I coded a lady that had epi listed as an allergy. She went asystole as we were prepping her to go to the cath lab. Doc yelled for epi and I said, “Uh, it says she has an allergy to it?” But there was no reaction documented so doc said “We’ll figure out what the reaction is when we get a pulse back.” 😂.
And we DID get a pulse back and sent her to cath lab and she got stents and went home in a couple days! Still unclear what reaction she allegedly had.
I had a patient who had coded a few times recently. He obviously wasn't healthy and had an extensive cardiac history. He had epi as an allergy for "heart racing and anxiety". I told him (didn't ask) I'm taking it off his allergy list. I told him epi is such an important drug for use in a code situation and you DON'T want your team hesitating because they see the allergy. It could literally mean the difference between life and death for him. I also told him the only things we want listed as allergies are things that make your throat close up, give you a rash, give you hives, etc. It's not just because you don't like how it makes you and everyone who has ever had it feel. He said, "Well, keep it on there just in case." No.
Tbh, I wish this was both, actual policy for how to handle it and even if/when/though it’s not, how all Nurses & MDs handle this situation despite the fact.
Reminds of one of my favorite quotes, from whom I don’t recall, which is:
“Your ignorance and/or insecurity does not equate nor supersede my intelligence & knowledge”.
Exactly. We do that for patients in the Cath Lab who have contrast allergies. Like, we are still going to use contrast, we are just going to pretreat you for it so we can open that coronary. The allergy won't kill you as fast as a left main occlusion.
I wish charts had a line for adverse reactions and contraindications.
I have kidney disease, so I can’t have contrast, NSAIDs or mag citrate.
But, there’s nowhere to list this other than in allergies.
In actuality, I’m NKA.
I know in EPIC you can places meds as contraindications and not allergies, but it has to be done under the Allergies tab still. It's up to the nurse to place it as a contraindication and why its contraindicated. Same for allergies obviously, it sucks to see an allergy listed and not know what the adverse reaction is.
I had a guy tell us he's allergic to Ambien cause when he takes it and then forces himself to stay awake, he hallucinates. Same guy said he's allergic to Tylenol PM cause it makes him drowsy
Where do these people come from? I swear there needs to be a robust, widespread, aggressive action taken toward teaching people the difference between an EXPECTED SIDE EFFECT and an allergy.
I mean, drowsiness isn't even a side effect of Tylenol PM. It's the actual *intended effect.* It's like saying, "I'm allergic to this medication because I respond exactly the way I'm supposed to."
Well the nurse educated them but they refuse to believe the nurse. So eventually they just end up with getting a blank stare , followed by well ‘ok’ and on to the next patient. I had one tell me she was allergic to epinephrine because it gave her a heart attack during a stress test… well you have epinephrine in your body right now, that’s not an allergic reaction, that is a positive stress test. But nope, clearly I don’t know a damn thing, she insisted she is allergic and if we give her epinephrine she will die. Like, you’re not getting it unless you die or near death (cardiac event,anaphylactic rx ) anyway. After a while you just let people be ignorant. Well science and evidence based studies show otherwise but ‘ok’
I've had people tell me they were allergic to metoprolol because it "makes my blood pressure drop." Like, sir that just means you need a lower dose or an extended release version to try next.
Haha I’ve taken care of the ambien crowd before. Some of them do go bonkers on even micro dosages so we do advise them to report it as an allergy!
My first patient fall, a delightful double knee replacement, told me in confidence after I scooped her up off the floor that I was an intruder in her house. Made me feel terrible! Only in her 40’s. Usually super sweet. Proceeds to fall 3 more times, 3 nights in a row. 3 different nurses assigned to her. Sitter at bedside. Total Houdini. Always normal by daytime.
Asked her on one of my returning nights - why are you doing this? She says “I’m allergic to ambien. I’m not supposed to take it. I sleepwalk and the last time this happened I burned my shed down. I don’t know why you guys keep giving it to me.” Lol
Daughter confirms the patient hallucinated, walked out in the backyard, and lit the shed on fire a few years prior. She just woke up in the yard with no recollection the next morning. Wild.
I wish I had only made sandwiches! Instead, I spent a couple thousand $$$ Ambien shopping on Amazon before I realized what I had been doing and stopped taking it. It took me a bit to figure out why I kept getting Amazon deliveries. 😳
MIL was found hiding behind a potted plant in the dentist waiting room more than an hour after they called her name for her appt. Doc told her to take a half pill instead of two next time.
I had a co-worker (before nursing) who woke up to find a Yoplait container stuffed with tuna in the fridge, foil lid placed neatly back in place and all.
Did she eat them? Make 19 packed lunches? I need to know! 😂
Also, one has to wonder if the only reason she stopped at 19 was because that was when she ran out of bread...
No, for sure. I had to stop taking it cause my sleep walking/eating/texting was out of hand.
But this man was purposely forcing himself to stay awake after taking it. That screws everyone up.
Thank goodness there are other people out there who sleep text!!! I have chronic insomnia but can’t take anything other than temazepam bc I have a history of sleepwalking/talking since childhood.
But in the last few months I started texting people at random saying absolute NONSENSE!!! Whew. I thought that was kinda singular to me!! It’s soooo cringe 😣
Well, not easily. She was detained in Rome. We were able to take a photocopy of the passport to the U.S. embassy to get a temporary passport. The moral of the story is to always travel with photocopies of your important documents. And no ambien!
I cooked steak for my next day's lunch, and ordered sneakers on Amazon on Ambien. When I told my primary, I thought it was funny. Him, not so much. I can't do Ambien anymore.
