are an addict... Perhaps it's more like.....We refuse to give you narcotics...and you feel because narcotics aren't offered, they are refusing to care/RX your pain.
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TraumaNurseRN
497 Posts
Originally Posted by RN-Cardiac