Comments on: And We’re Back

By: JohnFrangerson

JohnFrangerson — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:05:00 +0000

Nice Post.

That was well said. Always appreciate your indepth views. Keep up the great work!

John

By: xxx

xxx — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 09:11:23 +0000

I am an RN in a city hospital and treat a fair share of “drug seekers”. I’m also the wife of a man recently diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. As a nurse, I mind my own business and medicate as ordered by the doctor. If I suspect “drug seeking”, I STILL advocate for the patient as addiction is a medical problem as well. I may put in for a psych consult and try to get some help for the patient.

As the wife of someone suffering from one of the most painful conditions on the planet, I’m disgusted by doctors and nurses that automatically think “Drug Seeking” and don’t address the issue directly.

My husband is finally being seen by a competent pain specialist and is STILL afraid to complain of any pain because of the horrible treatment he received from numerous doctors during our search for a diagnosis.

For those of you who wrote about severe, unremitting pain, do some research on RSD and have your docs look into it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 07:19:06 +0000

I had an operative laparoscopy for endometriosis, which was supposed to help relieve pain. As the days went by after surgery I began feeling worse. The vicodin seemed to be making me very depressed and angry and irritable, so I told my doctor I didn’t want to take it any more. The pain never got better only worse. Three weeks later I had to call an ambulance because I was in so much pain. After the EMTs checked my blood sugar and other things they said, “All your vital signs are normal. Are you sure you want to go to the hospital?”

Yes, I think I’ll go, I said.

I had a perforated bowel, resulting in an emergency colostomy at 1 in the morning. Morphine was not controlling the pain and made me vomit. Then they tried Dilaudid, and within 12 hours I was practically scratching my skin off. Finally my surgeon tried Demerol which actually worked, but then some of the nurses would not give me the full dose as perscribed by the doctor.

I am scheduled to have a “takedown” or reversal of the colostomy next week. When I reminded my surgeon of the drugs he said, “well you had a bowel perforation! that’s why they didn’t work. Let’s try them again”

I agreed, but I have my doubts. I had the worst pain immaginable due to the sepsis and infection in addition to the surgery, but this time I am healthy, so I guess just that difference will mean better pain control.

I just don’t want to have to go through all the experimental drug coctails in order to get it right when I could just start out with what worked for me in the past.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 22:41:13 +0000

I am an ER nurse. Assesment skills and plain old intuition have enabled me to generally be right on in identifying drug seekers. I had a pt arrive by ambulance rolling her eyeballs back in her head faking a seizure, She almost fooled me until I told her I couldn’t give her anything until she answered my questions. She successfully gave me her history then proceeded with her seizure-like activity. I walked out, closed the door, then eventually abruptly re-opened the door to observe her “alone” behavior. You guessed it, not seizing..I did a drug screen which was positive for most everything. I announced to her that she would not be getting any drugs today. She pulled off all monitors while yelling profanity at me while leaving.. By the way, she was pregnant, so she came to our facility many times until she delivered..

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 22:40:58 +0000

By: Shaun

Shaun — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 20:06:04 +0000

I had recently went to the hospital, with severe pain in my back and stomach and was diagnose with kidney stones. I was given vicodin es for the pain, later the next day the pain had not been relieved so I went back to the hospital and they told me they thought I was drug seeking. How could they say that when they found kidney stones. I think sometimes doctors get carried away with labeling people especialy if they have no INSURANCE. This was not the first time with kidney stones as i am prone to them and have tried the prevantative measures, so do the doctors think I just give them to myself or what.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Mon, 02 May 2005 06:18:30 +0000

Hi. I ran across this website while researching DILAUDID. I fell off the top of my conversion van while washing it last Sunday and suffered a head injury. I was given a DILAUDID injection in my hip in the ER and had immediate chest pains and later hot and cold sensations in my head radiating around my ears. I’m wondering now if I might have had an adverse reaaction of the DILAUDID or if the effects were from the fall… It seems chest pain/heart attack is only a side effect if you are overdosed but I only had one needle’s worth. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
–Cheri

P.S. They did a EKG after repeated spasms and it came back normal.

By: ann

ann — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 02:30:02 +0000

Recently, I admitted myself to a hopital twice in 1 month. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I have degenerative disk that bulge and cause nerve pain as well as rhemathoid arthritis. My doctor prescribes 10mg percocet every 4 hrs and I recently started physical therapy and was referred to a fantastic specialist who started me on neurontin at bedtime. The hospital visits were before the specialist. The first visit I was taking twice the regular amount of percocet but it was not helping a bit, I couldn’t stand, sit, walk, it was unbearable.
The second visit I had not taken any medication that day. Both times they gave me stadol which relieved all pain.
After reading all the stories on this page, I am curious what the nurses and doctors thought of me. Did they think I was a seeker? I don’t know what else to do when I get these flair ups, It feels like I am dying! If I need to be admitted every month or two, will I be put in this catagory? I did not ask for any medication in particular, I just told them the ones they tried first didn’t help. I could barely lift my head off the pillow.
PLEASE, I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY AND ALL SUGGESTIONS AND OPINIONS, AS I WOULD BE MORTIFIED TO BE PUT IN THE CATEGORY OF A DRUG SEEKER.
I would however, appreciate true opinions, good or bad.
Thank You.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 10:31:29 +0000

Being an ER nurse, I see drug seeking on many levels. Many have learned what gets them where they want to be. Some use migraines, until that runs it’s course. Others go for kidney infections, you can cut your finger, and stick it in the urine, but we will see skin flora. Still, no way to KNOW. And yet others use chest pain.

Just the other day, we pumped some guy who was flirting and joking full with 200mg of demerol, 2mg stadol, 10mg morphine, 25mg phenergan, and still his pain was unrelieved and he signed out AMA. He was etoh at about 215(.215 by police standards)

Who knows. He was gonna buy the nurses a pizza, and was hitting on another. Unrelieved pain my ass if you can think about dating.

But pain being something you can get sued for, and being very subjective, it is difficult not to create MORE drug seekers. This doctor opened himself up if he was called as many times as he was, and kept responding with the same med.

I see a lot of this type of manipulation from drug seekers though. They will use threats, and then say, “but i am not mad at you(nurse)” to keep you on thier side. They will develop a raport as quickly as possible with the nurse, but usually demand from the doctor treatments that may or may not be plausible.

In our hospital, we have to call the nurse manager for an AMA pt. Interested to hear what you did next!

By: Ann Berg

Ann Berg — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 00:55:09 +0000

I am a 48 year old woman with SEVERE neck and shoulder pain. I have been through several procedures to try to locate the source of my pain. The next step is a Discogram, which I understand can be painful but may finally locate the source of my pain. Any comments on this procedure and what else I should be tested for?