Have You Ever Been to the ER as an Adult?

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Have You Ever Been to the ER as an Adult?

January 19, 2009

Plenty of you have had broken bones or received stitches because of accidents, and chances are, many of those incidents happened when you were a kid. Just because you're grown up doesn't mean you're immune to getting hurt though so tell me . . .

Poll ER Emergency Room

43 Comments

radmama27 4 years 17 weeks

No, knock on wood!

radmama27 4 years 17 weeks

No, knock on wood!

flyingchange 4 years 17 weeks

I've never had a broken bone or stitches, but a few years ago I had an ovarian cyst rupture. I didn't know what it was, all I knew was that I had excruciating stabbing pain in my lower back that I didn't know the cause of. I am terrified of needles and didn't want to go, but the pain was completely overwhelming and the fact that I didn't know the cause scared me.

DeviousMuse 4 years 17 weeks

I was in Lake Tahoe in 2001 and took a nasty fall on a ski run (the trail had iced over, and I lost control when I hit the ice). I thought I was okay after they took me off the mountain, so I chilled at my hotel in the hot tub. It wasn't until I tried to get up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water that I realized I couldn't move my neck and my peripheral vision seemed off. My mom had to drive me 20 miles to the nearest ER, in a blizzard, at 3am. I had severe whiplash and a concussion, was given vicodin and sent home with the usual wake every 2 hours instructions. We found out a couple years later after persistent neck/back pain that I actually herniated two discs in my neck and had to endure 9 months of physical therapy. UGH.

DeviousMuse 4 years 17 weeks

I was in Lake Tahoe in 2001 and took a nasty fall on a ski run (the trail had iced over, and I lost control when I hit the ice). I thought I was okay after they took me off the mountain, so I chilled at my hotel in the hot tub. It wasn't until I tried to get up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water that I realized I couldn't move my neck and my peripheral vision seemed off.My mom had to drive me 20 miles to the nearest ER, in a blizzard, at 3am. I had severe whiplash and a concussion, was given vicodin and sent home with the usual wake every 2 hours instructions.We found out a couple years later after persistent neck/back pain that I actually herniated two discs in my neck and had to endure 9 months of physical therapy.UGH.

bengalspice 4 years 17 weeks

I went to the ER for a cough that wouldn't go away and was keeping me up at night. They told me to go home and sleep after taking some Benadryl. I finally got to see my regular physician who put me on antibiotics and an inhaler. Stupid ER.

bengalspice 4 years 17 weeks

Spectra 4 years 17 weeks

wackdoodle--your story reminds me of why I really hate the ER. Seriously, they screw up so much stuff there; I'm amazed people come out of there alive sometimes. They send us things for culture on inappropriate swabs or in nonsterile containers and expect us to find the right antibiotics to prescribe. Or they screw up things in the computer so the wrong tests get ordered...stuff like that. So I'm not surprised they totally missed your bladder problem (which is WEIRD, btw...almost all "can't pee" cases are UTIs or stones, but apparently not!). I forgot to mention that I had to take my hubby to the ER a couple of years ago for a motorcycle accident. He wiped out about 10 miles from home and managed to get back on the bike and drive it home with a giant gash in his elbow. As soon as he got home, I rushed him to the ER and he got stitches and painkillers and X-rays. Good thing he had his leather jacket on...otherwise, he probably would have had some SERIOUS injuries.

Spectra 4 years 17 weeks

booglass 4 years 17 weeks

Many, many times including once when they suspected I might have appendicitis and kept me there doing nothing for 8 hours. I finally got fed up and just left. Turned out to be very nasty kidney infection. Or after I cracked my kneecap at a concert and the time I sliced my fingertip wide open. I've also taken my hubby for a mountain biking accident. And taken my father after he had his carotid artery roto-rootered and the incision swelled. I also took my mom after she had pain from breast reconstruction surgery. This was in Costa Rica. So technically my ER experiences are international!

booglass 4 years 17 weeks

GlowingMoon 4 years 17 weeks

Not myself, thank goodness.

GlowingMoon 4 years 17 weeks

Not myself, thank goodness.

bluepuppybites 4 years 17 weeks

Wow those nurses you have there sound super incompetent.

