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💂‍♂️ UK 💂‍♂️ Why Are Our Hospitals SO TERRIBLE When You Are Opioid-Dependant?

ChemicallyEnhanced

ChemicallyEnhanced

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I mean both when you are admitted for severe opioid withdrawal OR when someone opioid dependant is admitted to hospital*?

I have VAST experience as someone who was severely alcohol dependant (a liter of vodka and 3 bottles of wine every day) for 8 years, alcohol withdrawal is the only thing I've ever been in A&E for where you DON'T have to wait to be triaged by the nurse before you can get anything prescribed, they'd literally bring me benzos for the withdrawal as soon as I was in the waiting room. They also check you very frequently for withdrawal and are very good at making SURE you get plenty of meds to be comfortable (as well and vitamin + extra thiamine drip). Obviously it's somewhat different as alcohol withdrawal is very dangerous and often fatal, but still.
I also just got out of hospital this morning and while I was in there as soon as they found out I was a smoker, they immediately offered me a nicotine patch.

But from experience I know they do nothing, really, for even acute opioid withdrawal. You might get IV hydration, immodium and anti-emetics, but that's it.


*I mean on heroin or illicit opioids, not when you are prescribed like morphine or methadone, they'll give you any prescription meds obviously
 
ChemicallyEnhanced said:
I mean both when you are admitted for severe opioid withdrawal OR when someone opioid dependant is admitted to hospital*?

I have VAST experience as someone who was severely alcohol dependant (a liter of vodka and 3 bottles of wine every day) for 8 years, alcohol withdrawal is the only thing I've ever been in A&E for where you DON'T have to wait to be triaged by the nurse before you can get anything prescribed, they'd literally bring me benzos for the withdrawal as soon as I was in the waiting room. They also check you very frequently for withdrawal and are very good at making SURE you get plenty of meds to be comfortable (as well and vitamin + extra thiamine drip). Obviously it's somewhat different as alcohol withdrawal is very dangerous and often fatal, but still.
I also just got out of hospital this morning and while I was in there as soon as they found out I was a smoker, they immediately offered me a nicotine patch.

But from experience I know they do nothing, really, for even acute opioid withdrawal. You might get IV hydration, immodium and anti-emetics, but that's it.


*I mean on heroin or illicit opioids, not when you are prescribed like morphine or methadone, they'll give you any prescription meds obviously
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Essentially because you’ve made poor life choices, you can’t be trusted.
 
No, it's nothing to do with life choices. But I think you're being flippant. The NHS in the UK is there for all. It shouldn't be about you being judged by the choices you've made in life. Everyone makes poor choices. I'll come back to this thread later. I've had some shitty experiences at the hands of the caring professio.

Babygirl. X
 
LoginNotSecure said:
Essentially because you’ve made poor life choices, you can’t be trusted.
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It has nothing at all to do with life choices. There could have been a myriad of reasons this person wasn't seen to with the appropriate protocol put in place. There is protocol for opiate withdrawals.

@ChemicallyEnhanced are you going through other channels to help you through your journey?
 
LoginNotSecure said:
Essentially because you’ve made poor life choices, you can’t be trusted.
Click to expand...

Would you rather overdose on a narcotic and not be revived by an ambulance but be able to receive narcotics in hospital?

Or would you rather overdose on a narcotic and be revived by an ambulance but for the rest of your life receive inadequate pain management?
 
Don't presume prescribed opioids WILL automatically be continued in an in-patient setting.

Either take them with you or have someone bring them. If nothing else, it proves without recource to a computer system that you are prescribed opioids since the box has you name on it. If your medication is subject to safe custody laws, nurses are NOT an 'appropriate person', only doctors and pharmacists are.

Let's face it. If you say you have 22 pills and a nurse claims there were only 18, that's a problem. So if you ever have to hand them to a doctor or pharmacist, count them in front of the practicioner who will write the number of pills left onto the box and sign it. Then there can be no argument.

I found this out the hard way. I'm telling you so you don't have to go through what I did.
 
Not saying you won’t wake up but saying you’ll wake up with the brain function of someone who overdosed as powerfully as you did.
 
helpingout said:
Not saying you won’t wake up but saying you’ll wake up with the brain function of someone who overdosed as powerfully as you did.
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If you’re “lucky” enough to wake up.

In a world with people who think overdosing is a bad choice, or being addicted is a bad choice, or using drugs is a bad choice.

Your not reducing harm by excusing inequity towards drug users.
 
helpingout said:
You’re blaming the slaves for being in the shackles the slavers designed.
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No, life circumstances created the shackles. We don't know everyone's story. Most people don't become addicts for a jape.
Compassion and empathy go a long way. Life is hard and shit falls on a sliding scale.
 
Sadie said:
No, life circumstances created the shackles. We don't know everyone's story. Most people don't become addicts for a jape.
Compassion and empathy go a long way. Life is hard and shit falls on a sliding scale.
Click to expand...

No, the pushers brought the shackles, and they’re happy to keep you in them.

