Ode to ondansetron
I developed severe abdo pain and nausea in theatre this morning. It just came out of the blue! I decided to just go home I wasn't able to do anything productive anyway. I was walking down the stairs and felt that I wouldn't even make the walk home without throwing up, so I went down to ED to try and find a place to sit lie down. They wouldn't let me lie down unless I actually checked in as a patient, so I sat around for a little bit but I was feeling super lousy.
I couldn't decide whether to see a doctor or not. On the one hand, I really wanted something to take away the nausea because I was feeling extremely ill. On the other, it seems stupid to get admitted to the emergency department for something like gastritis when symptoms had only been around for 3 hours and I was clearly not on death's door. That's what I really hate about being in med! It's impossible to objectively know if you should see a doctor or not!
In the end, I decided that I couldn't go anywhere fast, so I might as well get seen by a doctor. The moment I got into ED, I vomited a couple of times. The doc saw me quite quickly and prescribed IM maxalon which was extremely effective at giving me a sore bum. I was quickly shipped to short stay where I vomited another 5 or 6 times within an hour. The feeling was unbelieveable. I got no relief from the nausea after vomiting. There was no position I could get comfortable in.
An ED reg then charted IM ondansetron. It took ages to arrive because they only stock the IV version in short stay. Now I have bilateral sore bum! A few seconds after that, they decide that I'm vomiting too much to have oral fluids and I needed an IV! So all that sore bumness for nothing! I should have gone straight for the IV!! Anyway, I think a student nurse put in my IV and he did a good job - I would have killed him if he missed because my veins are like drain pipes! Anyway, I now have a new respect for 20g IVs. Even when he did it well, it still hurt!
Anyway, ondansetron is wonderful stuff. It really fixed the nausea. Honestly, I don't know why they make it so hard to get hold of in the community. They should add it to the tap water! Then nobody would ever have to suffer nausea again! It's not like maxalon is a super safe drug and it's even more useless than placebo.
Anyway, after a quick nap, I at least felt able to keep down some dry buiscuits. They gave me some meds to take home, which I didn't know would cost me $20 until after I recieved it. Oh well, at least the travel insurance will cover it. Soon afterwards, I made a quick getaway. Gosh I felt really silly, but then then I guess the ondansetron really helped me make a quick recovery and I couldn't have gotten it anywhere else.
Well, that's my breif encounter with the Australian public health system!
I couldn't decide whether to see a doctor or not. On the one hand, I really wanted something to take away the nausea because I was feeling extremely ill. On the other, it seems stupid to get admitted to the emergency department for something like gastritis when symptoms had only been around for 3 hours and I was clearly not on death's door. That's what I really hate about being in med! It's impossible to objectively know if you should see a doctor or not!
In the end, I decided that I couldn't go anywhere fast, so I might as well get seen by a doctor. The moment I got into ED, I vomited a couple of times. The doc saw me quite quickly and prescribed IM maxalon which was extremely effective at giving me a sore bum. I was quickly shipped to short stay where I vomited another 5 or 6 times within an hour. The feeling was unbelieveable. I got no relief from the nausea after vomiting. There was no position I could get comfortable in.
An ED reg then charted IM ondansetron. It took ages to arrive because they only stock the IV version in short stay. Now I have bilateral sore bum! A few seconds after that, they decide that I'm vomiting too much to have oral fluids and I needed an IV! So all that sore bumness for nothing! I should have gone straight for the IV!! Anyway, I think a student nurse put in my IV and he did a good job - I would have killed him if he missed because my veins are like drain pipes! Anyway, I now have a new respect for 20g IVs. Even when he did it well, it still hurt!
Anyway, ondansetron is wonderful stuff. It really fixed the nausea. Honestly, I don't know why they make it so hard to get hold of in the community. They should add it to the tap water! Then nobody would ever have to suffer nausea again! It's not like maxalon is a super safe drug and it's even more useless than placebo.
Anyway, after a quick nap, I at least felt able to keep down some dry buiscuits. They gave me some meds to take home, which I didn't know would cost me $20 until after I recieved it. Oh well, at least the travel insurance will cover it. Soon afterwards, I made a quick getaway. Gosh I felt really silly, but then then I guess the ondansetron really helped me make a quick recovery and I couldn't have gotten it anywhere else.
Well, that's my breif encounter with the Australian public health system!
posted by SpongeMike @ 23:05
1 Comments:
Hey~
At least you were in the hospital when that occured!
Nice, Quick and Easy~
And now you'd have understand why patient hates 4th yr med students so much now! .....ALL THAT FAILED IV!
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