OK Garfield!

Garfield has left a new comment on your post "Medical Worker Takes Me On!":

I neither ridiculed nor insulted you. (Oh really?) I took issue with your statements, which are factually incorrect. (Says who? You? I'm quoting statistics from studies, not making things up! I also gave you a bunch of citations from the body of medical knowledge which refutes what you say is true and correct.) I didn't call you "Honey," either, Honey. And I don't wear panties. Why are my facts "biases" and yours are the pinnacle of enlightenment? (The difference comes in because *I* am not the person claiming that a bad drug is perfect and that people who object to its use and/or are harmed by it are stupid, the studies are wrong, blah, blah, blah. It's not a "pinnacle of enlightenment," which is an amusing bit of hyperbole by the way, it's a factual discussion about what happened to me and others in re Versed) By they way, I am and always have been a non-drinker. You don't have to drink to know how a person gets drunk. (I am really happy to hear this. Seriously.)

As far as clinical trials to prove a point, you should know by know that there is a clinical trial available to prove just about anything you like. (So you agree to disagree? I have proved my side by factual studies, clinical trials and personal experience. You say the opposite and I have also seen those studies. My personal experience differs from the establishment position on Versed, so I have cited those studies which correspond with my view. My view is the correct one. How's that for arrogance?)

If you don't want to take Versed, that's your right. (Garfield, it IS my right not to have Versed! Thank you for agreeing with that. Do you know why I started this blog? It's because somebody, probably a lot like you, decided unilaterally to inject me with Versed, without warning or permission and in defiance of my wishes. I have a history of bad reactions, called "paradoxical" reactions to drugs. He decided, after his 250,000 dollar (so you say) education and 15 years of his life, that HE, NOT ME was in charge of what drugs would be used and what procedures *I* would endure for *HIS* benefit. If he had listened to me and followed my instructions which were perfectly within reason, I wouldn't be here! All he had to do was explain what HE was going to do to me. All of it. This is required by law BTW. I would have politely refused and he could have either done it as *I* wished and gave permission for, or I could have signed out AMA and found somebody else who could do my procedure the way *I* wanted it done. No harm, no foul. Don't tell me that's not possible because I had to have a repeat of the same surgery and guess what? My new crna didn't even have Versed in the same room with me. There was no problem whatsoever with doing the surgery with a bier block and Fentanyl on demand. I'm alarmed that you wouldn't have a problem with what crna #1 did to me. Add in the extreme reaction to Versed and you have a freakin' DISASTER of medical care for me PERSONALLY. Obviously crna #1 thought it was just fine, as do most of the crna's which have come here to ridicule me.) But save your vitriol for some other non-issue. A 90% O2 saturation is not dangerous. Any first year student of anesthesiology knows that. (Garfield, the article I mentioned lists an O2 saturation of less than 90% as an adverse event. I DIDN'T MAKE THE LIST! Jeez you people can be obtuse!)

I pointed out your misspelling (you left out a syllable, not just a letter) of "apoptosis" simply to indicate you are unfamiliar with the term. You obviously don't have a clue what it means. ( Garfield, one of my favorite sayings is that you can learn about anything if you can read. I have never in my life spoken the word "apoptosis." I have never heard the word spoken. I probably would mispronounce it as well. Obviously I read, so what's the problem? Of course I know what it is! Did you look at the articles I cited about anesthesia and apoptosis? My spell check still says I'm spelling apoptosis wrong! You do realize that a statement like "You obviously don't have a clue what it means" is a slur don't you cupcake? In this case "cupcake" is a pejorative, just like "honey" and the "panties in a bunch.")

"KNOW YOUR ENEMY. KNOW THE LAW" You are on a witch hunt for bad guys, and there are no more bad guys in medicine than in any other field. (I don't need to go on a witch hunt for bad guys as you suggest. They come to me, now don't they? I think that there may be just as many "bad guys" in medicine as there are in any other field. There is a problem with this. People are at their most vulnerable with medical care and the attending personnel. Can you see how this would be much worse than say, your grocery bagger being a bad guy? You medical workers have unparalleled opportunities to harm people. Your mistakes have a far greater significance than a shoe salesman's mistakes. You people can drug us, give us life threatening illnesses (MRSA etc) perform poor surgery and a host of other things all of which *I* experienced. Most other job descriptions don't include this kind of power. Your mechanic isn't going to bankrupt you with poor medical care either, is he/she?