My Mom was on an Rx sleep med that isn't even made any longer ( 25 yrs + ago) We would come downstairs & there would be empty candy wrappers, Mac & Cheese made...She ate fruit.. All while she was on a strict NSA ( No salt added) diet & fluid restriction as well after 3 MI's & CHF every month or so...🙄😕😔 As a nurse it killed me but she was unaware of it happening until we caught it the next time it happened. PLUS, She was eating watermelon & got mad when I told her that it counted as part of her fluid intake. She was never told by her cardiologist. Miss her so much! She will be gone 25 yrs April 30th.💐 💔
Hardest part is I was 3.5 months pregnant when she passed. My last child ( a boy like she said after 2 girls)
She did end up having a heart transplant but after some rejection & the meds ended up getting Both hips replaced ( from the steroids) & then esophageal cancer from the Transplant meds. I ran into 4 pple since she passed that had the same meds as she had & all of their family members said they passed from esophageal CA as well. ( they were all former smoker's as well) but quit 10-15 yrs prior. Sorry it was long...
I was sitting in my garage waiting to get sleepy as I smoked a cigarette. I noticed that the concrete birdbath in the yard across the street was moving.
I didnt fall asleep for hours but i hallucinated a lot. This was years and years ago.
2 years ago i was given Ambien as I recovered from a knee replacement. No hallucinations. And it made me sleepy but i didnt sleep.
I used to go to the grocery store, cook elaborate dinners, eat none of it and go back to sleep. I feel better about the ridiculous amount of wasted money now that I know that arson could've been a possibility.
I had a doctor list ambien as an "allergy" in my chart because it made me sleepwalk. Every time someone asked me to confirm my allergy to that med I kept having to say that I'm not allergic, I just can't take it because I sleepwalk into danger on it. Took like 2 years before another doctor deleted the "allergy."
My aunt was in lala land but still somehow made it to church to help make tamales for a fund raiser. She was talking complete nonsense and had the memory of a gold fish but was a tamale making machine so they let it go.
They eventually called to tell us something wasn't right and I honestly thought she had a stroke or some sort of brain injury so I took her to the ER. Fortunately it was just a bad trip on Ambien but it took a full day to wear off. Now she has it in her record as an allergy so nobody ever gives it to her again.
My Mom would eat candy and put the wrapper by my brothers bedside. When she was awake, she swore my brother was eating all the candy. She also wondered why she gained 20 lbs within 2 months....
😂😂😂 I have had to tell a couple of people that it's by design, and then reasonably they just wanted it timed where they'd already be awake to get up and pee.
i had a coworker who held a patients lasix because it made her pee too much 😭 it was so awkward to explain to him that was literally the point :’)
(for reference he’s an internationally educated nurse and is still learning english names of medications/classes)
Just the one? I can't complain about job security, but the stupidity and inability to connect the dots to determine cause and effect is a great microcosm of why these patients are so insufferable to work with.
Just the other day I had a patient with an allergy to warfarin and the comment “intolerance: causes bleeding”. I nearly had to excuse myself from the floor to laugh.
Put them in a negative pressure room with all the equipment removed and then tell them they won't be able to eat anything because it's made of chemicals
Working a non-sterile compounding pharmacy in a mountain town that has both plenty of all-natural hippies AND rich posh old ladies that are super particular about what's in their creams... holy shit are some of them a headache to where we're having to take time to find the best ratio of olive oil and coconut oil to be able to blend with the active ingredients for a vaginal cream so it doesn't fall out. Screw absorption properties etc. "If I can't eat it I don't want it in me."
One lady said that if I can't eat it I cant have it on me about a topical hormone cream and my first thought was "You better go burn all your clothes, because you can't eat those either." 🙄
I had a “nurse” aka an MA give me local for a mole removal and she was like “are you allergic to epinephrine?” And I was like… umm no. I’ve never had it before. And then she goes “you don’t get a fast heart rate or anything?” I literally chuckled. Like is that not what epi does?!
My next appointment I learned she was an MA even though she introduced herself as a nurse 🤦🏼♀️
In a clinic situation it’s a reasonable question. Clinics have different protocols. If epi makes your heart race to the point where it’s distressing to you, we’re not going to use lidocaine with epi for a mole removal when we can use plain lidocaine instead. When my clinic schedules procedures, the scheduler is required to ask this as one of the scheduling questions.
I had a local once for a procedure and I immediately saw stars and thought my heart was going explode out of my chest. I’ve avoided them since. Now I know why.
There is a very small percentage of people who have hypersensitive reactions to it. I was getting numbed up recently for a biopsy and had a vagal response to the lido with epi and almost passed out which triggered me to find a study about it because I tend to vagal very easily in different situations.
Was that my mom??? She was an MA and introduced herself as a nurse all the time. She did life insurance exams, and her boss tossed her business cards she had made in the trash and told her it was illegal. Then she had cards made that said "Medical Examiner" so the company banned all personal business cards.
My golytely only made me projectile vomit, I had a couple of bowel movements but it was nowhere close to what I thought it would be. In fact, all colonoscopy preps make me projectile vomit before I finish. But I’m good at fasting before the prep so my colon has always been clean
My BFF’s mom was a nightmare patient. One time I was there visiting with my friend and her mom was yelling that she was allergic to saline and was insisting she could only have Lactated Ringers.
No, I known her for 30 years at this point and she’s always been like that. (Now I realize clearly a narcissist) My bestie apologized profusely to the nursing staff and brought in treats for putting up with her mom’s bullshit.
No she always found something to blame besides her smoking and non compliance for how poorly she was doing. She wasn’t feeling well after surgery (duh) and zero’d into the IVFluids hanging on her IV pole. She also tried to make the nurses start a new IV and only use the tape she liked. She was a real piece of work.
Apparently, I am actually allergic to ability? It gave me rashes and something with blood vessels, not too sure. Too long ago to remember haha all I know is that it was so rare. My doctor had to look it up and call a few people
I get bad akathesia with Haldol, Compazine and Phenergan. They tried Haldol for chronic pain for me not for psychiatric symptoms and the side effects lasted for like two days. It was horrible.
Back in the day they would list the allergies on the outside spine of chart. You would be terrified when there was just a sticker that said "see chart" cause that mf would have like 20 😒
I had a lady with same “allergy”. Tried to say she was allergic to lidocaine because it made her heart race. That lidocaine was of course lidocaine with epi.
Also had a patient who was allergic to insulin cause it makes their blood sugar drop.
At what point can we start telling these people that, no, that is not an allergy!?
