Ask a nurse anything.

reply to post by TransplantedArkansan


It seems that no one has answered your question.

Cellulitis is more common in certain situations such as diabetes, venous disease (lower limbs), lymphoedema, alcoholism and illegal drugs, obesity, pregnancy, current or prior injury and fungal infections. You may want to have some tests done to exclude diabetes, venous disease etc.

There are ways to combat chronic cellulitis, you may be already aware of these ...

Avoid trauma, wear long sleeves and pants in high risk activities e.g gardening
Keep skin clean and well moisturised, with nails well tended. Avoid using bar soap, wash towels and sheet regularly and air in full sun.
Treat fungal infections of hands and feet early
If venous disease of lower limb, venous surgery and or compression therapy may benefit.
Keep swollen limbs elevated during rest periods to aid lymphatic circulation. Those with chronic lymphoedema may also benefit from compression garments.

It is always best to rule out deep vein thrombosis of the leg, radiation damage following radiotherapy, or inflammatory breast cancer.

I wish you well.

I didn't have the energy to go through the whole thread so if this question has already been asked and answered, my apologies.

I am a chronic pain sufferer. I suffer from Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. I also suffer from depression and was previously diagnosed with PTSD (I am pretty sure I have that under control now though)
Before my diagnosis, A few times I had to go to emergency because my pain levels were unbearable. I went there looking for relief. I wanted to kill myself because the pain was too much and my family doctor had no clue what to do. At this point in time I am on a list to a chronic pain clinic in my area. My doctor prescribed my Lyrica, Naproxen 500mg and cyclobezaprine and then baclofen (I was getting muscle spasms from cyclo).

Anyways I went there a couple times looking for relief and I got treated like an addict. Apparently I was displaying addict tendencies (LMAO). Meanwhile, the crackhead beside me gets whatever he asks for (probably just to get him out). I don't get it. I didn't ask for any specific medication, I just asked them to help me get my pain under control. But the nurse who saw me thought my pain was all mental and even labeled me schitzo affective because she was doing the whole mental shebang and asked if I ever heard voices or music or anything in my head and I was like:
I am an artist. If I dont hear/see than something isnt right. I always hear music in my head.

So basically my questions is:
when it comes to chronic pain sufferer's what constitutes a nurses opinion of addiction vs dependace? And when it comes to chronic pain patients in crisis why do they get treated like addicts?

reply to post by Binder

What is your personal and professional opinions on THC.

reply to post by Binder


will those pills they advertise on the internet really make my penis 4" longer ?

Less than a year ago i was trying to help a friend and i got my head stomped into the cement, a few people were jumping on my head it was pretty rough. So im pretty sure i have a mild frontal lobe injury, is there anything a medical professional could do for me at this point? Im still very very functional its just my brain works slightly different now. The day it happened i was in so much pain i took a big big dose of valium (clamazepam). I was thinking if perhaps that drug increases brain pressure it caused permanent damage, maybe? thanks for going out your way helping people bro i respect that.

Reply to post by Binder

I don't want to ask you anything. I just want to say thank you. I have had my share of extended hospital stays (meaning over a week or so several times I the last two years). If it were not for nurses I could not have handled it.

I would see a doctor stroll into my room to check me out maybe once a week, but a nurse was there all the time, helping me get better. I realize doctors do a lot of behind the scenes work.....but the nurses are the true public face of medicine.

It would be so easy for many of you to turn into cold hearted machines and treat people as if they were customers at a drive through in McDonald's. But you folks don't do that. Honestly, I don't know how I would have made it through the recovery after my last heart surgery. Unbelievable care.

Again, thank you.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by Binder
reply to post by reitze

 

Hey Reitze, I don't think we disagree as much as you think. Also, I'm a he,

. I don't advoctae medicating ADHD to death. 90% of ADHD control is self control, and realizing how your mind works, and why you are the way you are. I do not even consider ADHD to be a metal problem/illness/disability/whatever. There is a lot of underpublished research that seems to point to ADHD being "normal" and that the sluggish, easily occupied mind is the new variant produced by our overstimulating society.

An ADHD mind is one that runs like a Ferrari. A Ferrari someone forgot to install the brakes on. Once you learn to put the brakes on the Ferrari there is no reason the gas pedal doesn't still work! I was told by a counselor once that my intelligence was "just a coping mechanism for my ADHD debility." That was some of the most circular non-sensical reasoning I had ever heard in my life. I said nice try but that # won't fly. Of course intelligence is a coping mechanism!!! OMG it's how we cope with the challenges of staying alive on this planet for crap's sake.

The med I take is not a stimulant. It has only been around about a year, and I did a lot of research on it before taking it. I also mentioned I only take it as I feel I need it. It helps put a little more feel in that mental brake pedal. It is a selectve dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Nicotein, caffein, meth, and other stimulants make more available dopamine in the lymbic system of the brain. That stuff makes us feel good(reward center). People with ADHD typically have lower levels, than "normal"(I use that term loosely). That's why a lot of ADHD people smoke, and drink coffee like a maniac.

