ER did not take my OSA seriously

qrlylox · Post by **qrlylox** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:08 pm

Had an interesting experience today at the ER. I'd been having intermittent right side/back pain for nearly a week, which became unbearable overnight. Husband took me to ER where we ultimately found out I have a kidney stone (Holy pain i can't even describe!).
Interestingly nobody noticed my medalert bracelet when i was admitted. I was delirious with pain the first hour or so, but my husband remembered to tell them I needed CPAP if I fell asleep. My nurse said he too uses CPAP and said if we would lose weight we wouldnt need it (which I thought was sorta not appropriate to bring up at such a time).
The first dose of pain meds didnt help enough, and they gave me another dose of a stronger med, which pretty much knocked me out. At one point, my husband stepped out for about an hour while i went for a CAT scan. When i returned to the room, I was left alone in my highly drugged state, for about 30 minutes - with no CPAP and no supervision (curtain was closed).
Just thought it was interesting that professionals didn't seem at all concerned about the issue and I'm a little scared too!
I'm so afraid of going to sleep w/out CPAP that I got this bracelet in case I was ever in an accident or whatever, and couldn't tell the medical folks.
It would appear that in some cases, they don't take it seriously.

dirtsurfer57 · Post by **dirtsurfer57** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:41 pm

Hey G
Isn't that the worst pain ever, I know it's probably not as bad as child birth but its as close as I ever want to get. The thing I hated was whenever they took me down to have the xrays done they'd live me on this real uncomfortable table out in the hallway for at least an hour go in take the xrays and then put me back out in the hallway and wait until they determined that they got all the pics they needed. I did get them back though, when they injected the dye for the xrays, I evidently was allergic to it because when it started flowing through my veins I started feeling real artistic and decided to paint them a little mural on the wall, literally all over their nice clean white wall!!!!!!!

FairSpirit · Post by **FairSpirit** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:51 am

Now see, I would be so upset if I had had an ER experience like that. Don't those medical ppl know how important CPAP is??? I know if I fall asleep without my machine now, I have terrible problems and it scares me to death! I'd certainly complain to someone about what happened. And for a medical worker to say that about losing weight and CPAP, in that kind of situation, was just wrong. I would have been very upset at the whole thing, indeed. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Hope you get feeling better, kidney stones are MAJOR pain! Best to you!

ahujudybear · Post by **ahujudybear** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:48 am

Well, maybe my particular problem is more graphic? When they took my mask off in the recovery room, my breathing became ultra shallow and my O2sat level dropped. Don't know whether they were watching it or if it was linked to a monitor, but the mask went back on in short order.

All I have to tell them is that I desat and they give me a pulse ox monitor and keep an eye on it.

Don't people with apnea have desat problems too?

O2 desat is something they can more readily understand and monitor.

- JB

barbyann · Post by **barbyann** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 7:23 am

In the hospital where I work they do not have cpap machines for "borrow". If the pt. has OSA and uses xpap they are told to have family bring it in from home every time they come the hospital. In the mean time they keep the o2sat monitor on to warn of any desats and keep the pt on O2. I agree your case was not handled well by the nurse. How rude, and uninformed! Also I would word OSA like this to the registrar "I am at risk of sudden death from a respiratory problem that I need monitoring for" ask that exact phrase be written on your admission paperwork. That will usually get their attention.

CandyADiva · Post by **CandyADiva** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:44 pm

well lasy yr i was in the hospital for my kidney stones and they had to put me to sleep but the guy ask me if i snore i told him yes and he said that he couldnt put me to sleep because i might stop breathing. i didn't know then that i had sleep apnea It was good of him to ask if i snore now i have been told i have mild/moderate osa i'm going to put it on my medical alert ban and i hope if i have to go to the ER and i'm not awake i hope they look at my medical ban. because i'm also a diabetic and i have high blood pressure and i have anemia also and i still have the kidney stones. So that is so scary to think no one care about sleep apnea.

qrlylox · Post by **qrlylox** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:54 pm

Dirtsurfer - I'm only imagining what you painted the walls with! Thats so funny! I'm here to tell you though, that the pain from a kidney stone is worse than labor/childbirth pain (at least for me).