Everybody needs to know that the informed consent laws are being routinely broken. Did you read the part where my hospital was cited for numerous violations? This was unfortunately NOT an isolated incident. There are so many patients complaining about the total lack of consent for anything like Versed, that it's alarming. It's a pattern of abuse. We are not prisoners of the hospital to be dealt with like lab rats! Versed isn't the little innocuous drug that medical workers would have us believe, if they mention it at all. There are serious mental and physical effects of being poisoned with Versed that are not being revealed by medical workers. That's part of their job BY LAW! If I could ban it I would. At the very least we have to stop with the adversarial positioning of medical professionals when the patient limits intervention. They ARE the enemy if the patient wants to be treated like a human being. (and avoid Versed) It's doubly bad because all of us will need medical care at some point. Even if we avoid doctors like the plague, there will still be a time when we will have to deal with them. I have to see one every 2 years in order to keep my job. As far as I can see Versed incites passions in medical people that I had to see to believe. They are dispensing with informed consent in order to use this drug. The "know your enemy" quote comes from my submarine veteran buddies. I like it and I use it. )

There is another problem with your statement. Studies have shown (here we go again) that ACCESS TO DRUGS (free and potent in this case) can lead to addiction at a much greater rate than the general population. This leads to addiction in the medical field in greater numbers, in particular anesthesia. This is according to ALL studies I've read, no ambiguity. As I've said before, I have no personal knowledge of this. Do I want somebody drugging me with Versed, knocking me out and/or performing surgery all the while on drugs? Nope. I want a sane, sober person who accepts that I am a unique individual and can CUSTOMIZE MY CARE! All that training and all those years of your life, for what? So you can perform like an automaton? I might as well have a high school student with rote training like 'paindoc' suggests.

Maybe you should spend a quarter of a million and 15 years of your life investing in a medical education before you start a blog such as this. You are WAY over your head. (I'm way over my head if I want to PRACTICE MEDICINE! I am not in way over my head to remark on the current state of medicine, the lack of informed consent and the overuse and misuse of the absolute POISON that is Versed. I don't have to have a medical degree to obtain safe, sane medical care! Or do I? You do realize that saying that I'm in "way over my head" is yet another insult right? So are you saying that I need a medical degree before I can assess what happened to me and form conclusions? You sound lucid sometimes and like the other megalomaniacs in the medical field some of the time. Which is it?)

Hypoxemia

Here's a list of the symptoms of hypoxemia, along with an explanation of what it is. Hypoxemia: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment I want to point out the list of symptoms, reproduced below. Aren't some of these symptoms exactly the same symptoms that are caused by Versed? All of these, down at least as far as 2(7) are widely reported as Versed complications. Why would any of us want to risk this for something that isn't really needed? I don't care that Versed is allegedly given for some phony diagnosis of "anxiety." Versed CREATED anxiety in me and countless others. Others have also complained of "restlessness" as well with Versed. This restlessness after Versed is sometimes (often?) used as an excuse to give general anesthetic. Disorientation, confusion, lassitude and listlessness are valuable (to medical personnel) effects of Versed aren't they?

Not to mention that OTHER effects of Versed, such as the Alzheimers-like memory loss, dementia-like symptoms and the lack of cognitive function that are due to Versed. Why would they give us an unnecessary drug like Versed which chemically creates all these dreadful symptoms? How could anybody explain with a straight face that artificially causing these kinds of disorders in people is a good thing? Why is it fine to use Versed to cause these symptoms, but it's NOT fine to have the exact same problems without Versed? (there are some articles which point out this disparity) It's not always a temporary drug induced condition either... There are plenty of studies on the mental decline starting from Versed "sedation."

Symptoms of Hypoxemia

The symptoms of hypoxemia depend on the severity i.e. the amount by which the partial pressure has reduced.

