code blog – tales of a nurse » Blog Archive » What would you do for Demerol?

June 9, 2003 | Filed in: Story Submission

I have a confession to make: I LOVE STORY SUBMISSIONS! Even if you already have a blog where you could pontificate about general medical happenings, here you can pontificate anonymously! Just click “Submit Your Story” off to the left there, and go to it.

That being said, I have a story submission from RPMcMurphy, RN. Enjoy!

I saw a previous story about a pain med seeker and it brought to mind a patient I once had on the med-surg floor. This guy complained of vague but intense abdominal pain. He writhed and wiggled and moaned. Demerol was prescribed. I had my doubts about him, but chose to assume that he was indeed in pain.

This went on for almost 2 days with no diagnosis. Of course, the dosages escalated and the call bell went off more frequently as well. Anyhooooo…..he goes in for exploratory surgery (this was 1988). I spoke with the operating surgeon post op and he shows me something. In a little zip lock bag is a small (about the size of a silver dollar) plastic spider. Made in China…you know. This guy ate it to induce pain and get meds! Not the end though:

After all this, he sues the hospital claiming sciatic nerve damage from all the IM (intramuscular) Demerol injections! I never found out the outcome, but one can only imagine that in this day and age, he got the $$ anyway and probably blew it on street drugs.

(This is me again now) Starting out as a nurse on med-surg, I once had a patient who’d had multiple surgeries and to my now more-seasoned eyes, was obviously drug seeking. He got so many Demerol shots that one night I couldn’t find anywhere to give him a shot – every single muscular place was hard with scar tissue from all the previous shots. He was there for months. I used to be irritated with him because he’d always ask for his meds a little early – and I’d always have to tell him that he’d have to wait. And he’d continue to call and annoy me.

I knew so little back then.

Share:

Comments

Yep, drug seekers are common, but – unfortunately, so are people who have had multiple surgeries for reasons other than seeking pain meds.

This is the tough part of healthcare. In order to do our jobs we sometimes end up playing cop instead of acting as healthcare providers.

I hate that part of nursing. That’s why I like kids as patients so much better.

I was recently put in hospital for the likely hood of an perferated ulcer…thank god it was as serious as they first thought and i didn’t surgery….however one of the demerol shots that was given in my right hit has cause some numbness on my thigh just above the knee….Numbness i can tolerate but the pain in that area is so sudden it’s like someone is stabbing me with a hot poker….its’been almost 4 wks into my recovery and it isn’t getting any better…i can literally put out a cigarette on that part of my leg and i wouldn’t feel a thing…..PLEASE HELP…WHAT SHOULD I DO…IS IT PERMANENT AND WHAT CAN BE DONE…..I CAN’T TAKE MUCH MORE
….

Carla, I’d go see a doctor.

i had an hole in my stomach,very painful,it was an abcess

cont:i have had a lot of abcesses
so they think i am doing this myself,i can only take demerol in the hosptial,now days hosptials dont give demerol anymore so i have
to go to other hosptials,how does
that look just going to a hosp.for
demerol.I have been hosptialize alot.

I was seaeching for info about pain caused from demeral shots..Three weeks ago I had rotator cuff surgery and I was in the center overnight and was allowed demerol shots about every six hours I believe. I have had very bad pain in my thighs since. Will this go away? It is really bad
Thanks
Sheryl

This is for Carla. I had en ER visit yesterday for a fall and they gave me a shot of Demerol. Now my hip and outer thigh are completely numb. I am concerned. Can you please tell me what became of your numbness? Did it go away?

I had a hysterectomy a week ago. They gave me demerol shots in my legs. Now the right thigh is completely numb. I was wondering about the above writings and would like some answers. Anyone?

I too am recovering from a hysterectomy, its been 3 weeks and after demerol shots in my hips my thighs are numb (more the right one) and there is a strange prickly pain if i rub my hand over my thighs. I cannot find answers anywhere….Can anyone enlighten me here? Will it go away?

is there demerol or equivalent

I do like demeral anytime I have pain it seems to relaxe and make me happy and easy on my self

Am looking for demerol injections. Can you tell me where it is available

i had a demerol injection in Nov. 28,2005 for pain (had a hysterectomy(.I now have numbness and gosh awful pain that hasn’t went away. I have had PT but it didn’t help only hurt it more. what should I do? Any suggestions? Should demerol not be given in the thigh or buttock area?

