an oldie but goodie

[amoLucia]

For all us ancient ones, how about remembering an oldie - aramine IV drip!

Was watching an oldie TV channel and Dragnet, Squad 51 (can't remember the real name, but it was with firemen/paramedics Gage & Desoto) and then Emergency came on. Some snakebite pt had bottomed out and was in the ER. All nurse Dixie McCall was doing was taking a manual blood pressure, handing the docs meds (that docs administered) and making phone calls.

No specific directions; just "an aramine drip".

I got the biggest kick watching the nurses walking around in their white uniform dresses and their white heeled shoes (beige pantyhose) and wearing their caps. (I am an antique nurse who loves nursing caps!).

So for you all you nurses out there, what are some of the obscure and oft forgotten meds that we all used to use at some time can you name???

Aramine precipitated this thread, but I also offer that oldie, aldomet. Any others???

[rnsrgr8t]

I remember using the Adalat and puncturing it with an 18 gauge needle. I worked in peds so someone had figured out the volume of the liquid in each of the capsules and then we would figure out a partial dose of it based on weight. Was a pain in the neck! I do remember Amphotericin and calling it Amphoterrible. I remember the rigors patient got with it and we used to give Demerol IV with it to prevent them. Do they still make glass ampules (I have been away from the bedside for a LONG time). We used to put an alcohol pad over the ampule and wave our arm in big circle to get all the liquid out of the top and use the alcohol pad to break the ampule. Remember carpujects?? Croup tents (before we gave decadron)? Ribovarin for RSV (could not be around it if you were pregnant).

[PMFB-RN, RN]

Remember when Mannitol IV came in a huge glass amp (50cc) with a little saw taped to it? The Mannitol was all crystallized, so you had to heat the amp on the stove in a pan of water until the crystals dissolved and then saw it open with the little saw and give it before it crystallized again. If you heated it too much, it exploded. (Ask me how I know that!)

Been there, done that!

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Nifedipine, big red capsules. PIA.

How about Talwin, and Darvon, and that stuff that made you pee electric orange for UTI? I haven't seen any of those forever.

Pyridium! That made some pretty pee!

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

Pyridium! That made some pretty pee!

We had one client on it this past month.

[AmyRN303, BSN, RN]

I had a pt on pyridium in school last year. I remember taking it for discomfort from a UTI years ago, and the physician neglected to mention that fun little fact. I was slightly terrified that I was bleeding (I was maybe 18) until I looked it up in my mother's handy drug book. :)

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Pyridium! That made some pretty pee!

Oh, but what a relief it was!

[Christy1019, ASN, RN]

Remember when Mannitol IV came in a huge glass amp (50cc) with a little saw taped to it? The Mannitol was all crystallized, so you had to heat the amp on the stove in a pan of water until the crystals dissolved and then saw it open with the little saw and give it before it crystallized again. If you heated it too much, it exploded. (Ask me how I know that!)

Omg that sounds awful!! I hate the mini ampules we still have floating around!

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Nifedipine, big red capsules. PIA.

How about Talwin, and Darvon, and that stuff that made you pee electric orange for UTI? I haven't seen any of those forever.

Pyridium (Phenazopyridine)

Darvon/Darvocet are off the market.

[Cuddleswithpuddles]

Azo and Cystex are two UTI pain relief drugs that have the same effect as pyridium. It's like a sunset in a bowl (or Foley bag).

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Nifedipine, big red capsules. PIA.

How about Talwin, and Darvon, and that stuff that made you pee electric orange for UTI? I haven't seen any of those forever.

Pyridium? We use that fairly regularly still too.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

I remember using the Adalat and puncturing it with an 18 gauge needle. I worked in peds so someone had figured out the volume of the liquid in each of the capsules and then we would figure out a partial dose of it based on weight. Was a pain in the neck! I do remember Amphotericin and calling it Amphoterrible. I remember the rigors patient got with it and we used to give Demerol IV with it to prevent them. Do they still make glass ampules (I have been away from the bedside for a LONG time). We used to put an alcohol pad over the ampule and wave our arm in big circle to get all the liquid out of the top and use the alcohol pad to break the ampule. Remember carpujects?? Croup tents (before we gave decadron)? Ribovarin for RSV (could not be around it if you were pregnant).

Ampules are still around, but much, much less common. We still get meds in carpujet syringes, but haven't had the capujets themselves in years. Amphotericin has become better tolerated since being switched to a liposome formulation, but rigors can still happen and we treat them with Demerol. We still use Ribivirin in the bmt population for bad RSV.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Ribaviran = major banging headache. Used to work in a peds unit that had four-bed rooms. All the RSV ribaviran kids in the same room. Ugh! I know MY head always hurt after about an hour in that room- cannot imagine what the poor kids felt like.