TidalWave 4 years 17 weeks

What a story wackdoodle! I did laugh at the last part. Only because I can just imagine lying in bed watching a movie and then feeling I have to pee and being like, "Ugh, I have to get out of the warm bed, pause the movie, walk to the bathroom...... oh wait. With this convenient cath I just lie here and pee. How wonderful!" lol!

wackdoodle 4 years 17 weeks

oh yeah funniest trip to the ER was after I had been released from the hospital after having the dead or dying portion of my large intestine removed.24 hours after being released I realized that I hadn't peed. Then I realized I needed to pee but could not.I called the nurse hotline for my insurance and the nurse asked when I had last peed. I told her I had to pee to eave the hospital but that the nurse's faked it by inserting a cath and counting that as me being able to pee.So I had to ride the bus at 3am back to UCSF. Got there and told the ER front desk person why I was there. She thought I was joking. So I ended up sitting in an empty fully staffed ER with no other patiets there for 3 hours before one of the nurses took me back to a curtained room.Once in the room she asked what the problem was. I told her. She looked at the wrist band I still had on from my surgery and she pulled up my records. Uh oh.She called the ER doctor who called the Urologist on call. They both inspected me then called the on- call surgeon. The did an ultrasound of my bladder and saw that it was so full it looked like it was going to burst so the just yanked up my legs and inserted another cath. Only even with the cath there was no urine. They re-ultrasounded me. They felt me up. They did blood draws. They ran IVs full blast and pumped me full of 3000ccs of IV fluids in under an hour and still no pee.Finally they realized that the morphine that had been given to me post-op had done something negative to my bladder. It was storing urine and turning into a giant sponge. Plus once it was full I was developing edema. So the attempted to counteract the morphine that refused to leave my system and in the process allowed me to feel to horrible pain from having a good portion of my large intestine removed. They gave my diuretics IV and kept me in the ER for 24 hours calling every specialist in and still after those 24 hours and almost 7000 cc of IV fluids and the cath directly into my bladder I had only put out 500 cc of urine.Then the surgeon who did my intestine resection and gastric bypass came in and said "send her home, she's allergic to morphine and the nurses gave her morphine anyway. Another 24 hours and she'll be peeing forever."I got sent home with a catherer and instruction "not to drink anything for 24 hours if possible". So I went home with the weird feeling cath in and lay down for the next 24 hours, I just slept. I woke up cause I couldn't roll over cause their was something warm and hard next to me. My cath bag was full and about to burst. I went to my bathroom and emptied it. Before I could seal it, it was filling again. So I left it open and put it in a bucket and waddled back to bed. I filled up a huge Home Depot bucket in under an hour.And I had to document every drop and call my surgeon and tell them the output until the thought that all of the excess fluid was out.It tool a total of 48 hours for all of that fluid to empty out.Then I had to get the cath removed, only I wanted to keep it because do you know how great it is to never have to get up to go to the bathroom ? It was liberating.

wackdoodle 4 years 17 weeks

oh yeah funniest trip to the ER was after I had been released from the hospital after having the dead or dying portion of my large intestine removed. 24 hours after being released I realized that I hadn't peed. Then I realized I needed to pee but could not. I called the nurse hotline for my insurance and the nurse asked when I had last peed. I told her I had to pee to eave the hospital but that the nurse's faked it by inserting a cath and counting that as me being able to pee. So I had to ride the bus at 3am back to UCSF. Got there and told the ER front desk person why I was there. She thought I was joking. So I ended up sitting in an empty fully staffed ER with no other patiets there for 3 hours before one of the nurses took me back to a curtained room. Once in the room she asked what the problem was. I told her. She looked at the wrist band I still had on from my surgery and she pulled up my records. Uh oh. She called the ER doctor who called the Urologist on call. They both inspected me then called the on- call surgeon. The did an ultrasound of my bladder and saw that it was so full it looked like it was going to burst so the just yanked up my legs and inserted another cath. Only even with the cath there was no urine. They re-ultrasounded me. They felt me up. They did blood draws. They ran IVs full blast and pumped me full of 3000ccs of IV fluids in under an hour and still no pee. Finally they realized that the morphine that had been given to me post-op had done something negative to my bladder. It was storing urine and turning into a giant sponge. Plus once it was full I was developing edema. So the attempted to counteract the morphine that refused to leave my system and in the process allowed me to feel to horrible pain from having a good portion of my large intestine removed. They gave my diuretics IV and kept me in the ER for 24 hours calling every specialist in and still after those 24 hours and almost 7000 cc of IV fluids and the cath directly into my bladder I had only put out 500 cc of urine. Then the surgeon who did my intestine resection and gastric bypass came in and said "send her home, she's allergic to morphine and the nurses gave her morphine anyway. Another 24 hours and she'll be peeing forever." I got sent home with a catherer and instruction "not to drink anything for 24 hours if possible". So I went home with the weird feeling cath in and lay down for the next 24 hours, I just slept. I woke up cause I couldn't roll over cause their was something warm and hard next to me. My cath bag was full and about to burst. I went to my bathroom and emptied it. Before I could seal it, it was filling again. So I left it open and put it in a bucket and waddled back to bed. I filled up a huge Home Depot bucket in under an hour. And I had to document every drop and call my surgeon and tell them the output until the thought that all of the excess fluid was out. It tool a total of 48 hours for all of that fluid to empty out. Then I had to get the cath removed, only I wanted to keep it because do you know how great it is to never have to get up to go to the bathroom ? It was liberating.

