Sugar9486

I wasn't looking for medical advice, just to see if anyone had it done and what their experience was. My choice is going to come down to what the Doctor and I decide, I was just wondering about whether anyone had tried that alternitive because I know that it is relatively new and not really proven yet. In case I'm wrong... is that considered medical advice? Sorry if I sounded like I was looking for medical advice :-P

I have been suffering from migraines and migraine related problems for almost two years (however they think that I've been getting them since I was 4 or 5 years old) I was diagnosed with chronic and serve migraines because normally there isn't a day that goes by that I don't have some kind of head ache, about 3 of 4 times a month they get worse and worse and end up being full blown, they last anywhere from 3 to 20+ days. Once or twice a year I end up in the ED because of migraines because I can just not deal with the pain (Or I speak to my Dr and he either directly admits me or during the night admits me through the ED) at home, and need usually steroids and narcotics. I'm getting so sick of it though, every day it's the same thing. I've tried topamax, zoloft, elavil, and a combination of zoloft and elavil for prevention, that hasn't helped at all. Then when I do get them I've tried Imitrex, Imitrex injections, maxalt, relpax, migranol, and frova. As long as I take them right away they usually stop them from getting bad or at least calm them down some, but normally I get them in the middle of the night and by the time it wakes me up, it's too late. I've also tried nesopryn, daypro, vicodin, percocet, and just about everything they give for pain in the hospital, and they help, but obviously I don't want to become a drug addict, so a lot of the ones that help I can't take for every headache. I have found lately that Fioricet has done wonders for my "in the middle" migraines and usually stops them from getting debiliating. When I get them bad, I lock myself in my room no lights, no tv, shades drawn, and covers over my head, but I can't do this for everyone I get, or I'd be in bed all day everday for the most part. I've found that taking baths helps me relax which stops me from getting irritated, but it doesn't really help the migraines. My neurologist is great, and he's helped a lot (they were worse when I started getting bad ones to begin with) but it just doesn't seem like I should have to be in pain every day of my life. I go to one of the best headache clinics in the country on Monday morning, but I was wondering if there were any tricks that anyone has picked up along the way... Also I was wondering if anyone had gotten the surgery to correct MVP to see if that helps? I was diagnosed with MVP, but I'm not sure what I want to do about it yet. Thank you all so much! ~Jenn~

EmerNurse-- That is exactly what I'm talking about, if your smiling at me while your in the room, then I'm much more likely to be cooperative. I know that when you walk out of the room your probably talking about me, thats life. I try to be an easy patient, I don't ask for a thousand things, I don't let my SO ask for a million things for me because I know what it's like and quite honestly I don't need three hundred blankets or an extra pillow. What you do when you walk out of my room is your thing, I work in a hospital, I hear and particpate in the grumblings under peoples breath, but if you can smile in the room, even with the drunk who's wasting your time (from most of the drunks i've seen smiling isn't too hard, a lot of times their pretty funny) or smiling at the person who could have waited to see their PCP in the morning when your slammed with other important patients it makes your life a lot easier. I know that my life is much more balanced and smooth if I can be polite and smile. No you don't want to get walked all over, but you can have that "don't mess with me attitude" and still be a understanding. Thank you for understanding!

TrudyRN I think you totally have the right idea... I understand that working in an ER is hard work, and not like most others, but in nursing nothing is "easy" and nothing isn't just a difficult as any other field. Yes, ED nurses have to deal with the people that don't have to be there, but there is no need for the heartless things that some of them say. I understand you want to vent which is fine, everyone needs that, but you go to and ED that isn't where you work and don't tell them that you are a nurse and see how you get treated... People in the ED are scared or in pain, a lot of times they just need someone to smile at them, and it eases their terror.

Totally agree with that one... I dislocated my knee cap... my knee cap was just put back in place by the Othro doc an they tell me to keep still while they bend my knee around for x-rays.. right...