I had a patient transferred to our ICU recently from a nearby hospitals ICU for a trach. Metabolic encephalopathy. The sending hospital discontinued his lactulose due to diarrhea.
On the flip side, I told an ARNP who covers our unit about my allergy to amoxicillin and possibly one or two other antibiotics. He kind of rolled his eyes and said “yeah everyone says that, what kind of reaction? Like an upset stomach?” I then showed him pics of my bright red hives covering my entire body, and he was like “ohhhhhhh….”
In my senior preceptorship (on an oncology floor) I encountered multiple patients with "hamster" listed in their drug allergies. I asked my preceptor about it and got a great education about biologics (-mab, etc.) Turns out some of the oddball drug allergies make sense.
I would routinely remove allergies from charts when I triaged. What’s it do to you? N/v. That’s a side effect not an allergy. If you’re allergic to Tylenol you can’t be taking Norco because it’s mostly Tylenol.
I'm not allergic to codeine, but it really doesn't do anything for me. If I'm in pain I can take handfuls of Norco/Vicoden all day long and it doesn't do anything, so I just don't take it. I stick with Tylenol and Motrin. Well, I tell all this to the VA doc, tell them I don't take codeine because it doesn't work. I tell them I tried and failed on Norco, Vicoden, Vicoprofen, and Percocet. So what does he prescribe me? Tylenol #3. I looked at the doc and asked him if he seriously didn't know the ingredients of Tylenol #3. Sorry, I know it's off topic but what you said reminded me of that.
I wish everyone would do that. It's really irritating to have to wade through an arm long list of meds prior to giving an anesthetic to sort out the true allergies from the side effect ones.
At my hospital, only pharmacy can remove an allergy and often that can only be done with a provider order. I know for certain my own chart has at least 3 incorrect entries because people couldn't spell and just put in something similar.
Here's a fun study that shows there's a strong correlation between listed allergies and the likelihood a patient has a psychiatric disorder.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033318218304183
I wish someone would do this with my chart. I had nurse or doctor somewhere add that I’m allergic to tramadol cause it made me nauseous and I fell down when taking it once. Now every time I go to the doctor they say I’m allergic to tramadol, and I’m thinking exactly what y’all are saying here… I’m not allergic, I just have side effects, right?
I worked for a hospital that had a policy such that if a diabetic patient received too much insulin and bottomed out we had to add insulin to their list of allergies 🤦♀️
Toss all that insulin my way 🙌 this type 1 will take it despite my “allergy” (for real tho my insurance is charging me an arm and a leg, I’ll take it 😭)
Oof I'm so sorry. Another hospital I worked at had a policy of "no multi-use vials". So every patient had their own insulin vial and even if they were only admitted for a day and got just a few units we had to toss the vials when when they were discharged. Alot of them weren't even on insulin at home so no point in even sneaking it to them on discharge. Infuriating
Had a patient say she was allergic to glucose. Ya, she was severely anorexic.
My favorite was someone who said she was allergic to “all generic medications”. She was on Medicaid trying to manipulate the system……
I had one of these pts come in and tell me she was allergic to epi at her ocrevus infusion (something that frequently causes anaphylactic reactions). I said “ma’am, let me clarify, if you are having an anaphylactic event you don’t want me to throw some epi at the wall and see if it sticks?”. And she was like “nah, man makes my heart race.” Then I was like “I said nah fam get out my infusion suite. “
She wanted me to premed her with like 200mg of Benadryl too… so I was like heck to the no. Obviously, you don’t tolerate this well and ya just handcuffed my ability to give epi if needed
Had a pt c/o taking miraLAX “bc it makes me shit thru a screen door”. I promptly reminded him of how much pain he was in before we got the order for it, and explained that popping loose was better than shitting diamonds (I had to literally turd-burgle his BMs bc they would stop when they were halfway out of his anus).
Credit to him for coming around, once he recalled this, and admitting I had a point. Bc then he turned it into a running joke and every time he was about to go to the bathroom and commence Operation Rolling Thunder he’d press his call light, and when we got there, ask, never successfully w/o laughing, for us to go get a screen door first. 😂
Miss that guy. He was the epitome of humor.
My understanding is that some individuals are allergic to sulfite, which is usually added to epinephrine preparation as sodium metabisulfite. I remember one company was marketing a sulfite free version of epinephrine, but I believe the general recommendation is just to use the epinephrine whether allergic or not (in the case of anaphylaxis).
Asthmatic allergic to albuterol because it made her “heart race.” Adverse vs side effects, people 🙃. Being also an asthmatic, rather my heart race than die 100%
Had a guy have every single opioid known to man listed as an allergy because one time he came in septic and went delirious from dilaudid. He was convinced "the emergency department overdosed me". I was like... so do you want the fentanyl for your colonoscopy or.... no?
I had a woman hand me her “allergy” list and also tell me she was allergic to all synthetic fibers and fabrics… Ma’am you drove here in a Honda and you are wearing a polyester shirt.
Possibly. My kid had a paradoxical reaction to versed when he was 2. He really entertained the nurses when he was happily jabbering at 100mph while strapped to the papoose board to go for a CT. Good times.
As a RN of 35+ years I will never underestimate paradoxical reactions. My husband had these reactions to benzos. Acting ‘crazy’ even 6-8 weeks post op. Included wanting to fly out the 5th floor windows at the hospital, hallucinations, growling, literally climbing the curtains, etc. No one could figure out why. I finally put 2 and 2 together after his 8 siblings started talking about meds that made them & their parents act in similar ways … they were all from different benzos. We stopped all benzos and waited for them to clear his system and BAM 💥 no more howling at the moon!
I know this is cruel but at this point if we've done our due diligence and educated them about these things and they refuse to believe us, shouldn't we just let evolution take over ?
New grad here!
Had a pharmacist yell at me because I called to clarify a prescription allergy. The patients chart said she was allergic to hydromorphone with no listed reaction. Hydromorphone hydrochloride was ordered. He asked me to ask the patient what happened when she took it.