1. Symptoms of mild hypoxemia:
   
   
   
   • Restlessness
   
   
   • Anxiety
   
   
   • Disorientation, confusion, lassitude and listlessness
   
   
   • Headaches


2. Symptoms of acute hypoxemia:
   
   
   
   • Cyanosis (Skin appearing bluish due to insufficient oxygen)
   
   
   • Cheyne-Stokes respiration (irregular pattern of breathing)
   
   
   • Increased blood pressure
   
   
   • Apnea (temporary cessation of breathing)
   
   
   • Tachycardia (increased rate of heartbeats, more than 100 per min)
   
   
   • Hypotension (abnormally low blood pressure, below 100 diastolic and 40 systolic. Here, as an effect of an initial increase in cardiac output and rapid decrease later.)
   
   
   • Ventricular fibrillation (irregular and uncoordinated contractions of the ventricles)
   
   
   • Asystole (severe form of cardiac arrest, heart stops beating)
   
   
   • Polycythemia (abnormal increase in RBCs. The bone marrow may be stimulated to produce excessive RBCs in case of patients suffering from chronic hypoxemia)
   
   
   • Coma
   
   
   • ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Worker Takes Me On!

Here is a comment from "Garfield." As usual this (medical?) person tried to negate everything I have said, and not just to enlighten or inform me, but to ridicule and insult me. Let's examine what he/she says! My remarks will be in black and in parentheses, his in red.


"You are absolutely incorrect in your assumption that desaturation causes brain cell death. It most certainly does not." (Really? So if you have a lack of blood flow carrying oxygen to the brain, or restrict the blood flow to parts of the brain due to Versed, this causes NO harm? So why is saturation of less than 90% considered an adverse event? You better start learning about oxygen saturation and the major problems it causes!) "Furthermore, you need to get your terminology correct. Apoptosis (or as you incorrectly spelled, "aptosis") (Typo, don't get your panties in a bunch!) is the normal pre-programmed death of cells. All normal cells are programmed to die. Every cell in your body is replaced in one year's time. Cells which are not pre-programmed to die are called cancer. (I think you better look at studies and/or definitions like this, Garfield. Apoptosis: understanding programmed cell death for th... [AANA J. 2010] - PubMed - NCBI or this Cerebral hypoxia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia These directly refute your statement. There are way too many citations for me to put up here. Do your homework!)

The degree of pain is determined by the dosage of anesthesia and has nothing to do with Versed." "The only way you can achieve 100% reduction in pain is at the risk of killing a patient with an overdose." (Not asking for 100% pain reduction, and Midazolam is NOT a pain medication! Are you agreeing with me that Versed/Midazolam isn't a pain medication? That's a first!) "Do you think that is a good thing?" (Well, what do you think? What a stupid question, rhetorical or not!) "A 90% 02 saturation is not dangerous for the vast majority of patients." (emphasis mine; No matter WHAT you say, it's listed as an adverse event honey! Obviously this IS dangerous for the vast majority of patients or the saturation point would be lower for adverse event reporting. Here's a study opining that the saturation should be moved to 92%; Oxygen Saturations Less than 92% Are Associated with Major Adverse Events in Outpatients with Pneumonia: A Population-Based Cohort Study This is just one study. If it's bad for pnuemonia patients, why is it OK for Versed patients? Here's a quote, " By convention, saturations <90% represented hypoxemia..." Let's see, what else can cause this? It's Versed!) If you ride in pressurized commercial air, your saturation will be lower than that (which is why you get looped on one alcoholic beverage)." (I don't get looped because I don't use drugs like alcohol which are known to destroy brain cells. Is this why you are so sanguine about destroying brain cells in patients? Because you destroy your own through alcohol consumption? Just asking.)