As for rules of the ED, if you come in feeling like you are going to vomit at one in the morning, don't sit in the waiting room and make out with your wife, it's gross

Once again.. this started out having absolutely nothing to do with me... SO I WILL RESTATE AGAIN 90% of people in here have said that they are sick of nasty grumpy patients, and ALL I SAID was if you would have a little compassion and maybe a smile on your face these patients might not be so grumpy and you might not be so stressed out and you might not this the ED is such a brutal place, but thats up to you. I know all of this from a nurses perspective and from a patients perspective and if you don't agree with me fine, quiet honestly I think that you guys take things WAY to seriously because it was just a tip. Adrienenurse--- again you don't have to agree with me, and for future reference just becasue someones "profile" says nursing student, that doesn't mean anything... but believe what you like... and my neurologist is one of the best in the state, I have chonic severe pain and have for a over a year, some times it takes a trial and error process in order to figure out what works and what doesn't, if we knew what caused my migrianes this would not be as much as an issue... but again that was not what I wanted to say, I don't care to post about my migraines because I sound like a 10 year old complaining about cleaning his room, I was just trying to show you the perspective of the patient For everyone else the question was never whether ED nurses are good at what they do, nor did I was to start an uproar, I simply said put a smile on your face... first of all you'll live longer, and patients react much better to it. I've had the nights when every patient is nasty and complaining about everything, I've been there, but I try to remember that I'm able to be above that and I keep a smile on my face and I don't let the little stuff bug me. Yeah there are reasons that people are not happy that are caused outside of work and some nights people just have a Bad night, thats life but what I'm saying is, if you try to smile through it you will feel a little better an your patients will react to you better. Now lets stop talking about this, this isn't where I wanted it to go, I was just trying to shed some light as to why patients are so ummanageable sometimes... a lot of times it's a reflection of the nurse, others people are just plain mean, and you can get over that too. Good luck to all of you, I'm sorry if I offended you thats not what I was going for, just trying to give you a different outlook! Have a great day!! :D :D

Apparently no one sees that my point has been made because things that had NOTHING to do with my point keep coming up, so yeah thats for the sarcasm

Ok I have worked in and ED and I've work in other parts of the hospital, and maybe it's just my personality but I can keep a smile on my face all day long no matter what comes my way. I never said that ED nurses were not good at what they do or any of that and this turned into so much more then it started out as... Again all I said was if you can smile and be pleasant to the persona dying and to the drunk down the hall you'll like your job a whole lot more, and your patients will probably be much easier to deal with... Sorry if you don't agree with me thats fine, but I've noticed myself that this works and on days that I'm not in the greatest of spirits I find that I have a much bigger group of people who do not want to cooperate.

Do you think I haven't done all of these things, the fact is in the middle of the night at this hospital (that is magnet status by the way) the procedure is that you are admitted through the ED. Thats out of my control, and if I did not feel that I was getting adequate care then I would not be there period. The doctor I see is amazing and the only one who has taken steps in finding an answer to my problem. I have headaches 24 hours a day 7 days a week, I am never not in pain, usually once a month the pain picks up and becomes an actual migraine, every few months the medications I am on don't help, and I get admitted into the hospital. If I can wait until the next morning for relief then I wait until then and get directly admitted, if not then I am forced to go through the ED, my doctor nor me have any control over this. At the hospital I am at the departments do speak and work together, once on a floor I am never asked things twice the nurses are always cheerful and listen to the doctors order that I am not to be interupted unless I need to be medicated. My doctor is not the issue, I have seen other specialists and they have pretty much told me that what I am doing is the way that I have to do it, I have no pattern with my headaches, I've kept diaries of daily activities, how I feel my stress is, my diet, I've done it all, I've tried around 10 preventative medications, many triptans, and lots of pain medications, the doctor is taking the correct approach to finding what combination is going to work for me. He is one of the top Neurologists in his field and does a wonderful job Thats not what this whole thing was about what I was saying was if nurses in the ED had a little better outlook and maybe a cheerful smile patients might not be as grumpy or mean as they are, yes some of them still will be. I know that when I am treated by a nurse who is unhappy I'm much more likely to be uncooperative. If the nurse that helps me is nice and cheerful (even if she has a lot of other patients that may be more sick then I am) I am very cooperative and a much easier patient, I know a lot of people that feel the same way too. I understand it's hard to be on your feet for 8-12 hours or more at work, I work in a hospital too, but I keep a smile on my face anyways