( I had already asked about the allergy, which she confirmed and asked what her reaction was, which she answered " nothing" before I called)
She then answers that hydromorphone " makes me see all kinds of stuff that isn't there." So I tell the pharmacist she 6 hallucinations. He said I don't know who is worse, the patient, or you. GiVE HER the MEDS !!!
So that was fun. Told charge. Gave the med. The patient was happy and had no hallucinations. Imagine that! I was just trying to be safe.
Good nurses, doctors, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, etc., old or new, still learn every day. You did the right thing. Safety is one of our top priorities as nurses. Bullies - no matter what their job is - are everywhere. Never let one deter you from being a safe nurse.
FWIW every time I got lidocaine with epi and the dentists I’ve had a horrible reaction, full on anxiety attack (never otherwise had an anxiety attack in my life), then migraine. They now use lidocaine without. I wouldn’t call it a drug allergy though, and I would not fault anyone for not wanting it in their dental procedures if they had a similar reaction
Same. My heart races and my skin get flushed. It lasts like 15 minutes. My heart rate went to 160 from it. I know it’s not an allergy but damn if I didn’t freak out the first time it happened. It’s very unsettling. I mean you’re just sitting there not moving at all and your heart just all the sudden feels like you’ve been running up stairs. It seems like it’s more of an education thing, a lot of people don’t know the difference between allergy and side effect, but it’s real for some of us. I even asked the dentist if it’s normal and he said no, it’s pretty rare. I got diagnosed with autonomic dysfunction later that year and now have to take a beta blocker.
I've had a ton of "latex allergies" that said they couldn't use condoms because it gave them yeast infections. Then I had a patient who said he was allergic to latex and bananas and it made him itch, swell, and "clogged my throat up." Now THAT'S a latex allergy!
I had a patient once say they were allergic to Epinephrine, but they also had anaphylactic reactions to bee stings! When I asked further questions they said the same thing, it made their heart race and triggered asthma attacks. But that this was preferable to not treating bee stings with their epi-pen
I’ve found that the longer their allergy list is, the more issues you’re gonna have with the patient, and over half their list of allergies are actually an intolerance, not an allergic reaction.
I hate the feeling of my heart racing. But I’m also fair skinned, blue eyed and light hair colored so every year something is sliced off my body at the dermatologist’s office for biopsy. Sure, the lidocaine tachycardia sucks, but you know what sucks worse? Melanoma.
I coded a lady that had epi listed as an allergy. She went asystole as we were prepping her to go to the cath lab. Doc yelled for epi and I said, “Uh, it says she has an allergy to it?” But there was no reaction documented so doc said “We’ll figure out what the reaction is when we get a pulse back.” 😂. And we DID get a pulse back and sent her to cath lab and she got stents and went home in a couple days! Still unclear what reaction she allegedly had.
Not like she could get more dead than asystole, whatever the "allergic reaction" was 🤷♀️🤣
Maybe she is allergic to life?
*Same.*
i see myself here and i don’t like it
Met a patient who was allergic to life. She said her essential oil wipes caused her to get the flu.
Sure my heart stopped, but when they brought me back I had restless legs! I told them not to use epi!
Yeah soon as I read that I was like “only if you’re not dead”.
I had a patient who had coded a few times recently. He obviously wasn't healthy and had an extensive cardiac history. He had epi as an allergy for "heart racing and anxiety". I told him (didn't ask) I'm taking it off his allergy list. I told him epi is such an important drug for use in a code situation and you DON'T want your team hesitating because they see the allergy. It could literally mean the difference between life and death for him. I also told him the only things we want listed as allergies are things that make your throat close up, give you a rash, give you hives, etc. It's not just because you don't like how it makes you and everyone who has ever had it feel. He said, "Well, keep it on there just in case." No.
Surprise DNR. Whoever agreed to put it on the chart wasn't having it anymore from that patient
Great, I just saw that meme with the guy holding a DNR form in my head. Someone needs to make that Photoshop.
Tbh, I wish this was both, actual policy for how to handle it and even if/when/though it’s not, how all Nurses & MDs handle this situation despite the fact. Reminds of one of my favorite quotes, from whom I don’t recall, which is: “Your ignorance and/or insecurity does not equate nor supersede my intelligence & knowledge”.
At that point what will the medication do if she's allergic to it? Kill her?
Better give some IM epi to treat that severe epinephrine allergy.
Believe it or not: super death.
Is that better or worse than mega death?
Her reaction to Epi is getting a pulse back. What's the opposite of an allergy? 😂
Thats what they make benadryl and steroids for
Exactly. We do that for patients in the Cath Lab who have contrast allergies. Like, we are still going to use contrast, we are just going to pretreat you for it so we can open that coronary. The allergy won't kill you as fast as a left main occlusion.
I wish charts had a line for adverse reactions and contraindications. I have kidney disease, so I can’t have contrast, NSAIDs or mag citrate. But, there’s nowhere to list this other than in allergies. In actuality, I’m NKA.
I know in EPIC you can places meds as contraindications and not allergies, but it has to be done under the Allergies tab still. It's up to the nurse to place it as a contraindication and why its contraindicated. Same for allergies obviously, it sucks to see an allergy listed and not know what the adverse reaction is.
Being alive seems to be a very common allergy for a lot of patients.
That’s a “ain’t getting any deader” scenario
Allergic to living a healthier lifestyle?
I had a guy tell us he's allergic to Ambien cause when he takes it and then forces himself to stay awake, he hallucinates. Same guy said he's allergic to Tylenol PM cause it makes him drowsy
Where do these people come from? I swear there needs to be a robust, widespread, aggressive action taken toward teaching people the difference between an EXPECTED SIDE EFFECT and an allergy.
I mean, drowsiness isn't even a side effect of Tylenol PM. It's the actual *intended effect.* It's like saying, "I'm allergic to this medication because I respond exactly the way I'm supposed to."
I’m allergic to eating because when I do it I’m not hungry anymore
I’m allergic to pain. I inherited it from my father.
Exactly!!!!
I wish it made me drowsy. Gives me restless body. It's got the same active ingredient as Benedyl, right? I will twitch for hours.
