SunnyKC

Recently I went to the ER due to having a severe sleep apnea episode (2 min not breathing and a seizure) and ended up walking out. Im wondering if I could have done anything different to have been treated better or was it just my luck. During triage after explaining my situation the nurse asked me if I was there for sleeping pills. Ummmm no....that probably wouldnt be the best idea considering my situation. Then she asked "what do you want us to do?" I looked at my Mom who was with me and looked back at her and said...you all are the specialists! Then when the nurse was getting me settled in....she was asking questions and I was giving her examples of how bad my memory has been lately. I told her that every time I walk into a room...i forget why I went in. She proceeded to laugh and say that happens to her all the time. Ok but 8-10 times a day? made me feel as if my symptoms werent very important. Then the resident comes in...asks me all the same questions...then gets pulled away to a trauma. Hey i understand that. So I sat...and sat....he comes back an hour later and says he has no idea when he will be back to me. That did me in...i just had to get out of there. This is the same hospital i worked in for years and yet i keep trying to give their ED a chance but it never works out! Could I have done something different here?? or was it just my crappy luck. Oh and i was hospitalized after my doc found out about my seizure. O2 stats were in low 80's. Been having severe daytime fatigue and delousional episodes for 6 months. Finally on a CPAP machine :) PS my nurses in the hospital were just great! really made me feel at home...

I could see how some "lay" people would be offended by our comments..... but hey.......sometimes you gotta laugh or go completely insane I am a lay person, never been a nurse but I have worked in heathcare at a hospital for several years. I am NOT trying to say that means I know as much or more than any nurse on here. I will adamently say that my knowledge pales compared to y'alls. I did want to comment on that quote tho. From all i have read here...and I have been reading for the last few weeks...It wouldnt cross my mind to be offended at all. I realize you are talking about the worst of the worst patients...and you DO have to laugh to keep from going insane, I bet. Reading the complaints about patients...actually makes me feel GOOD. I can now say I was the model patient each time I was hospitalized. I guess that comes from being raised to give respect. So NAW you arent offended anyone...just telling the God's honest truth. Keep it up!!! PS If someone were to say that ALL patients are trouble then I might be offended but I havent seen anyone say anything like that. Keep up all the good work you people do day in and out. i am very impressed with all of you.....and I hope im lucky enough to get a nurse like y'all next time I have surgery or are hospitalized for my chronic pain.

While I do believe that fibro is a real disease...from all the reading I have done on it...it does tend to be misdiagnosed A LOT...more than other CP problems. The biggest problem in diagnosing it is that there is no one clear test to prove it. Some of it is trial and error (ruling out other things) but from what I understand its the trigger points that most docs go off of. There is a pretty active fibro board on the forum I am normally at. Lots of good info there. Again from my reading, most of those with the disease do NOT take narcs. There are a few that do..but most find narcs dont help much with the pain they have. Knowing that most fibro patients dont want narcs...does that make it easier to accept as a real disease? I can certainly understand your FF's coming in and spouting out that they have fibro and only MS04 or whatever their doc is. I would think that would make it pretty obvious they are seekers. I strongly believe ALL people in pain should have pain relief. But I also believe there are conditions out there that narcs dont help enough to warrent taking them all the time. And I believe Fibro is one of those. There is a whole range of meds and treatments that help with fibro. I believe just recently there was a new med put on the market that treats fibro among other things. The people that have their pain, and other symptoms under control...utilize any number of things to reduce the pain. Some go to PT and get relief..others go see a chiro or massage. Most take one anti-depressant and usually a NSAID also. Sorry I didnt mean to write a book. I just felt I had some good info to add..to hopefully educate someone that wasnt aware of this info. It isnt likely at all that a true patient that has fibro will walk into the ER demanding narcs. So I think it would be pretty obvious who is seeking and who is for real. But I have never worked in the ER so I cant say that for sure. My hat is off to you all that work in the ED every single day. You are much more disciplined that I could ever be.