Okay first of all being sent to the ER to be admitted to a floor is the way that they tend to do it, I have seen it done that way many times during the times I've spent in the ED an worked in a hospital. Second I'm not talking about being asked about medications or allergies, I'm talking about things that are not JCAHO mandated. Like how are you feeling? Well I'm sitting here crying because I can't see straight and I feel like my head is going to explode, how do you think I feel? Third I'm not asking for a dark quiet room in the ED, I know it doesn't happen, but if I weren't asked the same stupid things over and over again it would be much more quiet and you probably wouldn't get such a nasty reaction from me when I answer you for the fourth time. Fourth my neurologist has never not come in to see me in the ED, he comes personally to see me instead of asking the oncall doctor to visit me. I'm not sure what to say to number 5, but every time I am admitted I end up with a private room with curtains because the doctor has asked for me to be by myself. I am also asked to be left alone unless I need to be medicated. If I were not in serious pain I would not be there, I much rather stay at home, but when you can't see because your head hurts so bad and you've had a headache for 20+ days and everything you tried hasn't helped, yeah I need something else. I've been suffering with this issue for a long time now and don't think I'm not trying to figure out different ways to stop them from coming, but we just haven't figured it out yet.

I find that a lot of ED nurses are not very happy to be there, and to be honest if there weren't people coming in there every day there wouldn't be a need for ED nurses. My problem is the nurses who can't so much as give you a smile. Anyone that goes to the ED does not want to be there... especially at 3 in the morning even if some of the nurses think they want to be. I know that I've gotten grumpy A. because I feel like I am an imposition on the nurse then they expect me to respect them when I'm not getting an respect either, it's not my fault that your having a bad day, I wouldn't be there if I wasn't having a bad day and I can treat you like a decent person. B. The nurse can't so much as smile, come on laughter is the best medicine and if you can smile and move on it makes both our lives much easier. C. Most the time I'm in the ED it's for Migraine headache (when my neurologist sends me there because there isn't anything they further they can do at their office and they know I need more help) if I have a headache could you please listen to me the first time I explain things to you, I know we're all human and forget things, but when I hear the same questions over and over again I get aggitated, I have a migraine I would like to be in a dark room by myself with no sound. I'm sorry if this sounds bitter, but I go through this every couple of months when I have a really bad headache, nine times out of ten they have to admit me and the doctor says that the easiest way for me to be admitted is through the ED. I don't show up there just to be annoying, I'd really like to not have a headache. I'd just like to have someone who understands what I am going through and can be nice to me when I am in so much pain and just need someone on my side

I also forgot to add that I work nights, so yes during the day we have patients go straight to the floor (well at least for now, out hospital is talking about not letting anyone past the second floor (Main Floor) unless they are accounted for on one of the other floors) but during the night only the ED entrance is open sorr about that:chair:

I figured that would be the answer, but I was just wondering if there were any strange things in nursing school that made you scared to handle it or whatever. The thing that always gets me though is when the nurse in the ED says well her water broke, she's going to have her baby right now, we don't know if we can get her up there I'm going to call the OB resident... ok the OB resident along with the rest of the residents live in appartment that are not in the hospital, it takes them 10 minutes or so to get dressed and get in... what I keep explaining to them is (9 times out of 10) their OB doctor is here, he is expecting her, just bring her upstairs.. getting her upstairs is quicker then bringing in the OB resident. Then when she gets upstairs they check her and she's 3 cm and her waters broken.... I love the ladies and men in my ED and they do a great job, but sometimes I wonder when it comes to OB patients :) thanx for all your imput

I guess I should have been a little more specific, a downfall of mine. I'm talking about the Mom who has had a normal pregnancy, no problems thus far, has called her OB and told them she is on the way, she gets into the ED and her water happens to break right at that time (you would think the odds of that were low, but it happens all the time to us, I think Mom's realize that they are in the hospital and start to relax a little bit and thats why it happens in the ED... We have around 100 births a month.. not very many, and I only work 2 or 3 days a week because I'm going to school, and I still get phone calls like this from the ED like 3 times a week) as far as all of us know, she is a normal pregnant Mom in labor and the ED is going crazy... Yeah, complications happen, and thats no good, which is even more of a reason to bring the Mom to Maternity ASAP instead of talking to me about he amniotic fluid on the floor. I agree that The Mom gives birth and the caregiver is the one that assists... yeah shoulder dystocia happens but usually thats because the baby is too big, and at that point there isn't much that the OB doctor can do either