New Pathetic Tack
See you got to give it to drug seekers -they’re pretty creative. They’ll do just about anything to convince you to give them drugs or to create a situation where they can get more drugs.
We’ve heard of people injuring themselves purposely, having other people beat them up, or letting their teeth totally rot out of their mouth.
But recently I saw a whole new approach to this. One thing is clear- often they want to be admitted so they can keep getting IV narcotics. Ideally they get admitted for a separate problem and then just keep asking for pain meds as a piggyback.
So this lady comes in with the third episode of persistent hypoglycemia. She is not known to be a diabetic and has not been on any meds or insulin. Or so she says. The inpatient workup has been negative for any obvious cause (insulin secreting tumors, etc) However, after several meals and 2 Amps of D50 her blood sugar is still only 48. Thus she buys herself another admission for hypoglycemia. And now she’s free to hit up everybody on the floor for Q2 hour intravenous doses of Dilaudid. It’s just an odd coincidence that she’s run out of her chronic pain meds again. Of course she claims she has no idea why she keeps getting hypoglycemic. Of course she would never take anybody else’s Glyburide. Or would she….,,
Monday, June 4th 2012 at 7:44 am |
Wow, just wow. She could kill herself doing that and for what? I guess I don’t understand the mindset.
Monday, June 4th 2012 at 9:00 am |
I’m guessing the mindset that makes people do this is similar to the mindset my dog has when it rolls in something dead in my backyard.
Tuesday, June 5th 2012 at 12:03 pm |
So if this is proven, does this earn her a place in a psych unit? She is obviously a danger to herself and society (I’m assuming she doesn’t have any qualms about driving or otherwise placing others at risk).
Tuesday, June 5th 2012 at 3:43 pm |
Oh. My. Gosh. I’m still getting over the fact that someone would convince someone to beat them up just to get pain meds or even (GASP), let their teeth rot out on purpose to get pain meds. Are you serious???? That takes time to get your teeth to that point. That’s nothing short of CRAZY! For a high????? What’s next after losing one’s teeth, chop off a finger or something?
Re the lady that took someone’s meds to lower her blood sugar — just wow. I would imagine if she didn’t do it right, she could have lowered it so much that it would have cost her her life. I have a good friend who is Type 1 and when her sugar gets too low, she has a seizure (she’s brittle). She’s had so many seizures that she has to wear a brace when sleeping to keep her arm in the socket as it’s been dislocated so many times that if she lifts her arm up in a certain way, it dislocates. And people do this shit on purpose?
Must be a total pain for those in the health field to deal with these people day after day. Since I only read about it and not deal with it, I just feel sorry for those folks that their lives revolve around getting high. There can’t be any joy to their lives going from hospital to hospital in the hopes of getting pain pills just to get a high.
Wednesday, June 6th 2012 at 2:10 pm |
Whoa, who’s ordering IV dilauded for this person? We try to only give oral long acting medications – blunts the high and keeps them out of withdrawal. Also makes the hospital a lot less fun…