Were we to all still live in the paleolithic era, ADHD would be quite the advantage actually. The strange dichotomy of ADHD is that while we struggle in calm, quiet, non-stimulating environments, we thrive in chaos, and mayhem. ADHD people are usually cool under fire. That's becuase it is our brains natural state. We get that big slug of dopamine from the adrenegic stimulation, and for once we feel "normal". Why do you think I practice critical care medicine? I'm an adrenaline junkie to the max. I can execute 3 procedures simultaneously before my co-workers can remember the first thing to do. Unfortunately hospitals aren't like on TV. There is a whole lotta nuthin' that happens before anything happens. You have to be balanced. I learned the behavioral changes, and self control long before I ever took a medication. I think anyone diagnosed with ADHD should try all the cognitive strategies first, and only after good control is achieved, see if a medication helps with the work load of keeping all that processing speed at bay.

Right on!

Thanks, I like your analogy of the Ferrari without brakes till they're retro-fitted via learned wisdom of self and social awareness.

Educate don't medicate!

Edit +: However, its not breaks on the mind that work, its breaks on the mouth and the expectations of what should be obvious to others. It also involves realization of the "too smart for one's own good" concept and how to come to grips with that simple idea. Here's a small example, a NY state regents test question for kindegartners (mom taught K).

Which doesn't belong?
a. Cat
b. Dog
c. Lion
d. Canary

The "right answer" is the Lion - not domesticated. HOWEVER, high-IQ "ferrari brains" repeatedly get it "wrong". They pick the canary because they think beyond what's expected for their education level. It has a beak, no teath, feathers no fur, wings, 2 legs, and can even fly. Once the child thinks beyond the exected amount the answer is so obvious there's not getting back to the "right answer". And it doesn't stop with kindegarten either.

For example, in a corporate class on "Earned Value Management" (for program managers, people w/ Bachlers and above in a technical engineering domain), several of the test questions took the form...

T/F?, EVMS is "made up of"of cost and schedule?
ANS??? Well EVMS includes cost, schedule, and performance measurements being scored, communicated effectively, etc. So the ambiguity was in "made up of". Was it intended as all-inclusive or part-inclusive? Like if I said is Pizza "made up of" bread, and cheese is that true of false? Also note that "made up of" is not a single word so the definition of the term is itself open to interpretation.

The test had a dozen or so ambiguities and I still got a 93% while COMPLETELY understanding the subject. There was also a guy who got a perfect score - that guy wasn't considered particularly smart but had a very "proper English" speech-patterns, no use of urban slang, etc. So whatever social-normal interpretation of lingual things like "made up of" fit best - that's who got the best grade. IMHO it could still be debated who comprehended the subject better (while the "teachers choice" is clear, the LION picker).

Originally posted by reitze
reply to post by reitze

 

Well I just got back from the DRUG store buying cigs. (1st time in 3 months, about my average for the last 15 years).
How telling that they didn't have any "non-filters". So I bought Bugler's and have to roll them myself. I still don't think there as good as Camel non-filters. But I do like how it looks like a joint. Maybe I can find a good place to smoke it ;0

I smoked 2 and gave the tobacco to a neighbor.
The 1st one didn't do much other than give a bit of nice flavor - since I stopped soon enough to avoid the more serious yuck-factors.
The 2nd one I over-did it... made me nautious and I had to napp - with a bit of trippy dreaming. If I didn't dream all the time anyway - with having done the exercises to remember them,... it might have been a "spiritual experience".

But instead, just an awful feeling way to get some dreams. A little mind-work is way more effective and productive without the need for the pain. I remember seeing some show about some native tribes doing some pain-infliction on their genitals to get into dreams... I won't be trying that sort of thing. Tobacco is rough enough. MJ and '___' have simlar drawbacks too.

Is ADHD an evolutionary gift in a rapidly changing world?

reply to post by floorplans


My personal opinion on THC is that it is the coolest stuff since... Uh I mean professionally THC is bad, and will lead to other bad things like the munchies.

reply to post by reitze


Excellent article reitze!!! Yes I have been bitten by the "too smart for ones own good" paradigm many times. Yes I am an over thinker to the max, but I have learned to think about it "just enough". I take tests very rapidly. If I take a test slow, and think about it, I do poorly. If I rush through without thinking I ace it. Yes it is counter-intuitive, and drives type A personalities through the roof, but that's how life works for me.

Cars are good analogies for me because I am a 3rd generation gear head amongst other things. To me life is like a car without power steering, you have to have a little speed to turn the wheel. If it's going too slow I can't change directions. If it's rolling pell-mell to hell I can negotiate the turns with ease. Makes for rough relationships though. Being as most females want security. I find security frightening, it's so exclusive, restrictive, blech! I feel in control when it's all chaos. I feel stagnant, and out of touch when it is tranquil.

