Sunday, June 19, 2011

"I Promise I'll Be Good This Time"




A 22 year old male came in for severe hand pain. He injected meth into his forearm a few hours prior (first time I have heard about injecting meth.) His hands were swollen, pale, and beginning to have decreased pulses.

We started and IV and gave him fluids, antibiotics, and morphine through the IV. As soon as he got the morphine, he jumped up and ran out of the ER screaming "see ya bitches!"

After this, I figured he had a chronic hand condition that he used to trick ERs into getting pain meds for. But 2 hours later he was back, and his hand was nearly black. "I promise I will be good this time" he said.

So he was admitted to the ICU on a heparin drip. He will probably loose the hand.

-ER Doc

10 comments:

RehabRN said...

That will limit the shootups, since he's bound to try it again.

Nice.

Anonymous said...

I think this proves that You guys still have a lot more to write about!

Shash said...

Holy mackeral. The things people do to screw themselves.

arzt4empfaenger said...

In combination with your chosen picture, this was shudder-worthy. But wow the things people do for getting their kicks.

tracy said...

Geeze, pretty sad. i'm, glad you guys are still here! :)

SerenityNow said...

for now.....

ER Doc

AG said...

Just out of curiosity, would an alpha blocker be of any benefit in this situation?

Jason DeVillains said...

You shoulda sent in this ER team -

http://www.worth1000.com/entries/366269/kevorkian

Anonymous said...

In Southern Illinois and parts of Kentucky and Missouri IV use of methamphetamines is not that uncommon. The result isn't over time much different from the Russian crocodile, but the areas general poverty means you can hit retirement age without having accumulated credits for social security or medicare due to the abysmal employment prospects it isn't the worst way to go out.

Melissa said...

The symptoms addicts will blow off before going in for treatment never fails to frighten me.