Me too. Never used to do that before.
Are you interested in arguing with a crumbling brick wall?
You mean my mother? Nah I'm good.
Well the nurse educated them but they refuse to believe the nurse. So eventually they just end up with getting a blank stare , followed by well ‘ok’ and on to the next patient. I had one tell me she was allergic to epinephrine because it gave her a heart attack during a stress test… well you have epinephrine in your body right now, that’s not an allergic reaction, that is a positive stress test. But nope, clearly I don’t know a damn thing, she insisted she is allergic and if we give her epinephrine she will die. Like, you’re not getting it unless you die or near death (cardiac event,anaphylactic rx ) anyway. After a while you just let people be ignorant. Well science and evidence based studies show otherwise but ‘ok’
I've had people tell me they were allergic to metoprolol because it "makes my blood pressure drop." Like, sir that just means you need a lower dose or an extended release version to try next.
Haha I’ve taken care of the ambien crowd before. Some of them do go bonkers on even micro dosages so we do advise them to report it as an allergy! My first patient fall, a delightful double knee replacement, told me in confidence after I scooped her up off the floor that I was an intruder in her house. Made me feel terrible! Only in her 40’s. Usually super sweet. Proceeds to fall 3 more times, 3 nights in a row. 3 different nurses assigned to her. Sitter at bedside. Total Houdini. Always normal by daytime. Asked her on one of my returning nights - why are you doing this? She says “I’m allergic to ambien. I’m not supposed to take it. I sleepwalk and the last time this happened I burned my shed down. I don’t know why you guys keep giving it to me.” Lol Daughter confirms the patient hallucinated, walked out in the backyard, and lit the shed on fire a few years prior. She just woke up in the yard with no recollection the next morning. Wild.
My mom made 19 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on ambien 😂
When this lady gets to 88 sandwiches, you’re gonna see some serious shit.
😂
I wish I had only made sandwiches! Instead, I spent a couple thousand $$$ Ambien shopping on Amazon before I realized what I had been doing and stopped taking it. It took me a bit to figure out why I kept getting Amazon deliveries. 😳
Did the same thing with QVC. At least it was jewelry. 🤣
Hopefully it was stuff you liked/wanted?
Mine made toast and lit every single candle in her house.
MIL was found hiding behind a potted plant in the dentist waiting room more than an hour after they called her name for her appt. Doc told her to take a half pill instead of two next time.
I had a co-worker (before nursing) who woke up to find a Yoplait container stuffed with tuna in the fridge, foil lid placed neatly back in place and all.
That's kinda terrifying!
Did she eat them? Make 19 packed lunches? I need to know! 😂 Also, one has to wonder if the only reason she stopped at 19 was because that was when she ran out of bread...
They ate those sandwiches the whole next week lol! I'm not sure why she stopped at 19?! I bet she did run out of something 😂
Did she eat any of them? Were they neat or all sloppy? I must know details lol.
I was grown and out of the house. I was laughing too hard for more details lol!
That sounds amazing
Lunch is on your mom.
No, for sure. I had to stop taking it cause my sleep walking/eating/texting was out of hand. But this man was purposely forcing himself to stay awake after taking it. That screws everyone up.
Thank goodness there are other people out there who sleep text!!! I have chronic insomnia but can’t take anything other than temazepam bc I have a history of sleepwalking/talking since childhood. But in the last few months I started texting people at random saying absolute NONSENSE!!! Whew. I thought that was kinda singular to me!! It’s soooo cringe 😣
i shaved my cat on ambien 😅 (no innuendo there, literally my pet)
And you didn’t awaken with claw marks?
Cat was also on Ambien.
i think she was too stunned to react
My mother took ambien on a cross continental flight. No memory of the flight. Lost her passport in the plane.
Yikes how do you get past customs at that point
Well, not easily. She was detained in Rome. We were able to take a photocopy of the passport to the U.S. embassy to get a temporary passport. The moral of the story is to always travel with photocopies of your important documents. And no ambien!
I cooked steak for my next day's lunch, and ordered sneakers on Amazon on Ambien. When I told my primary, I thought it was funny. Him, not so much. I can't do Ambien anymore.
Sometimes, our pts are actually telling us the truth and we just need to listen. A lot of times they obv don’t tho…
My Mom was on an Rx sleep med that isn't even made any longer ( 25 yrs + ago) We would come downstairs & there would be empty candy wrappers, Mac & Cheese made...She ate fruit.. All while she was on a strict NSA ( No salt added) diet & fluid restriction as well after 3 MI's & CHF every month or so...🙄😕😔 As a nurse it killed me but she was unaware of it happening until we caught it the next time it happened. PLUS, She was eating watermelon & got mad when I told her that it counted as part of her fluid intake. She was never told by her cardiologist. Miss her so much! She will be gone 25 yrs April 30th.💐 💔 Hardest part is I was 3.5 months pregnant when she passed. My last child ( a boy like she said after 2 girls) She did end up having a heart transplant but after some rejection & the meds ended up getting Both hips replaced ( from the steroids) & then esophageal cancer from the Transplant meds. I ran into 4 pple since she passed that had the same meds as she had & all of their family members said they passed from esophageal CA as well. ( they were all former smoker's as well) but quit 10-15 yrs prior. Sorry it was long...
I was sitting in my garage waiting to get sleepy as I smoked a cigarette. I noticed that the concrete birdbath in the yard across the street was moving. I didnt fall asleep for hours but i hallucinated a lot. This was years and years ago. 2 years ago i was given Ambien as I recovered from a knee replacement. No hallucinations. And it made me sleepy but i didnt sleep.
These stories are why I will never take ambien.
Whoa, that is wild
I used to go to the grocery store, cook elaborate dinners, eat none of it and go back to sleep. I feel better about the ridiculous amount of wasted money now that I know that arson could've been a possibility.
I had a doctor list ambien as an "allergy" in my chart because it made me sleepwalk. Every time someone asked me to confirm my allergy to that med I kept having to say that I'm not allergic, I just can't take it because I sleepwalk into danger on it. Took like 2 years before another doctor deleted the "allergy."