wackdoodle 4 years 17 weeks

Yes. So many times that I cannot count them all. For getting hit by a car while riding my bike. For getting hit by a car while walking with the light in the crosswalk. I've been too many times for migraine attacks. At least 50 times in the last 5 years. For food poisoning. For a severely dislocated kneecap while working. For getting hit by a car while working (fractured permanently damaged wrist thanks to that). For what I thought was a stomach ulcer but was actually my large intestines dying off slowly. Took my nephew to the ER after he accidentally stabbed himself in the hand while installing shelves in my apartment. And so on Then also I have go to the Pet ER with one or both of my silly cats.

wackdoodle 4 years 17 weeks

Yes. So many times that I cannot count them all.For getting hit by a car while riding my bike.For getting hit by a car while walking with the light in the crosswalk.I've been too many times for migraine attacks. At least 50 times in the last 5 years.For food poisoning.For a severely dislocated kneecap while working.For getting hit by a car while working (fractured permanently damaged wrist thanks to that).For what I thought was a stomach ulcer but was actually my large intestines dying off slowly.Took my nephew to the ER after he accidentally stabbed himself in the hand while installing shelves in my apartment.And so onThen also I have go to the Pet ER with one or both of my silly cats.

hyzenthlay20 4 years 17 weeks

I've only been to the ER as an adult. About 5 years ago I went because I fell while rock climbing at a gym and my friends were pretty convinced that I had broken my elbow. It turned out I had only sprained it REALLY badly. The other time was two years ago, when I fainted while walking out of the grocery store with my boyfriend. I had just submitted my finished Master's Thesis that morning, and the stress got to me, apparently. They took FOREVER! I suppose if I had taken up the EMTs offer to take me in the Ambulance I might have been seen faster, but I felt all right after I came to, and I didn't want to tie up an ambulance in our town, when I didn't really need it.

doogirl 4 years 17 weeks

My husband went 14 years ago when he had a nasty case of strep throat, he was 23 at the time. I've gone twice when my daughter had to go. When I was in labor with my first daughter, I had to go in through the ER to the hospital because it was 1am. But I've never been worked on in the ER ever in my whole life.

snowbunny11 4 years 17 weeks

Ugh I went within this year because I started getting migraines, and didn't really know how to treat them myself (and I didn't have the proper medications). I was severely dehydrated due to uncontrollable vomiting, and needed the IV, etc., but honestly, now that I know how to treat them (and have anti-nausea medication) I would NOT return to the ER for a migraine, or unless I had a life or death problem. Being there made it 100x worse!

SarahPW 4 years 17 weeks

wow, i feel like i am there a lot...i have bad seizures and the medicine i take makes my bones pretty brittle, so between seizures and broken bones, i am there more than i would like to be :(

HaterTot 4 years 17 weeks

This seems like a dumb question to me. Of course I have. I don't think I know anyone who hasn't. Most recently I took a friend who had become cripplingly dehydrated from a particularly bad bout with the stomach flu. The most recent for me was to have my hand looked at and get antibiotics after my friend's dog attacked and killed my cat and both got bites into my hands before I could separate them. Cat bites are especially nasty and bacteria filled, and after taking kitty to the emergency clinic, I rushed myself to the ER to get taken care of.

syako 4 years 17 weeks

Went at the beginning of this month. Snowboarding accident. DOH! ;)

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