Maybe this can be used in the ER to determine who is really in need of narcotic pain medication.
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- Treating chronic pain with narcotics and avoiding the risk of addiction
- Pain management and addiction
- Overtreating pain
- Should some doctors be restricted from prescribing narcotic pain medications?
- Opioids and back pain
- Migraines and the stigma of chronic pain medication use
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I was in the hospital after breaking my hip earlier this year. Perhaps because I was ‘guarding’ that leg ferociously I was heavily sedated with morphine before the ambulance ride and in ER. I have no primary doc, had not had any sort of prescription pain meds for about forty years, and no previous hospitalizations since the birth of my last child (no pain meds) 36 years before. I was able to answer all questions put to me, briefly, in what felt like a complete black-out, little halos around faces when I opened my eyes. I did tell them I have post-polio-syndrome and require less than usual anesthesia. During three days in the hospital I could not stay awake long enough for more than three bites at meal times (and very hungry, though I did the physical therapy easily by dint of determination. Sometimes a nice lady asked me to give her a number, one to ten, for my pain. I tried to say “none” but that wasn’t accepted so I picked a number, different ones. I was feeling NONE. I went home and have recovered VERY well. The hospital emergency room staff had commented that I am in excellent health.
My question is, shouldn’t someone really find out whether and how much pain a patient has before medicating. It seemed to take weeks to get all the brain foggers eliminated from my system.
BTW, I believe just the same that I got excellent care. Maybe I’m the oddball.
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