#emergencyroomableism

#emergencyroomableism

I was originally going to go for ERableism, but I figured that ER might not be an immediately recognized abbreviation in the hashtag context. It also took me a little time to post this because I’m remembering more and more instances of this happening to me and it’s been unsettling.

I’m a pain patient and recently I got kicked out of an ER. I have acid reflux and a herniated disk among other things. When my acid reflux starts cyclical vomiting, if I don’t address the pain in my upper stomach, the rest won’t follow. In the past they treated me that way, usually with dilaudid, especially the one time I was admitted for 3 days. Now it’s their standard treatment for stomach issues, doesn’t matter I’ve been treated with dilaudid like 5 times before for this same thing. NOW it’s a problem.

Then after treating me with what they wanted to, I ask for a second round because it wasn’t enough. They said they would talk about it then came back with discharge papers. They looked me up on some registry and found out I was patient at pain clinic and signed a paper saying no RXs for pain relief from other doctors and so they couldn’t treat me. When I told my doctor he said that’s ridiculous, the contract is for other doctors not the ER!

So why did they kick me out? The pain in my stomach comes in waves, and when it’s at its worst it’s a 10, and you will do anything, and I mean anything to make it go down. I sometimes NEEDED to vomit to get the pain down 10 minutes of relief. They caught me putting my finger down my throat, and I guess assumed I was always making myself throw up, I was not, and that it was to get pain meds, it was not. I needed pain relief, I was desperate, the dose of meds was wearing off and they were hemming and hawing about more diclofenac and stomach meds.

To anyone wondering why I would do something that gives the impression of a drug seeker, all I have to say is Level 10 pain on and off for hours, nothing else helps, what the fuck would you do?

So now I’m afraid to go back to this ER. This is the same ER with the doctor that almost killed me when I was 8 by reading my x-rays wrong then verrbally attacked my mom for not having insurance.

Same ER that when I had that back spasm so bad I couldn’t stand up straight, the nurse wouldn’t let me use the wheelchair to go the front door. “If your back is that bad you’d be admitted” I was discharged bc I had a clean x-ray and my state of mind made me recall symptoms wrong. I should have answered yes to some things but forgot, that would have hinted at my as of then undiagnosed herniated disk. In any case, I was discharged with meds and to follow up with my doctor. I clearly couldn’t stand up straight, but no, I couldn’t use a wheelchair to go the exit and wait for my ride home. That was fucking cruel. Took two more months to diagnosed my degenerative disk disease when the spasm went away but the pain did not.

I’m scared now that if I need to go to that ER which is too conveniently close to go elsewhere, that they won’t treat me. I’ve never felt more humiliated and hurt than what they did to me that day they kicked me out. I had received enough IV fluids to rehydrate that I took 200mg of tramadol all at once and somehow got through it.

I’m scared to go back to a place that’s supposed to help me in my time of medical need, and that’s fucked up!

So now you’ve read my story, please feel free to reply or make your own post using the hastag:

About 3 years ago, I had a particularly bad flare. My albuterol pump and my nebulizer treatments were not helping me breathe. I was extremely fatigued, was having a hard time breathing, and incredibly bad chest pains. Walking in my own apartment put me completely out of breath and sent me into coughing fits. 

I went to the ER and the doctor that saw me insisted I was fine, despite needing several treatments in the ER and my oxygen levels not being great. He asked me to walk in around to see how my fatigue was and I told him I didn’t feel better. I was sent home with no steroids. 

Two days later I’m back in the ER. My condition was so bad that I was hooked up to an IV, sent for x-rays, had bloodwork drawn because the doctor was extremely concerned I might have pneumonia. I almost had to be hospitalized. Luckily my lungs were clear and I was finally given the steroids I needed to be okay. 

Continued. Part 2.

I had been throwing up for a week, it started with every thirty minutes then it let up to once every hour, then back to thirty minutes. It fluctuated like this the entirety of the week, I got no sleep and wasn't able to keep anything down.

