It's horrible to be labeled a drug seeker
I would if I wasn't so doped up that my memory is suspect. But I'll think twice before going to THAT ER. It's a micro-hospital satellite of teh bigger hospital and only 5 miles from home. It seemed better to go to the closer one as my pain was escalating, and I was worried it was a ruptured cyst (was I bleeding internally?) or a twisted bowel (was I killing some bowel by not getting it seen?) or kidney stones (because I'd had to get a full bladder to the point of serious pain.... retrospectively it was probably painful because there wasn't any room with all that stuffed colon).
But it's definitely not on my list of places to go unless I think it's a huge emergency.
But it's definitely not on my list of places to go unless I think it's a huge emergency.
~Lady Lithia~ 200 lbs lost!
March 9, 2011 - Coccygectomy!
I chased my dreams, and my dreams, they caught me!
I'm sorry you're having to go through so much, both the health problems and the medical personnel just assuming that everyone in the er is a drug seeker. Yes, there are many people who do go to the er for that reason, and the staff has to be diligent. I don't know if maybe they just get jaded and start to think that everyone is seeking drugs, but it sure doesn't make the rest of us, who are looking for a resolution to our medical problems, feel better to be treated like some kind of low life.
I hope you are feeling better, and that you get the results from your tests soon.
I hope you are feeling better, and that you get the results from your tests soon.
Thanks. As I mentioned, my hair IS green, so that might be the problem. I'm too "alternative" with green hair. So they just thought I was a druggy. And it's so funny because I'm so much the antithesis of a druggy in so many ways.
~Lady Lithia~ 200 lbs lost!
March 9, 2011 - Coccygectomy!
I chased my dreams, and my dreams, they caught me!
I am so sorry you had to go through that!! I hope you find some real relief soon 
Laura in Texas
53 years old; 5'7" tall; HW: 339 (BMI=53); GW: 140 CW: 170 (BMI=27)
RNY: 09-17-08 Dr. Garth Davis
brachioplasty: 12-18-09 Dr. Wainwright; lbl/bl: 06-28-11 Dr. LoMonaco
"May your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears."
Thank you Laura. One nice benefit is that I'm not nearly as backed up as I was before, and the scale is dropping because of that.
I begin to realize though that I have a tendency to neglect my own well-being when I focus on work. That's the big deal. I must learn to not let my work overshadow my well-being.
I begin to realize though that I have a tendency to neglect my own well-being when I focus on work. That's the big deal. I must learn to not let my work overshadow my well-being.
~Lady Lithia~ 200 lbs lost!
March 9, 2011 - Coccygectomy!
I chased my dreams, and my dreams, they caught me!
I didn't get anything like that. Hubby says that if I hadn't been so sharply questioned by the first doc, then I wouldn't have suspected that the person who took my blood was being cruelly sadistic. But he sure was the WORST I've ever had. Prior to my RNY, it took NINE tries to get an IV started, and even that wasnt' nearly as painful as the guy who took my blood, getting my vein with the first attempt.... it just was twice as painful as my gut pain.
I was in such a twilight zone of pain though that I don't know if it was really as I remember it. But it absolutely did seem as though he had a seriously negative attitude towards me, and I'm pretty sure they did a drug test on me too to see how drugged up I was. (yes, I took two extra oxycontin, I was in serious PAIN).
I was in such a twilight zone of pain though that I don't know if it was really as I remember it. But it absolutely did seem as though he had a seriously negative attitude towards me, and I'm pretty sure they did a drug test on me too to see how drugged up I was. (yes, I took two extra oxycontin, I was in serious PAIN).
~Lady Lithia~ 200 lbs lost!
March 9, 2011 - Coccygectomy!
I chased my dreams, and my dreams, they caught me!
Wow I am really sorry you had to go through that. (I did have to laugh about how the green hair might have colored their view of you, though. I didn't know you had switched to green, BTW... Would love to see a pic!)
I had a taste of feeling like the doctors were at least wondering if I was a drug seeker when I spent that entire YEAR fighting that severe, mysterious belly pain and ended up in the ER several times (and all they kept doing was giving me CT scans which always showed nothing). When I finally had the exploratory surgery to find out what was going on, I was more worried that the surgeon wouldn't find anything (and that then they would definitely think I was just after the pain meds) than I was about what she might find! When I awoke after surgery and asked what they found, my only thought was "Thank God. At least now they know I wasn't making it up!"
I hope you get all these medical issues resolved soon!
Lora
I had a taste of feeling like the doctors were at least wondering if I was a drug seeker when I spent that entire YEAR fighting that severe, mysterious belly pain and ended up in the ER several times (and all they kept doing was giving me CT scans which always showed nothing). When I finally had the exploratory surgery to find out what was going on, I was more worried that the surgeon wouldn't find anything (and that then they would definitely think I was just after the pain meds) than I was about what she might find! When I awoke after surgery and asked what they found, my only thought was "Thank God. At least now they know I wasn't making it up!"
I hope you get all these medical issues resolved soon!
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
Thanks Lora I appreciate it. Yeah, I tend to forget that I'm a weirdo with green hair. I think that the whole abdominal issues that can crop up post-RNY are things that we worry about more, and ER's see less often. I don't know if they did an x-ray or a ct scan. I have a vague recollection of being put in a donut-shaped machine while in the ER. In a way this was an incidental issue to the other things going on. I only just hope that the gyno got decent ultrasounds in spite of a stuffed bowel. I don't THINK that constipation would cause my female-issues.
~Lady Lithia~ 200 lbs lost!
March 9, 2011 - Coccygectomy!
I chased my dreams, and my dreams, they caught me!
Well, you certainly don't look like a druggie in that pic, but when not dressed nicely and when in pain and under stress, I can see that it might have influenced their perception, but that does NOT make it right for them to have treated you that way. I like the green, but I really liked the purple, LOL! I'm much more a purple (or hot pink) kind of girl, though. Mostly, I admire the attitude that goes with your colored hair, though. 
Lora
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
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