I’m lucky my connect was a good dude who never bought ahead and tried to dump on me or give me shit for free.

But the dope life is a kind of slavery dude. The moment you wouldn’t mind not using that day and finding you can’t. That’s when you finally see the shackles were there all along. Stay high long enough and they kind of disappear.

I guess the darkness is really the best drug dealer.
 
LoginNotSecure said:
Essentially because you’ve made poor life choices, you can’t be trusted.
Click to expand...

For me, personally, I am dependant on opioids I was given by the NHS. I was very, very unwell in hospital and given IV morphine 6 times a day for 12 weeks and then a prescription when I left. I was not warned about how addictive they were and couldn't even consent to the IV morphine in hospital because I was so sick I was delirious and out of it.
 
It's across the board in UK hospitals that you get treated like less of a human being if you have any history of addiction in past. I'm prescribed opiates legitimately, but if I don't disclose my past problems with these drugs I'm treated kindly, with courtesy and compassion. But if I choose to tell them I've got some history with opiates, and usually I do as they can find it on their computers straight away, their attitude towards me changes.

It's been a huge problem for me over the years and one I wish I'd have known about. Although I doubt it would have changed my drug use, but who knows? It's not just in small ways that it's made a difference either. On one occasion I was told by a ward sister, in a very loud voice so that every patient on my ward, and the consultant who just happened to be there "if Yu our discharge meds don't come in time for you to take them home you can always go to the junction."

The Junction in my town is a place where drug users are prescribed their methadone and outside you can get virtually anything. I was being discharged earlier than usual due to my beginning my degree the very next morning at Hull University.

I complained and asked the consultant if he heard what was said and he said that he did. I said I was thinking of making a complaint, he insisted that I do so. Two weeks later in a meeting with the sister, consultant and half a dozen managers, the consultant recalls the incident but didn't recall what was said clearly.

BS and bollocks.

Sorry I took this thread a little off topic. But I'm trying to explain how drug users are treated badly and differently as soon as it's known that they've had a drug problem in the past.

Alcohol is seen as a socially acceptable pastime so of course medical professionals are going to treat patients differently when it comes to an illegal drug and one that is definitely not socially acceptable.

I've had a lot of these kinds of experiences, not just in the town I currently reside in, but all over the country. It's a very shaming, blaming experience, and not one that encourages anyone to be open and honest.

Babygirl. X
 
Uden said:
Because of how society treats those people... it's cyclical. So the alcoholic that is having seizures made better life choices?
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No, they get judged just the same. At the end of the day it purely boils down to risk aversion. Sure, you could give someone opioids for pain when they have a history and they'll be fine, but the vast majority won't, and that's based on pure statistics. So, rather than take a risk, it's easier (and ultimately cheaper) to let you squirm.

Shit state of affairs, but you either take it like a champ, or you pony up the monies and go private.
 
helpingout said:
Would you rather overdose on a narcotic and not be revived by an ambulance but be able to receive narcotics in hospital?

Or would you rather overdose on a narcotic and be revived by an ambulance but for the rest of your life receive inadequate pain management?
Click to expand...
I'd rather not put myself in a situation where either of those choices were options. Yes, it's that simple.
 
ChemicallyEnhanced said:
For me, personally, I am dependant on opioids I was given by the NHS. I was very, very unwell in hospital and given IV morphine 6 times a day for 12 weeks and then a prescription when I left. I was not warned about how addictive they were and couldn't even consent to the IV morphine in hospital because I was so sick I was delirious and out of it.
Click to expand...

Yep - they WILL do that. Read your own chart to see what you were prescribed.

If in doubt, ask to see the registrar. Being the senior consultant, they are much more comfortable with prescribing medicines that are liable to produce physical dependence. Mostly they will provide a short-term prescription of the medication you were given, write to your GP and then the GP will undertake detoxification. You have to do some work yourself, but then it's your health so ultimately, your responsibility.

It's an odd one because HR agencies don't like to involve themselves with people who become dependent on prescribed medication. So they aren't much help. Better than using anything off the street but worse than your own doctor.

I hope you got through it OK.
 
Babygirl25 said:
Nowadays it's hot nothing to do with disclosure as they tap into your computerised NJ otrs at your Drs surgery. Hold put with the info and it makes you seem like a devious, manipulative drug user, rather than just a drug user.

Babygirl. X
Click to expand...

In the UK at least, you have the legal right to see your own medical records. They don't like it, but I did and got them to alter their mistakes. Only a couple of things but one was a lie, the other a failure to listen. But they were reaidily altered. If you go to the trouble of getting your records, either they accept YOUR version or they have to go back and ask the clinicians involved. In both cases, I think I know why and I assume my doctor also knew why so it was simply ammended. But it's your health so your responsibility to take charge of it. Mistakes happen. As a patient, you are the canary in the coal mine if serious failings occur.

But yes, when a receptionist can pull up your entire medical record, I consider that a gross invasion of privacy.
 
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