Symptoms pointing to one thing..but not the DX!

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

I have been enjoying and watching the thread about the poor wife that had the hubby with the kidney stones and their unfortunate experiences in the ER's. Made me think...what type of patients have you had that had one symptom and wound up being a dx of worse or better or well...a suprise!!!!!

My suprisingly worse one was when I was doing a ride along..some have seen this one.... 20 year old female, got pregnant by supposed rape, but she was so odd about medical info and her female partner was a little more upfront! She got pregant by a guy at a party on purpose because they wanted a baby, but didn't have the insurance...and the medial aide wouldn't help in planned preg...so they lied so they were covered!

Anywhooooooo...so through lie after lie after lie on medical...I started to clue into the inconsistancies. But, not before taking her out in full labor three weeks early in her appt, noting that there were tums bottles..the big ones...all over the floor! I am talking mounds of them..not one or two...they covered the floor!

Okay...so transport..lie lie lie...but I noted that I couldn't find any movement or pulse for the baby! I started to get worried, and had to finally say "dang it girl....how many tums did you take for the heartburn in your pregancy..and you better tell me the truth or you both can die!!!!!!!"..she lied again and I got ticked! Won't say what I said next..not proper or professional..but got the truth....2 of the huge bottles A DAY for the last two weeks!!!!!!!!!! Calcuim overdose..we are in trouble (she was bradycardic..go figure...poor baby!!!!!!!!!).

This seemed like a typical labor call...if my red flags didn't wave, well...I would have missed this till it was too late, and if I wasn't in that room...I would have missed it totally!

After some probelms with nurses not listening to me because they thought I was a paramedic (I pulled the whole..oh no I am a student...and they responded well to me...grrrrrr!) we were able to save baby and mother..but baby was brain damaged to a degree because his little heart was going 40! (c-section was done thank GOD!).

A normal pre labor preg needing help, and it turned out to be much more!

I don't know what happened...I do know the fact that the coverup on their part was reveiled (not by me) for insurance fraud, and I hope the child was sent to the appropriate place for dealing with the damage done by lies and denial!

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Anywhooooooo...so through lie after lie after lie on medical...I started to clue into the inconsistancies. But, not before taking her out in full labor three weeks early in her appt, noting that there were tums bottles..the big ones...all over the floor! I am talking mounds of them..not one or two...they covered the floor!

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Okay...so transport..lie lie lie...but I noted that I couldn't find any movement or pulse for the baby! I started to get worried, and had to finally say "dang it girl....how many tums did you take for the heartburn in your pregancy..and you better tell me the truth or you both can die!!!!!!!"..she lied again and I got ticked! Won't say what I said next..not proper or professional..but got the truth....2 of the huge bottles A DAY for the last two weeks!!!!!!!!!! Calcuim overdose..we are in trouble (she was bradycardic..go figure...poor baby!!!!!!!!!).

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I don't know what happened...I do know the fact that the coverup on their part was reveiled (not by me) for insurance fraud, and I hope the child was sent to the appropriate place for dealing with the damage done by lies and denial!

Why was she taking all those TUMS? She should not have a kid if she's going to lie about her medical issues and endanger the baby. It sounds like there's some other weird issues going on here.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

Two year old coming in to the clinic for burning on urination. I'm filling in and have never seen this kid before. One of the office nurses mentions that the child sure has gained a lot of weight, she didn't used to be so chubby.

Per UA she does have a UTI.

I'm checking her over, palpating her abdomen. Hmmmm. This skin texture feels rather odd, and I think I've felt this before.

I decided to plot her current ht. and wt. on the growth chart. Her weight has gone up, her height totally flattened.

I decided to go ahead and treat the UTI but to also check a TSH.

It came back in the 140's. She got referred to pedi endocrinology.

I have a niece who developed hypothyroidism in middle childhood. Her skin texture felt strange, dry and "doughy." This kiddo's skin felt exactly the same.

The two were about 10 years apart. I'd never have thought that I would have remembered!

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

OH yeah..got to give a funny one! LOL!!!!!!!!!

Male..came in looking like he just came out of Marti Gras (hello Portland Oregon in Feb???). He had bigger hair than Aretha Franklin, more sparkles than the Liberache Museum, and more revealing clothes than Cher in her best day! He was a sight to be seen..impressive and kinda ewwwwww at the same time!

He came in with a toe that had split when he tripped on a curb..no probelm..cleaned it and dressed..then all the sudden he started screaming! Blood came out from one eye...now those that know me..I can take on ANYTHING...just not EYES! I will faint (still don't know why!). Apparently his real complaint was the fact he couldn't see out one eye, and it wouldn't close...but he was too drunk (or high) to say so!

Sequinse (sp?)...you know those large glass sparklies that can look like contacts to a child that still eats glue...yeah that..well he put THREE in his eyes to make his eyes look red then green..then I guess he settled with purple cause that was his 'color'. They had rolled back (three because he couldn't get them out and kept putting new colors in!) and it hit a vessle and it was a perverse scene of like Purcillia Queen of the Desert meets Hellraiser...blood everywhere!!!!!!!!!

I guess they did save his eye...after I passed out from the sight! LOL! And as a punishment..I had to clean the room they put him in. Well...he has some incontence in the room..but that was nothing compaired to how well sparkles, glitter and feather boa feathers stick to vinal ENT chairs!!!!!! I was scooping these buggers out only to find another thousand in the cracks that didn't want to come out!!!!!!!! UHGGGGGGGGG!

SUPRISE!!!!!!!!! But then again..I should have expected more drama from this Diva huh?! LOL!

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
Why was she taking all those TUMS? She should not have a kid if she's going to lie about her medical issues and endanger the baby. It sounds like there's some other weird issues going on here.

This case was odd from the get go..the mother actually acted and spoke like this was death for her...and she wanted the baby to die! BUT...she didn't know about calcium or that taking that much tums could hurt.

She took the tums for "heart burn" which she said she had a very large probelm with last trimester. The heartburn was actually a franks breach!

I have seen suicidal pts..but she was the worse one, and in denial of it too! She didn't care about the baby, she didn't care about herself, she didn't care who she lied to...nothing! She was messed up...something I would send someone immediately to a psych inpatient involuntary for!!!!

Poor child...these are the times where licenses to concieve should be given huh? I know it is unethical..but that poor child never had a normal chance and none of it his fault!

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we had one this ws over 20 years ago man came in from one of the 'FIRST FAMILIES' of town...when aide was taking inventory of his belongings he pulled out a wad [big wad] of money, she refused to touch it and called in someone else to witness and count money [over $20,000]

i forgot what his admitting dx was but he was basically there to 'dry out'

his gardener came in every morning when the gardener left in the afternoon he could hardly walk..ditto the patient..they were both drunk as a skunk

bother fired the gardener and the brothers got into a fistfight in the room when he came to visit

you can't dry out a drunk until they want it for themselves

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

Great..I am staring at Chatsdale's avitar and drewling bad...LOL!!!!!!!

OH another...harley davidson guy having "BM probelms"...wound up being hemorhoids! I was a newbie and assigned to him....not only did he wind up laughing the entire time, even with MD exam (the MD was pissed by the way! LOL!)..but in the main area hugged me and picked me up and said.."best nurse there ever was....not to mention deals with the Sh** I throw at her and the real stuff! You promote her or I will get ya!"...

He was holding and hugging me the whole time..I nodded big time! LOL! It was so funny...oh yeah, what I told him in the room was......oh..why give up my secrets? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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