Of course those are raw feelings. I have learned to analyze risk more accurately, and learn to enjoy, and embrace healthy calm, and tranquility. Balance is key. If only the type A cholerics could learn to let loose a bit we'd all be in a better place!

forgive me if this was covered

"what single common food item is the most dangerous for children from ages say 6 -16 ?"

high fructose corn syrup ?

thanks in advance for any reply !

reply to post by MainLineThis


As a nurse, and a representative of nursing, you are so welcome. You are why we do it. Thank you is all we really want. We do fight the urge to become automatons, and to just be "body technicians." That is not what nursing is about though, it is holistic healing involving all aspects of the mind, body,and spirit.You cannot leave any part of the equasion out.

In my experience I have never met a "bad" nurse. I have met burned out nurses. I have met exhausted nurses. I have met opinionated, and stubborn nurses, but I have never met one EVER, that said to me "I'm just here for the paycheck, these people mean nothing to me." You couldn't be a nurse for 2 seconds with that mentality. Nursing really is a calling. At times I do wish it was not mine, but it is, and I will always do it. I may take a break if I get overly burned out, but I'll always come back to it. Because of people like you.

reply to post by MurkinGurkin


Oh Murkin, valium on top of a closed head injury?!?! For serious? Were you trying to find out if there really was an afterlife? First off, don't you ever, ever, ever I mean EVER!!! take a medication that you don't have intimate knowledge of again. I mean EVER!

Head injuries can cause damage to various part of our noodle. The danger was not whether or not valium causes pressure. the danger was that head injuries quite often result in the suppression of respiratory drive. Your primitive breathing reflex. Valium also can suppress respiratory drive, and also mask a whole lot of other complications. You could have had a major concussion(probably did) but medical workers could have tested for drugs in your blood, seen the benzos(valium) and passed you off as a druggy. Plus valium is not a pain reliever it is an anxiolytic/hypnotic. Makes you calm, and sleepy, but doesn't help pain.

It sounds as though you have recovered nicely. I am glad. The brain is fairly plastic, meaning able to remodel. The best thing is cognitive conditioning. I.E read books, learn new skill, etc... And quit taking stuff if you don't know how it works!!!! Please?

reply to post by syrinx high priest


The single most common food item most dangerous to any person of any age group would be any common food item over consumed. HFCS is just simple sugar. It is not "bad" it is powerful. It is pure metabolic energy without any nutrients, and can be easily over consumed. We crave simple sugar because of our primitive biology. A little corn syrup now, and again is harmless. Eaten in excess on a daily basis causes tons of metabolic issues. Kale is great food, in fact it is a super food, but if that was all you ate you would eventually die. The key is balance. Eat nutrient dense foods. Certain fats are good, complex carbs are good. Most people find that when they pick nutrient dense food they eat less because the body stops craving more because it is metabolically satisfied.


Lean meat, lots of veggies, and leafy greens. Breads, pastas, rice, and potatoes in moderation, and concentrated sweets, and treats only very occasionally. But don't forgo the sweets altogether, especially for a child. You'll raise a kid that binges on Ben&Jerry's as an adult, and will always have weight problems if a certain desired food group is completely denied, especially concentrated sweets. Teach moderation, not denial.

Why did you ignore my question?

reply to post by InnerTruths


I am so sorry, I guess I just missed it in the column of responses. This is an excellent question, and one I very much want to respond to, and discuss.

Pain has become a very important topic in medicine in the last 5-10 years. JCAHO or the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Organizations (the man) says that pain is whatever the experiencer says it is, and exists when he/she says it does. Healthcare professionals are to treat appropriately.

Now that is the super simple black, and white version. Life is full of grey. Their are nurses that have never experienced chronic pain, they have no common ground to empathize with your position. They may understand it clinically, in a text book way of knowing, but they do not KNOW what it is like to hurt all the time. They may be cognizant that people build tolerances to medications, but don't really realize the full implications of what that means. Past experience also colors decisions, and attitudes. We run into a lot of drug seekers. People who are looking to get high at their medical insurance's expense. These people always pose as chronic pain sufferers, and they know how to play the part well.

What blurrs the line further is that even drug seekers are experiencing pain, and it is real, but it is usually not of the somatic, or physical type. They need a different form of help, but sometimes don't even know it themselves. Owing to what kind of nurse you are talking to, and what type of setting you are in will also make a difference in responses. An ER nurse isn't tasked with figuring out the subtle details of your personal life they are just concerned with stabilizing, and transfering, or as we say "treat, and street." There is a ceratin cold efficiency that comes with emergency medicine, but that doesn't mean ER nurses get a pass to be mean, rude, or heartless. They just have a bigger challenge to not become that way. If you are seeing a pain specialist, their nurse will want to do a lot of probing, and assessing to get to the root of the pain. Most nurses in specialty, or hospital settings usually treat first, and figure things out later. That is how it should be. It is better to treat the pain, and then figure out it's source. Yes a few druggies will get their fix off you, but that is less harmful than leaving a real chronic sufferer in misery based on a bad judgement call.