I, again, hesitated to go to the ER because of past times. I was taken by my best friend when she came to check on me because I apparently looked like walking death.

At the ER I was triaged immediately and told my BP was low, pulse was high, ekg was erratic, fever was 103F, and oxygen was 94%. I was put on oxygen, an IV was placed, ekg and BP monitoring was started.

It sounded really serious and they were treating it seriously but instead of giving me a room, a bed, or even a wheelchair I was sent back to the waiting room with all of the machines. I was given meds but privacy wasn't taken into consideration at all, like the rest of the people in the waiting room kept commenting on my state and asking for me to at least get something to lay on. I soon began puking again and passed out, face planting into the tile floor. I was then given a wheelchair with restraint straps so I wouldn't fall.

Next I was given more meds to maybe control my crazy heart rate and bring my stats to more normal levels. Labs came back that because of my puking I had super low potassium, iron, sodium, and a bunch of other stuff. I don't remember the details. They started giving me iv electrolytes, potassium, etc. During this time I got no pain medication only fluids, heart meds, stomach meds, and nutrient stuff. I was in so much pain.

I was still in the waiting room being treated and strapped to a wheelchair. Others came by and helped get me blankets, a wet cloth, and attempted to get me a bed.

After six hours and lots of fluids and meds my stats finally leveled out and I had slowed down with the puking. I hadn't been moved from the waiting room.

The doctor decided that since I had leveled out I was going to be discharged. One of the nurses told me that I should be admitted because I was so close to having a heart attack and seizures but the doctor didn't believe I was that bad because I was able to smile and laugh.

I was discharged and went home. I had to go back to the ER a day later with the same problems but with worse stats. I was admitted and they were finally able to get everything chill.

#emergencyroomableism

I actually have another ER story I didn’t mention, bc it happened in a different ER when I was living with roommates. I got discharged immediately after finding out I had a huge ovarian cyst, not appendicitis. This was like 11 years ago, before I was disabled. I had a cyst the size of a grapefruit but since it wasn’t appendicitis, they told me to go home and follow up.

Problem? The medicine wore off and I was in so much pain I couldn’t stand straight to walk. They gave me an oxy script but they refused any medicine from that point on. I begged them to give me something so I could get to the pharmacy. They wouldn’t. I had to call my roommate who got a friend with a car to pick me up. He sat with me as I writhed in agony and my friend filled the script for me. Waiting for them to come while sitting outside the ER was one of the the most painful moments of my life until the past 3 years.

Gosh I have so many stories so I'll do multiple posts.

I was experiencing pain so bad I was fainting but I insisted that I did not want to go to the ER because of previous experiences. My mom finally convinced me and off we went, I sat in the empty waiting room for over 2 hours whilst vomiting, fainting, and having body tremors. Then they put me in a room and I had to wait for another 30 minutes before I was even seen. I was prescribed fluids (that was it though) and it took 4 nurses to secure a vein. Then I had to wait till the fluids ran through to see a doctor, mind you I was crying, fainting, puking, and thought I was going to die. The doctor ordered morphine after waiting for over like 3 hours at this point, nausea, stomach, and muscle relaxing meds. I was so relieved then he wanted to get scans of my abdomen and pelvic regions both ultrasounds and CT. The radiology tech came and grabbed me and got the scans done. When I got back to my room i still hadn't gotten the ordered meds and was writhing. The techs kept telling me that I might have ruined my scans because I couldn't hold still all that long. An hour later (I'm still puking, passing out, and getting worse) the doc tells me they can't see anything wrong besides several very large cysts. He wanted to discharge me.

Ugh. I still hadn't gotten pain or stomach meds, all I had received was fluids. I refused to be discharged because they did find something and I wasn't getting better. The doctors literally kicked me out then declaring I was med seeking.

I had to go to a different ER 3 days later with 2 grapefruit sized cysts that had partially ruptured. I had to have emergency surgery and almost died from the ensuing infections.