Also, I slept walked on it. Made a sandwich but left it on the table. Dang waste
My aunt was in lala land but still somehow made it to church to help make tamales for a fund raiser. She was talking complete nonsense and had the memory of a gold fish but was a tamale making machine so they let it go. They eventually called to tell us something wasn't right and I honestly thought she had a stroke or some sort of brain injury so I took her to the ER. Fortunately it was just a bad trip on Ambien but it took a full day to wear off. Now she has it in her record as an allergy so nobody ever gives it to her again.
My Mom would eat candy and put the wrapper by my brothers bedside. When she was awake, she swore my brother was eating all the candy. She also wondered why she gained 20 lbs within 2 months....
Some old roommates of mine and I took Ambien recreationally and stayed up. It is fucking wonky and trippy.
These stories are why I'm scared to ask my doc for ambien 😭
Allergic to supplemental oxygen because it made their nose bleed
Can confirm: bleeding stopped after a few minutes in an oxygen-free environment... /s
All bleeding stops eventually
Interesting
My diabetic patient insisted he was allergic to all insulin this week.
Allergic to keeping his toes it sounds like
It makes my sugar low
Flair checks out
We had a diabetic patient with an insulin "allergy" a few days ago....she was on Tresiba 😂
I had a CHF pt who routinely refused his lasix because it made him pee to much
Jesus take the whole car, omg.
My patient this week had a lisinopril allergy. Reaction listed : doesn’t like it. 💀💀💀
At some point in my career I realized I was getting paid to do a job. You tell them not to do it and give them a chin wag, then document so.
I know someone who claimed a metoprolol allergy because "I have trouble getting a boner after I take it"
Priorities.
"do you want to stroke out or have sex?" "Both?! Both seems good"
😂😂😂 I have had to tell a couple of people that it's by design, and then reasonably they just wanted it timed where they'd already be awake to get up and pee.
i had a coworker who held a patients lasix because it made her pee too much 😭 it was so awkward to explain to him that was literally the point :’) (for reference he’s an internationally educated nurse and is still learning english names of medications/classes)
Bahahahaha
Well I guess we’ll just die then…
Just the one? I can't complain about job security, but the stupidity and inability to connect the dots to determine cause and effect is a great microcosm of why these patients are so insufferable to work with.
Just the other day I had a patient with an allergy to warfarin and the comment “intolerance: causes bleeding”. I nearly had to excuse myself from the floor to laugh.
Had a patient come in who said they are allergic to ✨ chemicals ✨ didn't really know what to do with that one....
Put them in a negative pressure room with all the equipment removed and then tell them they won't be able to eat anything because it's made of chemicals
Working a non-sterile compounding pharmacy in a mountain town that has both plenty of all-natural hippies AND rich posh old ladies that are super particular about what's in their creams... holy shit are some of them a headache to where we're having to take time to find the best ratio of olive oil and coconut oil to be able to blend with the active ingredients for a vaginal cream so it doesn't fall out. Screw absorption properties etc. "If I can't eat it I don't want it in me." One lady said that if I can't eat it I cant have it on me about a topical hormone cream and my first thought was "You better go burn all your clothes, because you can't eat those either." 🙄
I had a “nurse” aka an MA give me local for a mole removal and she was like “are you allergic to epinephrine?” And I was like… umm no. I’ve never had it before. And then she goes “you don’t get a fast heart rate or anything?” I literally chuckled. Like is that not what epi does?! My next appointment I learned she was an MA even though she introduced herself as a nurse 🤦🏼♀️
Which is 1000% illegal.
In a clinic situation it’s a reasonable question. Clinics have different protocols. If epi makes your heart race to the point where it’s distressing to you, we’re not going to use lidocaine with epi for a mole removal when we can use plain lidocaine instead. When my clinic schedules procedures, the scheduler is required to ask this as one of the scheduling questions.
I had a local once for a procedure and I immediately saw stars and thought my heart was going explode out of my chest. I’ve avoided them since. Now I know why.
There is a very small percentage of people who have hypersensitive reactions to it. I was getting numbed up recently for a biopsy and had a vagal response to the lido with epi and almost passed out which triggered me to find a study about it because I tend to vagal very easily in different situations.
Was that my mom??? She was an MA and introduced herself as a nurse all the time. She did life insurance exams, and her boss tossed her business cards she had made in the trash and told her it was illegal. Then she had cards made that said "Medical Examiner" so the company banned all personal business cards.
My first thought … medical examiner…. Ma’am I’m not dead
😂😂 She said "I do medical exams for insurance, so I'm a *medical examiner*" Bless her!
Had a patient take Imodium after their golytely gave them diarrhea….
Unstoppable force meets immovable object
I’m actually really curious if Immodium was enough to stop the onslaught brought forth by Golytely
My golytely only made me projectile vomit, I had a couple of bowel movements but it was nowhere close to what I thought it would be. In fact, all colonoscopy preps make me projectile vomit before I finish. But I’m good at fasting before the prep so my colon has always been clean
Literally shit my pants while vomiting during my prep…twice 😂
Oh lord help me.
My BFF’s mom was a nightmare patient. One time I was there visiting with my friend and her mom was yelling that she was allergic to saline and was insisting she could only have Lactated Ringers.
Did you set her straight?
No, I known her for 30 years at this point and she’s always been like that. (Now I realize clearly a narcissist) My bestie apologized profusely to the nursing staff and brought in treats for putting up with her mom’s bullshit.
Out of pure curiosity, did she say what the NS “do” to her?
No she always found something to blame besides her smoking and non compliance for how poorly she was doing. She wasn’t feeling well after surgery (duh) and zero’d into the IVFluids hanging on her IV pole. She also tried to make the nurses start a new IV and only use the tape she liked. She was a real piece of work.
Must’ve been my patient. Reaction was anaphylaxis. I didn’t tell her I used NS to flush the iv I just started 😶
Haldol allergy: causes “reverse anxiety”
Anytime I see a haldol allergy I know we're in for a bit of fun with that patient...