sleeplessntenn · Post by **sleeplessntenn** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:10 pm

qrlylox wrote:Had an interesting experience today at the ER. I'd been having intermittent right side/back pain for nearly a week, which became unbearable overnight. Husband took me to ER where we ultimately found out I have a kidney stone (Holy pain i can't even describe!).
Interestingly nobody noticed my medalert bracelet when i was admitted. I was delirious with pain the first hour or so, but my husband remembered to tell them I needed CPAP if I fell asleep. My nurse said he too uses CPAP and said if we would lose weight we wouldnt need it (which I thought was sorta not appropriate to bring up at such a time).
The first dose of pain meds didnt help enough, and they gave me another dose of a stronger med, which pretty much knocked me out. At one point, my husband stepped out for about an hour while i went for a CAT scan. When i returned to the room, I was left alone in my highly drugged state, for about 30 minutes - with no CPAP and no supervision (curtain was closed). Just thought it was interesting that professionals didn't seem at all concerned about the issue and I'm a little scared too!
I'm so afraid of going to sleep w/out CPAP that I got this bracelet in case I was ever in an accident or whatever, and couldn't tell the medical folks.
It would appear that in some cases, they don't take it seriously.

_________________

The whole lose weight thing is a load of crap...I have been thin, actually underweight all my life, I am 38 years old, 6' tall and currently weigh a lifetime high of 175lbs, and I have severe osa even after having three surgical procedures to fix it. Tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy/uvulapharyngypalatoplasty/turbinectomy.

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

qrlylox · Post by **qrlylox** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:20 pm

Yes SleeplessTenn! Exactly! I am so miffed by what everyone says - that 50% of OSA sufferers are overweight!
Like I said in a previous post - SO WHAT???? That means 50% are normal weight! Why do they have to "pick on" we who are overweight.

I also pointed out that, if what we hear on the news these day about percentage of population that is obese (in the 60%s I believe), then the ration of overweight vs normal weight when being classified as having OSA actually leans toward MORE NORMAL WEIGHT people having OSA.
So why is that never written??

I don't hide my head in the sand about my weight and the problems it can cause, however, honestly, I know just as many thin people who have the problems I have (such as arthritis, OSA, breast cancer). I am just so sick and tired of the prejudice that our society has when it comes to weight!
I dont want to be heavy, in fact hate being heavy and am on a never ending quest to change that!
But you know what? I am an intelligent, capable, successful businesswoman, a great wife to my husband of 23 years, raised two of the most beautiful, talented, loving boys ever, try to give alot to society, and have lots of ideas, passions and hobbies. But unfortunately, people who don't know me judge me by what I look like, and never know my soul.

rpalmer · Post by **rpalmer** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:43 pm

qrlylox wrote:Yes SleeplessTenn! Exactly! I am so miffed by what everyone says - that 50% of OSA sufferers are overweight!
Like I said in a previous post - SO WHAT???? That means 50% are normal weight! Why do they have to "pick on" we who are overweight.

Well said, qrlylox!

The CDC has recently been caught "faking" the obesity statistics we keep getting hammered with, so the numbers of "obese" people in our society & the threat the 'Obesity Epidemic" poses have been wildly overestimated.

If you don't believe the weight loss industry is huge, consider the number of commercials for diet plans, diet "medications", exercise equipment, et al that you're inundated with on TV. It's a very large and very influential lobby. Also, the drug companies and others have been pushing hard to get obesity recognized by the federal government (CDC) as a medical condition so it could then qualify for Medicare & insurance reimbursements. A number of jurisdictions have also actually seriously proposed levying a "fast food tax" or "fat tax" on "fast food" restaurants & others blamed with creating the "Obesity Epidemic". Obviously these screwy bureaucrats always looking for new sources of revenue need us all to buy into this "Obesity Epidemic" to legitimize those kinds of crazy schemes. Everyone has an agenda, don't they?

Click on the link below for The Center for Consumer Freedom's web site. They've been doing a very effective job of monitoring the obesity debate & were one of the 1st to expose CDC's manipulation of the numbers:

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_det ... dline/2845

I'm overweight, know I am, & want to lose some, but refuse to accept that it should be added to my already too long list of real medical problems. Particularly just to satisfy someone's political agenda.

Severeena · Post by **Severeena** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:57 am

Has anyone thought of writing a letter of complaint to the hospital administration about not checking medical alert bracelets when patients come into the ER?

This is suppose to be common practice.

I was a phlebot for about 7 years and most of my time was in the ER. I would notice the medical alert bracelet right away and I would ask the patient if they made it known to the nursing staff they were wearing one. I had one patient ask me if I thought she should mention it and the nurse asked mention what? I then showed and told her about the bracelet. The barrage of questions went flying and they were documented.

I would write a letter of complaint if I were you. This is not a common practice to ignore a medical ID bracelet. This is life threatening.

Just my two cents worth.

ER did not take my OSA seriously

ER did not take my OSA seriously

I work in a hospital

Re: ER did not take my OSA seriously

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