Unfortunately their are a lot of opinionated people in the world, and a certain percentage are nurses. A lot of times a doctors pain orders leave dosing options open to the nurses discretion. I have been on the receiving end of your situation, and yes it makes you mad to feel like someone is looking at you like a druggy, and all you want is to just not hurt so bad. I had kidney stones a few years back, and I was in excrutiating pain. One of my many quirks is that when I am in a bad way I pop funnies, and make sarcastic jokes. The nurse didn't believe I could really be in that much pain if I could make everyone laugh. My wife even told them that it was just my way of dealing with stress. I had a orthopedist rolling on the floor as he set my broken arm one time. I didn't get anything for pain until the sono came back, and I had a goathead looking stone stuck in a ureter. Then I got a whopping dose of dilauded, and a gushing appology, and yes I did chew her out for being judgemental, and no it wasn't in a funny way.

It really isn't up to a nurse, or even a doctor to decide in the short term whether you are in pain, or not. We are supposed to treat, and then figure out what is going on. In a chronic condition with a flare up, usually some extra medication for breakthrough is necessary, and then people usually go back to their original dosages. In practise though people do get left high, and dry if someone decides they are faking it, or drug seeking. It is a societal problem that gets reflected in healthcare decisions. It shouldn't happen, but it does. Next time you see a guy peddling Xanax, or oxycontin etc... on the street, punch him in the face. He's a big reason you get looked at when you ask for more pain medication.

Hey Binder, how is it going?

I am finishing up my 3rd semester and I have a question I know you would be able to answer. I am in my mental health rotation which I am loving, but I am not sure working in a mental health hospital is where I want to focus, because I like the interaction and intervention of the med surg side of nursing. Do nurses who specialize in mental health have any other options besides mental health hospitals? I was wondering whether E.R.'s would have an nurse on staff that had a mental health background?

Hope all is going well for you. I can't believe I graduate in December, time is flying by.

Originally posted by reitze

Edit +: However, its not breaks on the mind that work, its breaks on the mouth and the expectations of what should be obvious to others. It also involves realization of the "too smart for one's own good" concept and how to come to grips with that simple idea. Here's a small example, a NY state regents test question for kindegartners (mom taught K).

Which doesn't belong?
a. Cat
b. Dog
c. Lion
d. Canary

The "right answer" is the Lion - not domesticated. HOWEVER, high-IQ "ferrari brains" repeatedly get it "wrong". They pick the canary because they think beyond what's expected for their education level. It has a beak, no teath, feathers no fur, wings, 2 legs, and can even fly. Once the child thinks beyond the exected amount the answer is so obvious there's not getting back to the "right answer". And it doesn't stop with kindegarten either.

what utter twaddle - i cannot believe that the Q&A you claim is a real test question - its a mind # that allows you to mark any answer as incorrect after the fact

no multiple choice question in a real test should have such ambiguity as that "question " does

answering it requires omniscience - as the question does not lead to one definitive answer , multiple - all incumbant on the intent of the questioner

PS - i also doubt this questions legitimacy - as : is domestication of anmials taught at kindergarden ?

also -there are many famous cases of lions being kept as pets - if you want to argue degree of domestication - please review how many "domestic " dogs kill people every year

and if you think " degree of domestication " is a kindergarten topic i know you are just making it up

reply to post by ignorant_ape


Ambiguous questions are the staple of nursing school exams!!!

I picked the canary as well.

reply to post by ignorant_ape


That question was on the NY state regents exam for kindergarten when my mother was teaching kindergarten. It got her quite angry because it was clear to her how a kid like I was would get it wrong... I would have picked the canary. Most of what I learned from K-12 came from her before kindergarten. Surviving school was taught by dad... how to "go along to get along by acting dumb enough to fit in".

And that sort of question ambiguity percists to the sort of tests I've had post-college. One example from an "earned value managment" class for a Program Management certification required (engineering managment) was:

T/F? EVMS is made up of cost and schedule?

The class taught EVMS based upon cost, schedule, and performance. So the key to the T/F is interpretation of "made up of" ... whether its analogous to a "includes" or "complete set of elements". Because "made up of" is not a word from the dictionary I still don't know the "right" answer to that question. My 'best guess' was True since the "EVMS" also includes a whole set of calculations so the concept of calling it false would seem to over-push that side of the interpretation of "made up of". But hay maybe somene here could offer me a language lesson in better "fitting in".