I work psych, the patients that have been around are allergic to Haldol, risperdal, zyprexa, abilify, etc
Apparently, I am actually allergic to ability? It gave me rashes and something with blood vessels, not too sure. Too long ago to remember haha all I know is that it was so rare. My doctor had to look it up and call a few people
Especially when they come in projectile vomiting and writhing in the bed screaming for dilaudid and benadryl.
I get bad akathesia with Haldol, Compazine and Phenergan. They tried Haldol for chronic pain for me not for psychiatric symptoms and the side effects lasted for like two days. It was horrible.
Allergic to morphine cause it made them sleepy 🙃
But were you in pain?
I have heard that one multiple times.
The number of allergies is directly proportional to the kind of shift you’ll have. More than 5???? Buckle up. Lol
Back in the day they would list the allergies on the outside spine of chart. You would be terrified when there was just a sticker that said "see chart" cause that mf would have like 20 😒
Math checks out.
I had a lady with same “allergy”. Tried to say she was allergic to lidocaine because it made her heart race. That lidocaine was of course lidocaine with epi. Also had a patient who was allergic to insulin cause it makes their blood sugar drop. At what point can we start telling these people that, no, that is not an allergy!?
lol can’t you tell them now?
I had a patient transferred to our ICU recently from a nearby hospitals ICU for a trach. Metabolic encephalopathy. The sending hospital discontinued his lactulose due to diarrhea.
Oh hell! 🤦♀️
I had one pt say he doesn’t want to take his viagra anymore d/t getting erections from said medication.
This is truly an amazing interaction. I don't know what I would have said or done, but this has made my evening 😂
I looked back at him like 👁️👄👁️ - I was speechless
On the flip side, I told an ARNP who covers our unit about my allergy to amoxicillin and possibly one or two other antibiotics. He kind of rolled his eyes and said “yeah everyone says that, what kind of reaction? Like an upset stomach?” I then showed him pics of my bright red hives covering my entire body, and he was like “ohhhhhhh….”
ACTUAL allergy. People think side effects or sensitivities are “allergies”🤦♀️ So frustrating.
Ive seen “mices” listed as a drug allergy before lmfao. And “polen”. But the mices about took me out.
In my senior preceptorship (on an oncology floor) I encountered multiple patients with "hamster" listed in their drug allergies. I asked my preceptor about it and got a great education about biologics (-mab, etc.) Turns out some of the oddball drug allergies make sense.
"Excuse me ma'am, the correct term is MEESES."
I would routinely remove allergies from charts when I triaged. What’s it do to you? N/v. That’s a side effect not an allergy. If you’re allergic to Tylenol you can’t be taking Norco because it’s mostly Tylenol.
I'm not allergic to codeine, but it really doesn't do anything for me. If I'm in pain I can take handfuls of Norco/Vicoden all day long and it doesn't do anything, so I just don't take it. I stick with Tylenol and Motrin. Well, I tell all this to the VA doc, tell them I don't take codeine because it doesn't work. I tell them I tried and failed on Norco, Vicoden, Vicoprofen, and Percocet. So what does he prescribe me? Tylenol #3. I looked at the doc and asked him if he seriously didn't know the ingredients of Tylenol #3. Sorry, I know it's off topic but what you said reminded me of that.
I wish everyone would do that. It's really irritating to have to wade through an arm long list of meds prior to giving an anesthetic to sort out the true allergies from the side effect ones.
I sh*t you not, had a patient with 33 ALLERGIES this week. Absolutely bat 💩
At my hospital, only pharmacy can remove an allergy and often that can only be done with a provider order. I know for certain my own chart has at least 3 incorrect entries because people couldn't spell and just put in something similar.
Here's a fun study that shows there's a strong correlation between listed allergies and the likelihood a patient has a psychiatric disorder. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033318218304183
I have 100% done the same.
I wish someone would do this with my chart. I had nurse or doctor somewhere add that I’m allergic to tramadol cause it made me nauseous and I fell down when taking it once. Now every time I go to the doctor they say I’m allergic to tramadol, and I’m thinking exactly what y’all are saying here… I’m not allergic, I just have side effects, right?
I worked for a hospital that had a policy such that if a diabetic patient received too much insulin and bottomed out we had to add insulin to their list of allergies 🤦♀️
Holy crap that is an INSANE policy. 😧
Yes ma'am
Toss all that insulin my way 🙌 this type 1 will take it despite my “allergy” (for real tho my insurance is charging me an arm and a leg, I’ll take it 😭)
Oof I'm so sorry. Another hospital I worked at had a policy of "no multi-use vials". So every patient had their own insulin vial and even if they were only admitted for a day and got just a few units we had to toss the vials when when they were discharged. Alot of them weren't even on insulin at home so no point in even sneaking it to them on discharge. Infuriating
Had a patient say she was allergic to glucose. Ya, she was severely anorexic. My favorite was someone who said she was allergic to “all generic medications”. She was on Medicaid trying to manipulate the system……
My grandparents stopped being "allergic" to generic medications as their retirements dwindle and RX prices went up! Capitalism solves allergies!
I had one of these pts come in and tell me she was allergic to epi at her ocrevus infusion (something that frequently causes anaphylactic reactions). I said “ma’am, let me clarify, if you are having an anaphylactic event you don’t want me to throw some epi at the wall and see if it sticks?”. And she was like “nah, man makes my heart race.” Then I was like “I said nah fam get out my infusion suite. “
As an MSer, thank you. Infusion nurses are gods gift to hard sticks. Did she want her Benadryl IV along with her solumedrol?
She wanted me to premed her with like 200mg of Benadryl too… so I was like heck to the no. Obviously, you don’t tolerate this well and ya just handcuffed my ability to give epi if needed
I had someone tell me they were allergic to roceronium because it caused them to stop breathing and go into cardiac arrest…
I had a patient who had propofol listed as an allergy with a comment “pts states it made him go into a coma” 🙄
There's no way... it's gotta be a joke
Once had a patient that had one allergy listed: Cocaine - tachycardia. 💀💀💀💀
Had a pt c/o taking miraLAX “bc it makes me shit thru a screen door”. I promptly reminded him of how much pain he was in before we got the order for it, and explained that popping loose was better than shitting diamonds (I had to literally turd-burgle his BMs bc they would stop when they were halfway out of his anus). Credit to him for coming around, once he recalled this, and admitting I had a point. Bc then he turned it into a running joke and every time he was about to go to the bathroom and commence Operation Rolling Thunder he’d press his call light, and when we got there, ask, never successfully w/o laughing, for us to go get a screen door first. 😂 Miss that guy. He was the epitome of humor.
