MyPoopisGreen

The thought occurs to you… am I expecting too much?  Sometimes I think that I am; which is my bad.  But then I also try and look at things from the other side, and I think - no, these people are just crazy.

Okay, so I’m not a psychologist.  And yes, emotions and pain get the better of you sometimes.  This I realize.  I have been there.  Pain makes a lot of people crazy, because sometimes the pain is so intense and no one believes you because they can’t feel it.  So when I say that I “feel your pain” I actually do try and put my feet in other people’s shoes - which could be a painful experience in and of itself.  Okay, off topic.  Sorry.  Anyway, my point here is that while you might be in pain, and you might not know what is going on, please - PLEASE!!! try and communicate in the most succinct and logical way WHAT your pain is, WHAT you want me to do, and HOW this pain hurts.  I know it’s hard - but if you really think about it, the information you need to relay is right there.

My rant?  I’m a Medical Assistant in Gastroenterology - this means GI problems - you have stomach pain, you have lower abdominal cramps, you have pain down in  your intestines, you have heartburn/acid reflux, you can’t swallow properly, hell you can even have issues with your liver and pancrease and I’m your girl - but back pain?  Not in my realm.  And especially not in my realm if you have been put on Codeine by a completely different doctor and you want to know why you are having a burning sensation under your rib cage, you have skin sensitivity and you can’t in any way explain to me what kind of pain you are having.

“I’ve had back pain for a while, my doctor put me on Codeine without Tylenol in it and I’m having this burning sensation and this abdominal cramping as well as loose stool.”

“So abdominal cramping and loose stool - how much Codeine are you taking?”

“My doctor told me to take one every four hours for the pain.  But I’ve been taking two every three hours because the pain is so bad.  And it’s not abdominal cramping, and I don’t have diarrhea…”

Didn’t you just tell me that you did? <Sigh> “Okay, well, if it’s not abdominal cramping, then what is it? Abdominal pain?”

“It’s the nerves.  There’s this place on my stomach that if you push on it, it really hurts.”

Then don’t push on it.” So is it more like skin tenderness?  You could be having an allergic reaction to the Codeine, maybe you should stop taking it - because you at least sound to have a sensitivity.  But I shouldn’t really be making this decision, you should really call your prescribing doctor, it sounds like you are almost taking too much of it.”

“But there isn’t any tylenol in it, and my back hurts really bad.  I don’t know, I could have a kidney stone, cause I’m subject to those.  I don’t really feel comfortable with what you are telling me.”

No crap, lady.  I have nothing to do with your back pain, or your apparent NEED for codeine! You’ve probably burned a hole in your stomach with that much of a controlled substance -with or without tylenol, which is only saving your liver!!!  And where the hell did ‘I might have a kidney stone’ come from?!? ”I don’t really know what you want me to do.  You expressed that you didn’t want to go to the ER and I feel strongly, that is what you should do.”

“Yeah, I know.  But I just think I should call my other doctor and see how he feels.  I’m just in so much pain. And I don’t know what this abdominal pain is all about…”

“Abdominal pain? Or the skin tenderness?”

“It’s the nerves.  I don’t know, I don’t have diarrhea, and it’s this pain on my left side looping around towards my back. I just feel as though you should know better than I whether this is the codeine…”

Yeah, is your head spinning yet?  I talked with this woman for a good twenty minutes trying to get her to understand that I wouldn’t know if it was her back pain, and that she should really go to the Emergency Room considering she didn’t know where all her pain was coming from and couldn’t get me to understand either.  On top of it, she shouldn’t be taking that much codeine in one sitting, I don’t care who you are!  And on a sidenote, I didn’t prescribe your codeine, so really it’s none of my damn business!!!!  Again I say, I don’t do backs!  You have “the diarrhea”  and I can jump to it - but otherwise call the doctors office that prescribed you the damn medication!!!

So as fun as that all was - I did actually feel bad in the end of that.  I don’t know what was wrong with this lady, and I documented the hell out of my conversation with her.  I couldn’t pin point any particular thing going on with her, other than the fact that she had back pain, was taking too much codeine, and was most likely having a reaction to it.  Most important thing in the medical field - If it isn’t written, it never happened - and you’ve always got to cover your butt.

Take care all.  I’m thinking my next entry will be in regards to anatomy - why people think that I want to know all about their runny noses and coughs is beyond me.  Tell your PCP!:)  Later!

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