Sometimes it really isn’t that big of a deal. Content has been edited for clarity.
“I’m a nurse on a floor that deals with a lot of chronic and acute pain patients.
The most recent instance was this lady from a few weeks ago that was apparently splitting the Oxycodone we were giving her in half in her mouth. Then, when the nurse’s backs were turned, she would stuff it in a pill jar. A night nurse caught her in the act and all of her belongings had to be searched. We found 20 half tablets of Oxycodone she had been stashing. She told us she was ‘saving them for her family in case they need them because it’s just so hard to get an Oxycodone prescription these days.’
I had her a few days after that, and she was having some abdominal pain (STAT x-ray showed only gas. She just really needed to pass gas). But she was screaming, claiming it was a 10, and making a huge freaking scene. She DEMANDED Dilaudid through her IV, and she wanted it to be pushed fast. Huge red flag right there. She wanted the high, not the relief. The doctor straight up said he wouldn’t give her Dilaudid because she was already on so many opiates. She then demanded Lorazepam, still through her IV of course. Doc was like fine whatever, just one time and only a low-end dose.
I was flushing her IV with normal saline first (to make sure her IV was patent) and she leans back and is like ‘Oh my god, that’s so much better already.’
Hadn’t even given her the Lorazepam yet.”
