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Common to see quick pain relief in ER?


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So I shadowed in an ER recently and I was suprised to see how quickly pain can go down after being given pain meds in the ER. The patient came in with a pain near 8-9 and felt like a 3-4 like 5 mins after being given pain meds. Is this a common occurrence you guys see in the ER?

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Unless it was parenteral pain meds, that's probably not a pharmacologic reaction.  What did you specifically see?

 

I saw a lady with abdominal pain, I think because of gallstones, and she went from severse pain to like no pain in 15 mins. Is that not common?

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Had nothing to do with the pain meds. Biliary colic is just that--COLICKY pain--crescendo-decrescendo, and cyclic. You probably saw her at the top of her misery scale and then it settled down.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

Well I also saw others types of patients with pain. One lady had some type of disease that made it difficult to pee and another also had abdominal pain. Both went from like an 9 to a 3-4 in less than 30 mins.

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Well I also saw others types of patients with pain. One lady had some type of disease that made it difficult to pee and another also had abdominal pain. Both went from like an 9 to a 3-4 in less than 30 mins.

dilaudid and fentanyl work very well when used appropriately.

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Come to think of it, there are a lot of things that look like magic in the ER, particularly resurrecting someone with Narcan or an amp of D50.

 

But I still think the best is giving benadryl to someone with an oculogyric crisis. It feels like a successful exorcism.

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I was under the impression that the OP was shadowing in the ED. This doesn't sound like someone that is in their clinical year to me. 

 

good point.  I withdraw my sarcastic twit tone.  However, I still maintain the need for good HCE prior to PA school!

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I agree totally SHU-CH...it's almost like waving a wand and will definitely get you on someone's Christmas card list.  Done that a couple of times - makes for a satisfying shift.

 

Though not an oculogyric crisis, I remember my first week on psych when we had a consult for a patient "writhing on the floor in pain" who also incidentally had poorly controlled schizophrenia that the medical floor RN's were liberally dosing with Haldol.  Walked up, saw a dude with wax face, arms stiffly flexed at 90 degrees, shirt off, wandering out to the corridor, lying on the floor for about 30 seconds, walking back and sitting on his bed, repeat ad infinitum.  He'd politely excuse himself as he walked by.  My attending tried moving his arms, got up wandered out to the nursing station and promptly reamed the charge a new one since dude was totally akithetic.  Had a recent encounter at a code white with a similar problem - they looked at me like I was a four headed alien when I asked for Benadryl or Cogentin instead of Ativan.  This dude had so much dope on board it took about 3 days to settle him, since they kept adding Haldol on Haldol.  Still irritates me how people give meds without being able to recognize serious side effects...especially in the last case, since it literally ended up in a CQB situation.

 

SK

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Come to think of it, there are a lot of things that look like magic in the ER, particularly resurrecting someone with Narcan or an amp of D50.

 

But I still think the best is giving benadryl to someone with an oculogyric crisis. It feels like a successful exorcism.

Ill never forget pushing D50 into a patient with a glucose <15. Resurrection is an appropriate term. Guy sat straight up, wide eyed, wondering who the hell we were and what was going on. The practice of medicine is paved with excitement.

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