Pain shots are us, not this nurse!

TracyB,RN, RN · Jan 2, 2007

Ohhh boy. If people only knew how much pain I was in on a daily basis. I hide it well & avoid my meds for chronic back pain & spasms (s/p MVA) as much as possible. However, after a long day, sometimes I just need something to take the edge off so I can get an hour of un-interrupted sleep. Distraction works pretty well most of the time, but there are days when NOTHING(even meds) helps & all I want to do is curl up in a ball & be gorked to get relief. I don't take any meds before going to work, & frequently use a TENS unit. But that doesn't always cut it either. I just continue on. No sense crying, b/c I'd ALWAYS be crying if I let myself.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Jan 2, 2007

I use to feel this way. Seemed like the same people always came in with migraines all the time wanting stadal or dem. Until I got a migraine so bad I saw black lines. I did nothing about it because I knew many of the people I worked with had the same attitudes I previously had. I got a migraine again about six months later at work that brought me to me knees crying. They gave me a shot (I work in a clinic). I have had one other shot since then and still felt bad when I went in to get it. There should not be any stigma against people with pain. Every one has different tolerances and thresholds and ways of controlling it.

chenoaspirit, ASN, RN · Jan 3, 2007

Well, as bad as we all hate to admit it, we all get irritated at times with some patients. Yes, there ARE some patients who enjoy the added benefits of these drugs along with those who really do need them. How do we tell which are which? There is no way to tell. Yes, they all need to be medicated accordingly, but there ARE those who dont really need it. We can bash all we want. No one is saying they wont medicate, but I do get annoyed when I have my hands tied with patients in true need who are about to crash or with a patient with o2 sat of 70 and patients in true pain ON TOP OF having to deal with someone laying on the callbell when I just medicated them with 75 of demerol and with phenergan who is almost comatose and still wanting more. There was one lady once who demanded more and more and more, she got it. We later found her lying in the bathroom floor unconscious. Inserted a F/C and urine tests revealed cocaine and benzo use. The person who said this is a hot topic was right. I think every nurse at one time has felt the same way.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jan 3, 2007

Are you ever enraged by patients who really show no visual signs of pain but say that their pain scale is 10/10 and demand their pain shot every time it's due (thinking that they should know when it is due, as if it was a scheduled med not PRN).
:icon_evil: :icon_evil: :icon_evil:

No. Part of the point of main management is to alleviate pain. If I know that it'll hurt if I don't get my PRN med you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be asking for it. You're not supposed to demand that the patient disintegrate with a pain level that you deem okay for meds before administering something.

kstec, LPN · Jan 3, 2007

Whether it be a pain shot or pill, patients can and will take advantage of them. And yes, pain is subjective, but common sense goes a long way. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, you know the rest. My mother died of an overdose of Norco. Why because she was in pain. I do not work in a hospital, but I do get patients discharged after surgery who just can't seem to heal. The pain is a 10/10 everyday. Well next thing you know they are going to more than one doctor, rewriting prescriptions and ending up in ER with an overdose. Yes, I probably should take a pain mgmt. class, but in my nursing experience and life experience, your gut feeling tells you a lot. I don't want to see anyone in pain, but I will not contribute to their abuse or addiction. I value my patients that much.

SaharaOnyxRN · Jan 3, 2007

Are you ever enraged by patients who really show no visual signs of pain but say that their pain scale is 10/10 and demand their pain shot every time it's due (thinking that they should know when it is due, as if it was a scheduled med not PRN).
:icon_evil: :icon_evil: :icon_evil:

Hello, TeleRner. Hello, there, sweetheart. First, on behalf of all the naysayers, i want to apologize. Because so many are talking about who shouldn't judge and all that, but yet, they are judging you based on one comment.

Yes, i do feel where you are coming from. I don't get angry, but I do get frustrated when dealing with these types of people. These people know good and well what you mean. They know that they, too, have been frustrated at times. Because I tell you, it really takes away from dealing with your critically ill patients when you are in a patient's room every hour pushing drugs to people that have no other problem except unresolved pain. The hospital is not where these people need to resided. There are pain management clinics out there for that. If they have chronic pain, then the doctor needs to handle it to the point where they don't always have to come to the ER for drugs.

Anybody who says that they can't relate to what you are saying is lying. They, too, have seen what you're talking about and they are not perfect. They have hang-ups, too.

Anyway, I support you and feel where you are coming from. Keep coming to allnurses.com. This is a good place to vent, as opposed to doing it in front of the patients.:balloons:

miko014 · Jan 3, 2007

Perhaps having chronic pain all her life, she's learned coping mechanisms that allow her to function at something near normal levels. Maybe, even though she masks the outward signs, she's still continually suffering on the inside. It might even be possible that the only thing that empowers her to continue on in that manner is that she knows that in "x" number of hours, she'll be granted some respite from her pain so that she can build up enough stamina to bully herself through for the next little while. Wouldn't it be a shame if some outside observer misinterpreted her ability to endure as an absence of discomfort? Perhaps because this has happened enough in the past, she's learned that if she doesn't behave in some "socially acceptable" way of demonstrating "real pain" then she'll be damned to having to endure even more. It's almost too much to contemplate that a person who has the guts and determination to actually live a life in that sort of condition would still have to "prove" her pain on a regular basis.

I was saying, isn't it sad that she thinks she needs to do that in order to get her pain meds? I don't even know if she realizes that she does that, because if she did, she would act like that more often. I mean, she's a big girl, if she was consciously doing that, she would know to do it for more than just 30 seconds while she asks for pain meds. It's something about the pt-nurse-pain meds part of it, because she acts normally the rest of the time and with other people. I was just pointing out what I have observed, not saying that she isn't in pain, or that she's exaggerating to get her meds. Pain is pain, I don't want you to be in pain, if you say you're in pain, I'll give you your meds and be glad that I'm not the one hurting (so long as your pulse ox/resps are okay and you are low enough on the sedation scale that I don't have to worry about you crashing on me).

GardenDove · Jan 3, 2007

I like PCAs for this type of pt. Big time savers.

Kait · Jan 3, 2007

Hello, TeleRner. Hello, there, sweetheart. First, on behalf of all the naysayers, i want to apologize. Because so many are talking about who shouldn't judge and all that, but yet, they are judging you based on one comment.

I think this response was needed here. Thank you.

PANurseRN1 · Jan 3, 2007

Are you ever enraged by patients who really show no visual signs of pain but say that their pain scale is 10/10 and demand their pain shot every time it's due (thinking that they should know when it is due, as if it was a scheduled med not PRN).
:icon_evil: :icon_evil: :icon_evil:

No, but I do get enraged by nurses who have judgemental attitudes about pts. who ask for pain medication.

Maybe I'm just stupid. Here all this time I thought the point to pain management was to keep the pt. from having so much discomfort that he/she is moaning/grimacing/crying/having altered VS. Silly me.

chenoaspirit, ASN, RN · Jan 3, 2007

deleted. Posted twice. "sorry"

chenoaspirit, ASN, RN · Jan 3, 2007

Hello, TeleRner. Hello, there, sweetheart. First, on behalf of all the naysayers, i want to apologize. Because so many are talking about who shouldn't judge and all that, but yet, they are judging you based on one comment.
I agree. This is basically what I was trying to say