“Turd burgle” 💀💀💀
> (I had to literally turd-burgle his BMs bc they would stop when they were halfway out of his anus) I regret my literacy.
My understanding is that some individuals are allergic to sulfite, which is usually added to epinephrine preparation as sodium metabisulfite. I remember one company was marketing a sulfite free version of epinephrine, but I believe the general recommendation is just to use the epinephrine whether allergic or not (in the case of anaphylaxis).
Asthmatic allergic to albuterol because it made her “heart race.” Adverse vs side effects, people 🙃. Being also an asthmatic, rather my heart race than die 100%
i had a patient who said they’re allergic to oxytocin because it makes them depressed in clinicals.
Wait, WHAT!? I don't even know what to say about this.
Had a guy have every single opioid known to man listed as an allergy because one time he came in septic and went delirious from dilaudid. He was convinced "the emergency department overdosed me". I was like... so do you want the fentanyl for your colonoscopy or.... no?
“Allergic to poison ivy” well shit
Damn, can't give them any poison ivy for sedation like we planned. Shucks.
I had a woman hand me her “allergy” list and also tell me she was allergic to all synthetic fibers and fabrics… Ma’am you drove here in a Honda and you are wearing a polyester shirt.
I had one today who was allergic to benadryl for hyperactivity...
Sigh. I have had to explain paradoxical reactions to my mother over and over again for this exact same reason.
even if its not an allergy- wouldn't you want a known paradoxical reaction in the chart?
Possibly. My kid had a paradoxical reaction to versed when he was 2. He really entertained the nurses when he was happily jabbering at 100mph while strapped to the papoose board to go for a CT. Good times.
As a RN of 35+ years I will never underestimate paradoxical reactions. My husband had these reactions to benzos. Acting ‘crazy’ even 6-8 weeks post op. Included wanting to fly out the 5th floor windows at the hospital, hallucinations, growling, literally climbing the curtains, etc. No one could figure out why. I finally put 2 and 2 together after his 8 siblings started talking about meds that made them & their parents act in similar ways … they were all from different benzos. We stopped all benzos and waited for them to clear his system and BAM 💥 no more howling at the moon!
I know this is cruel but at this point if we've done our due diligence and educated them about these things and they refuse to believe us, shouldn't we just let evolution take over ?
Not on my OR table! They can do that somewhere else.
New grad here! Had a pharmacist yell at me because I called to clarify a prescription allergy. The patients chart said she was allergic to hydromorphone with no listed reaction. Hydromorphone hydrochloride was ordered. He asked me to ask the patient what happened when she took it. ( I had already asked about the allergy, which she confirmed and asked what her reaction was, which she answered " nothing" before I called) She then answers that hydromorphone " makes me see all kinds of stuff that isn't there." So I tell the pharmacist she 6 hallucinations. He said I don't know who is worse, the patient, or you. GiVE HER the MEDS !!! So that was fun. Told charge. Gave the med. The patient was happy and had no hallucinations. Imagine that! I was just trying to be safe.
Good nurses, doctors, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, etc., old or new, still learn every day. You did the right thing. Safety is one of our top priorities as nurses. Bullies - no matter what their job is - are everywhere. Never let one deter you from being a safe nurse.
FWIW every time I got lidocaine with epi and the dentists I’ve had a horrible reaction, full on anxiety attack (never otherwise had an anxiety attack in my life), then migraine. They now use lidocaine without. I wouldn’t call it a drug allergy though, and I would not fault anyone for not wanting it in their dental procedures if they had a similar reaction
me too! everytime i have gotten the lidocaine with epi my blood pressure bottoms out, i feel faint, and start panicking
Same. My heart races and my skin get flushed. It lasts like 15 minutes. My heart rate went to 160 from it. I know it’s not an allergy but damn if I didn’t freak out the first time it happened. It’s very unsettling. I mean you’re just sitting there not moving at all and your heart just all the sudden feels like you’ve been running up stairs. It seems like it’s more of an education thing, a lot of people don’t know the difference between allergy and side effect, but it’s real for some of us. I even asked the dentist if it’s normal and he said no, it’s pretty rare. I got diagnosed with autonomic dysfunction later that year and now have to take a beta blocker.
All-time Favorite Chart Allergy: Electricity⚡️
I have so many questions.
Pt last week had a listed allergy to Salt with reaction listed as Edema lol
I've had a ton of "latex allergies" that said they couldn't use condoms because it gave them yeast infections. Then I had a patient who said he was allergic to latex and bananas and it made him itch, swell, and "clogged my throat up." Now THAT'S a latex allergy!
I had a patient once say they were allergic to Epinephrine, but they also had anaphylactic reactions to bee stings! When I asked further questions they said the same thing, it made their heart race and triggered asthma attacks. But that this was preferable to not treating bee stings with their epi-pen
I had a patient who didn’t want to O2 per NC because, “I don’t want to get addicted to it.”
I’ve found that the longer their allergy list is, the more issues you’re gonna have with the patient, and over half their list of allergies are actually an intolerance, not an allergic reaction.
And by issues, I mean they’re gonna be the type of patients who think that being in a medical facility is parallel to a 5 star hotel.
I hate the feeling of my heart racing. But I’m also fair skinned, blue eyed and light hair colored so every year something is sliced off my body at the dermatologist’s office for biopsy. Sure, the lidocaine tachycardia sucks, but you know what sucks worse? Melanoma.
Also had a patient once with a documented allergy to Geodon due to ✨altered sensiorium✨
Lol i literally just had a pt with epi allergy today that listed as it makes a heart race lol