Read on Twitter
I have to say something. I got asthma my first year as a new grad. I kept having trouble breathing during emergencies. It was winter. When I saw my doctor, I was diagnosed with asthma but my colleagues continued to say I had panic attacks. The rumor followed me for 9 years. https://twitter.com/damndrosetweets/status/1196804341753139200
That’s right. They spun it around the hospital, that even though I stopped having breathing problems during emergencies, because of MEDICATION for ASTHMA, that I couldn’t handle stress. I think it’s one of the reasons I wasn’t able to advance there.
I am CALM during emergencies. So calm that I have to say “please do not assume that the lack of alarm in my expression is a lack of alarm,” and then swing into action, calm the entire time.
This last week, in spite of documentation and being obviously in recovery from bronchitis, I had to deal with people who thought I called in because I just didn’t want to work.
I don’t even have sick time yet.
So how does that work?
I don’t even have sick time yet.
So how does that work?
People do fake things. I’ve seen it more than I like. I generally still try to find out WHY someone is choosing to fake THAT symptom. You can manipulate equipment, you can do a lot of things to make your caregivers think you are sicker than you are.
If you’re having anxiety then you should tell your caregiver. If someone is short of breath, their caregiver should treat that seriously. If they are faking, it’s going to show up. What’s gonna happen? They are going to get tests and maybe albuterol.
This has been the next alarming phase of the “opiate crisis.”
The basic assumption that ALL people on pain meds for chronic pain are on them to get high.
When you have pain, FYI, you don’t get stoned. You may get sleepy, but it’s not a “high” like ppl who abuse opiates get.
The basic assumption that ALL people on pain meds for chronic pain are on them to get high.
When you have pain, FYI, you don’t get stoned. You may get sleepy, but it’s not a “high” like ppl who abuse opiates get.
But... if people who are dependent on opiates for chronic pain and find the rug yanked out from under them (I saw on a pain group that yet another pain clinic in the South has suddenly closed doors, putting patients at risk of withdrawal and serious problems) ....
I swear we are being pushed to find opiates on the street. That seems like what the real issue is. Then we can be arrested. Then we can be the cause of the next HIV epidemic. Then opiate patients are, all of us, horrible, faking losers, suspect for using heroin.
Take the whole "THC is a gateway drug" nonsense. My doctor was supportive when I mentioned wanting to try medical marijuana. It didn't work for me but I also knew I wouldn't lose my current pain regimen for trying.
CBD has a mild effect, but it's SO expensive.
CBD has a mild effect, but it's SO expensive.
My father, an Air Force veteran who had his spine rearranged in an accident in Alaska while on duty, asked his VA doctor about even trying medical marijuana& was quite abruptly told he would lose and not regain ANY of his current pain regimen. If they found weed, he was screwed.
People are going to have pain from injury and from chronic illness. And we have a couple of options: improve people's access to non pharmacological pain relief methods while providing them with pain management and hopefully tapering down, but never OFF because shit happens OR
We can decide that veterans who have sustained injuries, that nurses like me, who have hypermobility syndrome and have been injured at work, only to find it caused chronic pain years later.
And when it comes to someone faking shortness of breath, sometimes if someone is faking, and you stay calm, and you go through the different steps of your assessment and show them you want to know what is wrong, they might actually tell you.
How horrible does someone's life have to be that they will come into a hospital, where they know how they have to act to get the treatment they need, only to be mocked by the staff? What is causing them to need to do this?
We (nurses especially) are voted again and again the most trusted profession but how are people supposed to trust us if we do not enter our nurse/patient relationships from a trusting place.
And yes. That may mean you have to deal with frustrating patients who may be faking.
And yes. That may mean you have to deal with frustrating patients who may be faking.
But we also should look at who we say are faking the most.
It's Black women. The group of people in the United States most likely to receive poor care because they are not believed.
And they aren't faking. Black women are DYING because of a lack of trust from their providers.
It's Black women. The group of people in the United States most likely to receive poor care because they are not believed.
And they aren't faking. Black women are DYING because of a lack of trust from their providers.
