What was the MOST ridiculous thing a patient came to the ER for?

And did you have to treat them?

I am just curious. Your stories always seem to either crack me up or shake my head in amazement.

Thanks for sharing ?

What was she trying to preserve?

Well in our country preservatives=condoms.....

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.

My one health teacher told me of people using perservatives thinking it could be used as birth control jeeze!

I know when I was an infant my mom couldn't get a peice of hair that some how wrapped around my big toe. It actually turneed blue and she could not get it off so she took me to the ER and they got the hair out!

Also my dad a copeder i'm discovering is a HUGE freaking out can't breath person!!! Can't blame him but he was allways hyper and now that he's having resp problems he's NUTS! Ok not over the top but anyway every now and then but more frequent he'll get bronchitis or i think it's more an exacberation of copd that he needs antibitics. Anyway he was sent home with zithromax and took the one pill that day and at home our power went out. We only have electical administered O2 because he only needs it occasionally not that much at all although he probably should wear it at night anyway. He was CRAZED because he had levaquin before and that worked faster. No matter what i told him that all these are pills and takes some time to work he was a nervous wreck and was insistant he needed levaquin. Then his lips were blue and no o2 from no power so he ended up in the ER. I work on med surg at the hospital and yeah I was concern he was blue but there probably wasn't much to do but he wouldn't listen. So the ER doctor came and me dad is freakin out i need levaquin this isn't working so they gave him levaquin and then a prescription with sm and sent him home. I was a little embaressed but you know they admit people with less severe symptoms so i don't know. I know one time his doctor for the same condition wanted him admitted and he did not want too. Probably didn't want to face up he's really sick. Yes he still smokes. I'm telling you all he has tried so many times. His pulmonoligist even tells me at work he's never met a pt so guity about it and trying so hard but won't kick it.

Anyway these stories are interesting! Although agravating at least it makes you smile! I had a psych pt faking seizures on med surg and it just drove me bonkers because the md didn't know WHAT to do with her every test was neg then sugesst to go to psych and she freaks "I"m NOT crazy!" Oh boy but I have to smile! She was screaming at me then the next day writing notes to me and apolagizing for the way she acted! It was so fustrating but I find myself smiling right now and just shaking my head!

I allways love to hear about funky ways people got cellulitis although i mean not that crazy but like if some one's cat bit them, dog bite, and once a poor guy vacationing in like the bahahmas and stepped on a conch chell and got a NASTY infection had come home early ew!

:p

Well in our country preservatives=condoms.....

ROFLMAO..............

That sure isn't what we call em here.......we have another word {besides condoms, that is} but I won't mention it.

I never would have connected "preservatives" with "condoms", tho.

The word preservative is a french word (from preserver).In our country we speak 3 languages: french, english & arabic.....Ya lebaneese people did you hear about these days???? :p

The word preservative is a french word (from preserver).In our country we speak 3 languages: french, english & arabic.....Ya lebaneese people did you hear about these days???? :p

You learn something new every day!!! :rotfl:

What was she trying to preserve?

LMAO!!! I think we all know what she was trying to preserve. :rotfl: Just kidding, I know that preservatives = condoms.

These stories are hilarious!

I've gained some insight though - I've always had something against this ER doctor that sent my mother and me home when she brought me in at 4 years old. I had broken my clavicle at my daycare center, and my teachers and my mother could tell by palpating it that it was broken. The doctor assured my mother it wasn't broken however, because I "wasn't crying." He wouldn't have an x-ray done, or even palpate the bone. He sent us home, making my mother feel like she was a typical-overreactant-first-time-mother. The next morning when I woke up screaming because my shoulder hurt so bad and I couldn't sit up in my bed, my mom rushed me to my pediatrition. He had an x-ray done, and guess what...it was broken.

Like I said, I've always had something against that doctor....but after reading some of these posts, you really can't blame the guy. How was he supposed to know the difference between a true emergency and parent just overreacting? Oh yeah...it's his job. But oh well - Like I said, after reading these I can see how it could happen.

Well....here's a few:

1. "the baby's crying." (no signs of illness, just crying)

2. "My pee is yellow" (huh? wonder what colour it used to be...)

3. "A plastic container fell on my head" (no injury)

4. Toothache x1hr

5. Vomited once (this guy took an ambulance in, lives 1block from the hospital)

6. Nausea (patient said, "I have a vomiting phobia")

7. Scratch on the pinkie finger (took an ambulance)

omg...this stuff is just crazy..and i thought i was a nut job for taking my kid (who has astma) in for coughing non-stop.. this was before i got the nebulizer btw.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

I liked the 35 yo guy who came in last week. By EMS of course. He had been out doing his yard, and a Blackbird flew down and pecked him on top of his head. He came in crying yet. He also stated he loved birds but that now he was going to have an overwhelming fear of all birds. Also that he was going to suffer from PTSD because of this.

Yes he lives at home with his Mommy, and she rode in the ambulance with him as she didnt want to leave his side. No wonder he has never married.

Diagnosis- a Major Wimp

I went to my PCP and after having me get a chest xray which came back clear he said it was a pinched nerve. I have had pinched nerves before and none ever felt like that one. I am thankful it wasn't more serious.

O/T Pathetic as it may sound around here it is no wonder people go to the ER rather than their PCP. I have a minimum of a 2 hour wait when I go to my PCP and there are 3 Drs there they take visitors from pharmaceutical companies inbetween patients :rolleyes: Unfortunately that was the only place my insurance covered. I recently changed carriers so I am hoping for someplace better.

Not to hijack this thread but did they check for gallbladder ds? That is exactly what I felt like when I had gallstones and had an attack. Had several that the pain went away as soon as I got to the ED so I went home (stupid, but I was 20yo at the time). Finally on xmas eve I had one so bad it put me in the hospital for 5 days, then sx. two weeks later. I imagine they drew blood and tested, but I thought I would mention it.

and do you have to treat them?

I am just curious. Your stories always seem to either crack me up or shake my head in amazement.

Thanks for sharing :)

The craziest thing I've ever seen is a patient coming in to have a qtip removed from his ear. The qtip had broken in half....for all the time he spent complaining about his wait he could have focused his attention on simply taking his fingers and pulling it out.

Also, people calling an ambulance for tooth pain.

One of the most irritating is when a local nursing home sends a pt that should have stayed there. For instance, I received a pt the nurse at the nursing home stated no BM for 4 days, pt comes in EMS d/t bedbound, as soon as they come through the door you could smell the poop, found pt had pooped all over the place, cleaned pt up xray showed nl abd. sent pt back. found out they gave pt lax 10 min prior and didn't wait for it to act, sent to us to clean up. :angryfire . Just my luck.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
One of the most irritating is when a local nursing home sends a pt that should have stayed there. For instance, I received a pt the nurse at the nursing home stated no BM for 4 days, pt comes in EMS d/t bedbound, as soon as they come through the door you could smell the poop, found pt had pooped all over the place, cleaned pt up xray showed nl abd. sent pt back. found out they gave pt lax 10 min prior and didn't wait for it to act, sent to us to clean up. :angryfire . Just my luck.

Now really. Do you expect anything else from Nursing Home nurses. Granted there are a few that really love their work and really love the elderly.

All the rest Ive met are losers who cant cut it working anything else.

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