One thing i want to say is that at age 4 to when i was 18 my mom was taking demerol from her job as a nurse. She would do this with ease and would also make trips to the hospital with “stomach pains” and well, you know…Any ways i got fed up and decided to take all of her needles and gave them to the police, and called her boss… I was just 17 when i did this, and i moved to my dads house after this. Crazy and true stuff. My mom would have my sister put the needle in her but when she was too high.

this is not a guestion about demerol,but i had a b-12 shot in my left arm and it is numb and hurts.What causes this.I had them before and never had this problem. Thanks

i have been taking methadone for pain or 4 years and it is not doig anything anymore. Should I swithch for tolerance at this point>? I think it’s a good idea.

samething. i took an injection shot for malaria,pssibbly cloroquine injection and i think it was administered in the wrong nerve,affecting my sciatic nerve i guess.four the the passed 2years, i ve been having off and on pain inside my buttock and behind and infront of my thigh.sometimes i feel that my knee is depriciating or breakng down.do u think i might have permenent damage to my body?is their a cure to correct the injury?or something i need to find out before it get so bad to remedy.

I had gall bladder/stones surgery about 3 yrs ago…my life has not been the same. I had demerol shots every 3 hrs for over 3 weeks (125 mg). Intense pain, level ten pain. I also had a stomach abcess, not sure if that was caused from the surgery or whatever…..I live in a country where u can’t get a direct answer and can’t sue the govt (the med. system)….i have scar tissue on both my hips…it’s completely numb in those areas, and when they tried to inject it after they realized i could not longer take it in the thigh muscles…they tried for the leg muscle…a nurse advised me against that…saying it could collapse my leg….so i refused and got shots in the arm….the WHOLE thing was a disaster….i feel for anyone going thru that and that kind of pain…i’m not one of those “medicine seekers” but have had problems with pain meds and dependence on them in the next years…THEY made me this way (no that’s not denial or refusing responsibilty for MY actions, thoughts) ….I was in and out of the hosptial for the first year and even had to be air ambulanced to a metro hospital to help “repair” the damage….all this from a minor procedure (in and out of hosptial in one day) …the whole situtaion angers me beyond belief, and my life has changed for the worse…. thankfully i am changing it all around, but a little too late….it’s been three yrs of hell, trying to get a grip back on my life….work, family,finances (nothing left from a dual income of six figures) relationship etc…..my ensuing addiction was costly….i pray for all of you going thru similar stuff….

I went in with sever back pain, they thought it was a kidney stone but it turned out to be a ruptured ovarian cyst. They gave me a shot of demerol. They were going to do it in my hip but my back was in such pain I couldn’t roll on my side so she did my leg. It has been about 4 weeks and my upper thigh is still numb and will will have sharp pains when something hits it. Will this ever go away????

I had surgery one week ago… to determine that I have endometriosis and to cauterize the lesions if found. Well I have it and they did…I was in so much pain coming out of surgery and for hours after, I ended up getting a shot of demerol in my hip/upper buttox and ever since it has been numb in that area and when ever I get up from a sitting position it feels like the tissue under that area is just ripping and burning, it’s so painful, and not going away…could this be an allergic reaction?

suffering severe chronic pain. my morphine does NOT help. Would demerol help better?

I was in the hospital a couple months ago for a splenectomy. I’ll tell you, demerol is addicting. I kept track of every hour i could take it. but it did feel good. i would love to have some right now

i just wanted to make a comment about cj jr. for years i took this man to the hospital because he was in pain, his family got tired of taking him. i believe he was in some pain but mostly he was addicted to pain medicine. he would go to any length to get it. i left about 14 yrs ago and always wondered what happened to him. deep down inside i knew. i just wish i could’ve helped him. his family knew what was going on! they could’ve helped him to!!!!!!!

How did it cost to start up this blog…I want to start my own.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

So, what brought you to the hospital today?

Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Author

I have been an Intensive Care nurse for 11 years. This blog is about my experiences as a nurse, and the experiences of others in the healthcare system - patients, nurses, doctors, paramedics. We all have stories!

Comments

Twitter

Search

Categories

Spam Blocked

Recent Comments

Archives

Author

Find Me

I Love to Play

Nursing

Med Blogs

Other Ways to Leave

Meta