Pre-planning Emergency Visits

[Changing4Best]

My local hospital knows all my medication allergies. If I get shipped out to another hospital, I think they ship out the allergies list with me, but I am not sure about that! I think I will check, next time I go there.

I have a sheet in my purse with all my medications and allergies listed on it. I realize you say that you have a "reaction" to this medication, a bad one, but to simplify things, I would just list it as an allergy, because they can understand that in a hurry and in the ER, let's face it, they are always in a hurry!

 

[joeylittle]

Snooooopy, thanks for explaining.

Question: did you know that you were sinking into an emergency situation? When you look back on what just happened, what was the earliest sign that things were going wrong for you - and how much time passed between that and needing to go to the ER?

 

[Snoooopy]

Joey,
Yes, I knew I was sinking into an emergency situation. My memory is very foggy regarding the events of the past few weeks and I'm still having problems forming memories. I can't recall exactly when I knew I was going to make a suicide attempt, but if I recall correctly I was formulating it all in my mind over a few days. I have been asked repeatedly, and yes it was a true attempt with a desire to die. It was supposed to be successful, I wasn't supposed to make it through. Many aspects of my life have been spiraling out of control over the past few months. I was crying out for help and those around me have (now, post attempt) admitted that they didn't want to hear my cries for help. I was told on Friday by one person that he ignored me because he didn't want to deal with me. Now this person feels guilty and is trying to make up for it now. Sorry if I have rambled too far away from your questions. The earliest signs of things going wrong actually started a few months before. That is, the first thoughts of not wanting to live due to things happening/possibly about to happen in my life. The actual serious thoughts about making an attempt happened a few days before.

 

[joeylittle]

but if I recall correctly I was formulating it all in my mind over a few days.

OK. That's very good that you can notice when it starts.

That is the time to start getting help. In this case, because you were moving towards a serious attempt - the thing to do would have been to contact your psych and get admission to a larger hospital with more services available. It takes a few days to put things like that into motion, sometimes - but as long as you are in communication with your doc, you'll be ok.

It is always better to be admitted, rather than relying on emergency services. As you experienced, sometimes you aren't seen by psych personnel.

Do you think you could talk with your psychiatrist about this? And would you have a way of getting to a hospital closer to your psych?

 

[Snoooopy]

OK. That's very good that you can notice when it starts.

That is the time to start getting help....

I'm not sure where my psych has admitting privileges. Or if he even has them anywhere at all. His private practice is on the north side of a major city, the clinic he directs is on the south side. (I think he's a workaholic!) Between the two there has got to be a few dozen hospitals I'm thinking. I was once admitted to a psych hospital close to him, where he used to work, but since he had no current affiliation with them, I was outside of his care for the time being.

I feel like I'm back where I was, no desire to live. I won't make an attempt though as I'm not at that point. I just feel stuck and hopeless as I didn't meet my deadline of getting better on time. (Long story.) I have a therapy appointment today with a new therapist but I have no hope she'll be able to help me. I think she's just an intake specialist who will try to match me with the right person. I have no hope for tomorrow as the receptionist told me "all our therapists work with PTSD" after I inquired about getting a PTSD therapist.

I'm just very scared.

 

[EmmaOwl]

to simplify things, I would just list it as an allergy, because they can understand that in a hurry

I've done this. On my charts it says I am allergic to IRON. It sounds absurd but I put this in my chart b/c anytime I landed in a hospital, the ER or even a normal visit to the doctor, they'd give me iron just for the heck of it - I was tall and so skinny and a dreadful number of medical professionals decided that I must be anorexic. (I was not. I ate like a champ and had a ridiculously high metabolism - which, hey, is from the same weird genetic issue w/the iron. You can imagine that this did wonders for my self-esteem as a teenage girl, that I was so skinny I must be starving myself. Ha!)

Anyway this happened over and over. It took me years to go ahead and take that plunge putting iron into allergy-land.

There's no space for "this person has X [rare genetic condition] that causes too much iron buildup and overload..." blah blah. So I made a decision, that I'm allergic to iron. Now it's in all the records. All of that is important for my health, but it is too much to explain in a rush.
- it sounds so DUMB, but I know that allergies, that's one thing they are very careful of... so at least they know to check. Then there is time to explain, later.

 

[Snoooopy]

I've done this. On my charts it says I am allergic to IRON. It sounds absurd but I put this in my char...

I'm so scared that if one of my only two psych meds ends up on an allergy list, I'll end up regretting it if/when these records are transferred. Or even if/when I end up in their psych ward.

Yes, the med of issue is one of two meds I use to stay stable. Hence why this is such a sticky situation.

I just want to put the med on a "do not administer unless the patient is lucid and responsive" list. Lol. I know such a list doesn't exist, and I'd only be given the drug on an emergency basis anyway. I just need to be cognizant enough to have a conversation with them about the drug and where it comes from. Otherwise I'm not to be administered that drug.

I think the next step is to talk to hospital admins and determine what big pharma company makes their generic version that I was administered. Unfortunately the generic brand I can't use is a widespread brand as it's found in Target stores amongst others. Since it's a matter of getting hold of my personal records, I should be able to get a hold of this info.

 

[joeylittle]

Snooopy, I also encourage you to make a plan with your psychiatrist for being admitted as an inpatient, rather than handled by the ER.

Also, your psych should update your file with the med info, in case the hospitals are all networked - that means they'd see your interactions list no matter where you were.