Hi all. I had an occipital nerve stimulator implanted several years ago. At the time i didnt know that my HA's on the front part of my head would not be affected by the stimulation. Sounds pretty dumb I know but I truly hadnt thought of it. The stimulation works great on the back of my head...I havent had a HA there since I got it put in. But...the worse of my pain is in the frontal part of my head. I have two very sore spots that cause the worst of the pain...one on each temple. I also getting quite a bit of pain on my eyebrows. In addition to this (as if it wasnt enough!) I also have TMJ and have severe pain on the left side of my face. So here is my question. About 6 months ago I ran across an article on the 'net about two docs that have implanted electrodes in the frontal area. I think they said at least 50% of the patients are now painfree. I have been trying very hard to get some more info on this, especially trying to find a doc in my area that would consider doing this to me. I have sent emails to the owner of the site the article was on, but he wasnt any help. I also emailed medtronics and they said they were NOT looking into this at all. So now im trying to figure out how I can get more info on this. The article was dated in like june of 2003, so I am sure there is more info out there somewhere. Was just wondering if any of you have heard of this. My gut feeling is that this is the only thing that will work for me longterm besides narcotics. I have done all of the conservative treatments for the TMJ and none worked long enough. My oral surgeon says I really need surgery and hes 80% sure I would get significan relief. But my ins. co. refuses to pay for it. I would also be interested in trying different splints...but again it would come out of my pocket and its gets pretty dang expensive. I really dont want to live on narcs the rest of my life. Hell I dont like being on them now. The only LA med that has really helped (ive tried 4) is mscontin. It helps my pain GREATLY. But again I dont see that as a lifetime thing. If you have no info on this, could anyone point me in the right direction? I emailed medtronics and they say they havent heard of it. I also checked out a website recommended by medtronics. Its http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed. I didnt find anything there also. I am REALLY interested in pursuing this. Any info you may have or any ideas on where I can continue to look I would be very grateful.

Im glad you went to the doc and she is on top of things. I had the heartbeat in my left ear for 3 months during my pregnancy...then it just went away at about 8 months. My ENT doc said I should follow up if I still had it after delivery. I did have a CT scan done and it said I had a "descient jugular bulb"...whatever that means! He never did explain it to me so I assumed it was nothing. A few months ago..it came back. Every night for the last 3 months I lay in bed...trying to go to sleep over the sound of my own heartbeat. Its kinda soothing LOL But I wish I knew what it was! I also have CDH and TMJ...and I know tinnitus is common with TMJ...so I chalked it up to that. I had high BP after my baby was born (almost 2 yrs ago) but it eventually went down to normal after being on meds for 6 months or so. Its still normal...so I dont think that is what is causing it. I will be interested in what your doc finds out. Good luck!

I had no intentions on registering and posting (just wanted lurk/read) but after reading tons of posts about treatment for headaches/CP in the ER, I just HAD to register so I could post. I am not a nurse..I do work in the medical field though. I also have CP...have had CDH for 5+ years and TMJ for a year. I have SEVERE pain 24/7. Now the reason I wanted to post....I have only been to the ER 5 times in the last 5+ years. One was when I was pregnant and dehydrated. Got great treatment. The other 4 times were when my pain was out of control despite being on narcs for pain. Now before I tell you about my experiences I want to say this. I think the world of ALL nurse, especially the ER nurses. I know you are extremely busy. I am in no way trying to put down nurses or anyone....but I felt it was important to post this. I feel just putting it down in words will help ME feel better. PLEASE dont take offense....I believe anyone on this board would have given me much better treatment. Having said that...here goes. Each of the 4 times I went...I was told..we only give toradol for HA's. So I tried the toradol (even tho I had been given injections at my doc's office and knew it didnt work). I was willing to give it a go. Only1 one time out of 4 did it work at all...and this was because I had a different type of HA than my normal one. The toradol worked like a dream and I was back to work in no time (I worked at the hospital also). The other 3 times it didnt touch my pain. One I told the nurse/doc that...I was refused any other treatment. I basically was told by the doc....sorry but there isnt anything else we can do for you. Now im NOT a FF...I did have a pain doc, he is the one who told me to go to the ER...there was basically NO reason not to give me a shot or whatever. All I needed was for my pain to be taken down a few notches so my pain meds at home would work. I wasnt asking for an RX..I had plently of meds at home. I wont ever go back to the ER for pain..period. I felt humiliated. Even tho they didnt call me a seeker to my face...why else would they deny treatment?? Thank God I have found some meds that work for me. The last 2 years have been hell for me but things are finally starting to get better. Thanks for letting me vent and get this off my chest. I do feel better. I apologize for posting on a site for nurses which I am not. I wont post again...I will go back to lurking. I do think you all are GREAT nurses and people and I would consider myself lucky to be treated by any of you all. Take care, Sunny