The Real reason Grandma is Cruising at 15 mph...and Rolled through the Red Light

[rueben]

   I worked a call several years back. Sweet lil' grandma type lady. At the beauty shop. The call came in as a possible stroke. We arrived on scene and could tellshe wasn't acting quite right. Slurred speech,hard to keep her alert. But  B/P and pulse and breathing were all fine. In a good rhythm on the cardiac monitor. Her blood sugar was fine. Checked for signs of stroke, but found out she had had one previous, so the signs she did show, could have came form an old or new stroke. We started an IV put her on oxygen , and I rode in with her on the ambulance. (That ride was a whole 'nother story). When we get the e/r we transfer the patient over. While gave report to the nurse, the doctor walked in the room. He took one look at the patient and said, " Give her 4 (mg) of Narcan*, she's gorked out of her 'effin' mind."
   I turned red as a beet, more form being mad at myself, than from being embarrassed. ( even though I was plenty of both.) The doc looked at me, chortled and said, " Don't worry Rueb, I would have missed it too, but I had her here two weeks ago for the same thing."
   The reason I was so mad, was because all I had to do was follow simple protocol. For altered mental status, we are supposed to check for signs of stroke, check for low blood sugar, then check / treat for narcotic over dose. But because this was sweet lil' grandma at the beauty parlor, I never even thought about narcotics. "Lesson Learned." Since then I  have noticed that geriatric patients overdosing / hooked on and /or abusing narcotics is an unspoken epidemic. There are tell tale signs I look for now. Geriatric patients who are constipated (Guess what pain killers and muscle relaxers do to your G.I. system?) Of course checking their daily medications, when and how much was prescribed v/s how much is left in the bottle. Some patients, its easy enough to tell, as soon as we find out who their doctor is. It's not just here in Dothan, I worked Enterprise Rescue part time for a while, it was just as bad there, if not worse. So next time you see grandpa cruising at 20 mph, and roll right through that red light, it might not be due to senility...

[ssmith general]

   I worked a call several years back. Sweet lil' grandma type lady. At the beauty shop. The call came in as a possible stroke. We arrived on scene and could tellshe wasn't acting quite right. Slurred speech,hard to keep her alert. But  B/P and pulse and breathing were all fine. In a good rhythm on the cardiac monitor. Her blood sugar was fine. Checked for signs of stroke, but found out she had had one previous, so the signs she did show, could have came form an old or new stroke. We started an IV put her on oxygen , and I rode in with her on the ambulance. (That ride was a whole 'nother story). When we get the e/r we transfer the patient over. While gave report to the nurse, the doctor walked in the room. He took one look at the patient and said, " Give her 4 (mg) of Narcan*, she's gorked out of her 'effin' mind."
   I turned red as a beet, more form being mad at myself, than from being embarrassed. ( even though I was plenty of both.) The doc looked at me, chortled and said, " Don't worry Rueb, I would have missed it too, but I had her here two weeks ago for the same thing."
   The reason I was so mad, was because all I had to do was follow simple protocol. For altered mental status, we are supposed to check for signs of stroke, check for low blood sugar, then check / treat for narcotic over dose. But because this was sweet lil' grandma at the beauty parlor, I never even thought about narcotics. "Lesson Learned." Since then I  have noticed that geriatric patients overdosing / hooked on and /or abusing narcotics is an unspoken epidemic. There are tell tale signs I look for now. Geriatric patients who are constipated (Guess what pain killers and muscle relaxers do to your G.I. system?) Of course checking their daily medications, when and how much was prescribed v/s how much is left in the bottle. Some patients, its easy enough to tell, as soon as we find out who their doctor is. It's not just here in Dothan, I worked Enterprise Rescue part time for a while, it was just as bad there, if not worse. So next time you see grandpa cruising at 20 mph, and roll right through that red light, it might not be due to senility...

very interesting.  See my last post in the weed thread.

[bama87]

That is a he'll of a story. My grandfather had alzhiemers and got keys to the car and drove 90 miles and had an crash. He had no ID traced car back to my grandmother. Very weird.

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