"A little learning is a dangerous thing...drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring." Alexander Pope (Essays on Criticism) I say this back to you dear Garfield. You are making some major assumptions here that are not based in fact, merely your own (biased) ideas. I am not the "vast majority" of patients and I resent being catagorized like this and subjected to things that YOU find are acceptable risks. There's all the information in the world right here on the computer and you are not "drinking deep." Actually Garfield, if you are a medical person, then you have access to even more studies which show the risk of Versed. It is a manifestation of your love for using Versed that forces you to try to defend the indefensible. Versed is absolutely unnecessary. Versed is dangerous to far too many patients minds. Cognitive Impairment Following Sedation for Colonoscopy With Propofol, Midazolam and Fentanyl Combinations - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov Medical people admit to 10% bad reactions to Versed. Personal experience with medical people leads me to believe that that number is under reported. Whatever, the 10% number times the "thousands of times Versed is used daily" adds up to an unacceptable number of adverse events. Do the math! All this for a drug that is used inappropriately and over prescribed.

Incidence of Sedation Complication

I found this little gem on the ASA website here; ASA Abstracts - Abstract I use this to show what the medical community considers "acceptable" risk for YOU! Keep in mind that this is basically only physical reactions ot the poison Versed, not the mental predation action of this drug. There is a chart at the bottom. If you add up all the "adverse" events that this study says is actually a GOOD number, look at what you get!

"Significant Desaturation;" (>90%) is 4.5% of the study patients. What happens to the brain when significant desaturation occurs? That's right, brain cell death or apoptosis.

The 'adverse event' of pain is as follows; "Excessive Pain" (as interpreted by MEDICAL PEOPLE, not the patient is 2.5%. "Moderate Pain" (admitted to by the people CAUSING the pain) is at 6%. I'm sure these are under reported. "Mild Pain" ( yeah right) is at 3.7%. Keep in mind that these sedation patients are also being given pain medication as well. FULLY 12.2% OF SEDATED PATIENTS ARE EXPERIENCING PAIN!!! And this is just as reported in this study, which is slanted to prove that nurses should be able to provide sedation!!!

For all of the nurses who say that Versed is so relaxing, why is it that HYPERTENSION is so prevelent with Versed??? The adverse event of hypertension is at 2.7%! The hypotension group is at .3%. When you are "relaxed" with Versed wouldn't you think those numbers would be reversed? How 'bout it Insane Nurse? Want to address this?

"Restlessness" comes in at 6.4%! Restlessness in sedated patients! Isn't Versed supposed to be so "relaxing?" I thought Versed was given to "sedate" patients! Obviously Versed isn't so "sedating" after all. It's an amnesia drug and a patient control drug ONLY, in my opinion. (period)

Totalling up all the adverse events it comes to 29.6% of patients. These are patients who have mostly minor procedures with anesthesia which is performed by nurses that are going to have one or more of these adverse events. This is totally acceptable to medical people like ASA. More than 1 in 4 patients having adverse events is good?

So what are the parameters of what constitutes "good" sedation? It's OK to CAUSE these problems in 1/4 of patients as long as the patient doesn't die? Does POCD matter? What about PTSD? Is it OK to starve patients brains of oxygen? This is a LOT of risk for an unnecessary part of minor procedures isn't it?

Another Versed Discussion

Here is a discussion on Versed on a gardening site. A conversation about Versed - Kitchen Table Forum - GardenWeb I don't know any of these people and I'm NOT a gardener. How odd is it that PATIENTS are discussing Versed and the problems with it independently? There is no "vast conspiracy" to denigrate this particular drug. We are not all getting together on facebook and deciding to ARBITRARILY attribute bad reactions to this drug Versed! We are discussing our reactions and those of our loved ones to Versed and forming conclusions about what this drug is and how devastating it is for us. We can't all be wrong either. The only common denominator in our experiences is Versed.

I have a couple of quotes from this discussion. I am throwing them in here to show how we patients are coming to the same conclusions, apart from each other, implicating Versed.

"Susan (alisande) posted recently about memory loss connected to the medical use of Versed prior to anesthesia.

The DD of aging parents told me she is concerned that her father is rapidly becoming senile. He had esophogeal cancer surgery and must have endoscopies every six months now to monitor his condition.

I asked his DD if she was aware that Versed could be contributing to his rather sudden loss of ability to find his way while driving. She hadn't made the connection, but said that *she* has had a bad reaction to the drug. Her MD told her to state on medical forms that she is "allergic" to Versed."

