This a post I did when I first started the blog. No time for a fresh post today (father in law is in town) , but I guess many of you may not have read it.
About a year ago a middle aged woman came in by ambulance at about 3am. The triage note said she had syncopised (medical term for passing out). When I asked her what exactly happened she said, ” Well, I was sleeping when suddenly I realised that I had passed out!”. I asked if perchance she could have been dreaming to which she relied, “no I was unconscious!”. Then I looked at her list of medications and saw that they included about 5 psychiatric meds. Still, I was obliged to do some screening blood tests and an EKG all of which were normal. She was discharged with a diagnosis of “Night Terrors” (a real diagnosis usually in children) since that was the closest thing we had to “Vivid Dreams”……..
Thank god EMS was called for this one.
Please keep your stories coming…I check every day for them! I work in an ER (admitting)and your stories make me chuckle because I experience most of what you write about. Never a dull moment!!! Thanks for the humor!
That’s pretty funny. Looking forward to getting some similar ER experience this year.
Any chance she had sleep paralysis? It’s often associated with narcolepsy, but can be the sole sleep disturbance. Usually someone describes waking but not being able to move, usually panicking as a result and then jolting their body “awake”. Often while paralysed they describe hallucinations: auditory (usually clicks, voices), sensory (something sitting on chest) &/or visual (bright lights, flashes of movement, distorted faces). Often it is the explanation for “UFO abductions”. Historically, it was the explanation for elves and other mythical creatures.
How do you think this patient would feel if she realized that you making fun of her, for your personal aggrandizement, to all the world?? Clearly sufficiently specific that the patient would recognize herself. How does this square with your pledge to treat each patient with dignity, with your so-called medical ethics?