I have also opined that Versed mimics Alzheimer's and could be culpable in creating an accelerated Alzheimer's type memory problem. I have been taken to task for DARING to mention this! I have a couple of unpublished comments from medical personnel doing just that. If you want to see them e-mail me at nomidazolam@aol.com and I will forward them to you.

I also want to mention the "allergy" to Versed. I have heard from too many people including my own family members, that saying that you are "allergic" to Versed doesn't work. There is a narrow PHYSICAL description of what an "allergic" reaction is. A bad reaction or paradoxical reaction isn't something that the medical people give a damn about. Once they fight with the patient over the exact terminology of what an "allergy" is, then they go ahead and give Versed anyway.

"An 81-year-old friend wrote to me recently asking about my experience with cataract surgery. I'm sure my reply wasn't quite what he expected, as 3/4 of it basically said, "Stay away from Versed."

Sure sounds like something *I* would do, but this quote isn't me! It's from the same discussion I linked to in the opening paragraph. The final quote is below in green. I LOVE this one!

"Maybe we are *creating* mentally impaired people -- who will need medical care, (ware)housing, other profit-producing services. Insurance companies could sell more long term care!"

So there you have it! Yet another discussion of Versed by the people that are being assaulted and damaged by it. Of course crna's and the like have also found this discussion and with boringly predictable behavior have nastily defended Versed. Medical workers love Versed SO MUCH that they just can't stand to have any stupid patients say anything bad about this drug, anywhere at any time without jumping in with their sneering comments. I've never seen anything like it. I had to add this quote from one of our esteemed medical workers....

"As to the person whose dad had esophageal ca & was getting rapidly senile..... you've taken one variable (the Versed) & pinned it as a cause/effect. What about the fact he is AGED?"

Oh yes, let's not forget "sudden onset AGE!" LOL That's what it has to be! Can't be Versed... The very drug that they give to people to cause memory loss by disrupting the delicate processes of the brain (not to mention extreme docility) can't possibly be contributing to additional memory loss post injection... Gee that makes no sense to me! I'm being facetious here folks! Just taking a jab at our oh-so-very-smart medical workers. It's not rocket science people. Versed is used to cause the same symptoms that are being objected to later. There is a very clear connection.

A Use For crna's; At Last!

I found this on youtube and it is FUNNY! Great job you crna's! They forgot to mention the "sedation" poison Versed! This song could have gone on and on if they had mentioned wrecking people's brains with Versed is as well as the bad physical stuff!

The Ring of Fire - YouTube

Absolutely FRIGHTENING THOUGHT!

I got a couple of irate rants from somebody who claims to use Versed on her daughter for seizures. I'm not going to print them in their entirety because they are simply the lunatic ravings of an idiot, but here's an excerpt;

"Versed allowed administrtaion [sic] of a quick responding and highly effective intranasal route..."

This is absolutely frightening to me. A lay person (allegedly) is allowed to possess and dispense a drug like this without medical supervision. She could use it on ANYBODY for any reason. So she can destroy not only her own daughter's brain, but also anybody else whom she pleases. She admits there are other drugs to use which are just not as easy!

If this woman can get Versed, so can anybody else. I wonder where she gets it? Does she get it from her doctor's office? Does she get it at Wal-Mart? Rite Aid? So any druggy can get their hands on it by robbing the drug store? How does she transport it? Does she carry it in her PURSE? Does she leave it in her car? Does she have some in her house while she's gone? Has she heard of purse snatchers? Carjackers? Burglaries? Any anti social person can now get their hands on Versed and use it for nefarious purposes? How wonderful for rapists!

What's to stop her from giving it to her best friend to control a temper tantrum in their 2 year old? Is she going to use it like pepper spray on anybody she doesn't like the looks of? This woman LOVES Versed! Of course that's because, like medical workers, she uses it on somebody else. Anybody who writes what this woman wrote to me should NEVER under any circumstances be allowed to possess this drug! The idea that she has it, uses it, takes it out in public is shocking to me. I'm going to see if this is true. I have trouble believing that any old person can strut around with Versed in their possession! I'm calling my pharmacy! This, if true, must be stopped.