Here's the entire link;Tell me about your experience with conscious sedation please :) - The Well-Trained Mind Forums (aka Hive Mind)
Here's the post I found fascinating in light of how agressive the CRNA's who've posted here are, and how ADAMANT they are that Versed causes zero side effects in anybody at all. Yet, here we have a nurse saying differently! How peculiar. Italics and boldface are mine.
"I had conscious sedation for lithotripsy to blow up kidney stones.
The actual procedure was fine. I was kind of fading in & out, like in a dream.
AFTER, though, in the recovery, I was a hysterical mess. Just nuts & on one level I knew I was nuts, but I couldn't stop it. The nurse came in and said 'don't panic, it affects some people this way, you're not going insane & it will go away'. It did go away about 4 h later.
So that's my exp with conscious sedation - a very, very bad come down." From "Hornblower" in Canada.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Stealthy Versed Injection!
This post is from a friend of mine, Linda... This is only PART of her story, the origination of her distress is chronicled here. Of course there is a lot more to Linda's story now. Maybe she will write me and I can put up "the rest of the story."
I have been writing lately about how we are being given Versed without consent and against our will, even if we decline it. This is a story of how Linda was tricked, lied to and decieved by hospital personnel and the resultant decimation of her mental health. Versed is a terrible drug! These stories are all too common. Yet, nobody is listening to us and our descriptions of the aftermath of Versed useage. Why is that?
"Yes Jackie This is me. You can post it of course. Thanks for all your hard work. Love Linda"
I have been writing lately about how we are being given Versed without consent and against our will, even if we decline it. This is a story of how Linda was tricked, lied to and decieved by hospital personnel and the resultant decimation of her mental health. Versed is a terrible drug! These stories are all too common. Yet, nobody is listening to us and our descriptions of the aftermath of Versed useage. Why is that?
"Yes Jackie This is me. You can post it of course. Thanks for all your hard work. Love Linda"
| posted by Linda on 27 Oct 2009 at 6:15 am |
| Two years ago I was injured in an automobile accident. I dislocated my hip and fractured my ankle. I was transported by ambulance to University Hospital in Syracuse NY. In the ambulance I was given 10mg. of morphine. When I arrived at the hospital 20 minutes later the nurse Jolene Keyes RN said she needed to get xrays and said she would give me something for pain. I asked what I was getting she shrugged her shoulders and said morphine. So I agreed. I woke up 11 hours later terrified with a cast on my leg and no menory of the days events. After I was discharged I was not emotionally stable. I was scared out of my mind. I couldn't figure out what happened. I began to relive the first few minutes of my stay at the hospital. I couldn't sleep and I cried constantly. I tried to ask the hospital what happened and they won't talk to me. When I complained that I couldn't remember they said "that's normal". Well that wasn't normal for me. After three months of fighting with the hospital and the surgeon I found out that the nurse had given five mg. of versed followed by another 10mg. and 50mg. of propofol two hours later. Apparently at that time I quit breathing. According to my record I had been struggling to breathe after the first dose because they put an oxygen mask on me with 4liters of oxygen. This experience has left me with PTSD, depression, anxiety and insomnia. Previous to this I was high functioning. At the time of the accident I was attending grad school I almost failed my grades plummeted. I was almost fired from my job because I couldn't do it anymore. I am an LPN and a social worker. I am now terrified of medical practitioners. I have had to see a doctor a few times since this incident I cry every time. I can't stop the fear. Versed has ruined my life. My conclusion since this happened is that medical personnel do not care if you will have problems. They do not care if you are allergic. They will do whatever they want. If you tell them you don't want versed they will give it to you anyway and they are not concerned with any problems you might have because they will give you something else to fight the side effects or intubate you or do whatever they want. The only thing we can do is fight for our rights because right now they say we have them but they are not enforced. Don't become a victim like so many of us have. Once they have the IV running they do what they want. |
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Post in Free Ideas
Here's a post from Free Ideas!!!: Long Post - Versed (Midazolam) for Gastroscopy
Anonymous said...
I have a Ph.D. in biopharmaceutics and my GI doc thought that I was nuts when I refused Versed for my own colonoscopy; she uses it all the time and thought that it was o.k. despite a fair number of patient complaints. After reading this article, she called me and told me that these comments are starting to "connect the dots" about Versed; there is obviously a HUGE problem with this drug and with the slob docs who overuse it. My GI doc said that if she takes an extra 5 minutes per colonoscopy, sedation drugs aren't needed..BUT, the patient will probably have some discomfort. But with Versed, they still have the discomfort and possibly get PTSD as well. I recently had another GI procedure and asked the CRNA to give me 4mg of Versed just so I could see for myself; she told me that I could have anything, propofol, fentanyl, demerol (not recommended), but she didn't recommend versed for use on anyone except a condemned prisoner. Versed is given just before lethal injection......The CRNA told me that Versed is used in WAY to high doses by docs who don't understand or who just don't care. My GI doc said that she would only use propofol, but it adds tremendously to the cost of procedures. Interestingly enough, if doctors need sedation, they insist on propofol; none would want versed.
Anonymous said...
Notable Quote
I'm sorry, this is from my own collection and at the time I didn't save the attribution... If this is yours please e-mail me so I can put that on it!
"Okay so they use versed during surgery to erase your memories of it- does that mean you aren't conscious and experiencing pain, too? Or is it possible that you wake up in excruciating pain, but you forget about it? If so, then Versed has the additional benefit of being a cover-your-ass drug for docs. Especially for the anasthesiologests who are dipping in the fent bottle.
I wonder if the Versed sales reps pitch it like that: "If your patient wakes up screaming in pain, hit him with 10mg of IV versed, and he won't remember shit. Lawsuit averted" Unknown Author (for now)
I wonder if the Versed sales reps pitch it like that: "If your patient wakes up screaming in pain, hit him with 10mg of IV versed, and he won't remember shit. Lawsuit averted" Unknown Author (for now)
Do you wonder why I don't like anesthesia providers?
I am willing to bet that this is NOT an anesthesiologist (Dr.) as I really haven't seen this type of behavior from them. My apologies if somebody recognises this person's writing style, sentence structure and spelling problems and it IS a Dr.! I think I know exactly who this is and this person is a CRNA.
I snatched this one up from http://www.versedbusters.blogspot.com/
I have taken the liberty of correcting this post as I went along. This cretin is claiming to be superior to us and yet...
I snatched this one up from http://www.versedbusters.blogspot.com/
I have taken the liberty of correcting this post as I went along. This cretin is claiming to be superior to us and yet...
"This is where you guys should leave the medical aspect of things to the professionals. (Well La Di Da, aren't you special) Versed is an active part of an anesthesia. You should actually be happy (Sure honey, we should be happy with PTSD, anxiety disorders, insomnia, hostility, irritability etc. You betcha!) it is given due to the fact that it (is) able to be reversed unlike propofol(diprivan) that is given in combination with versed (Proper name is capitalized) during concious (sp) sedation, which is not reversable. (sp)(run on sentence) Giving versed (cap) lowers the amount of propofol (cap) needed to maintain a thereputic (sp) level of sedation during colo (contraction needs period) cases, etc. (Where is the part about pain killers? I don't think this is an oversight, I think that this is what they do! Sedation to give you amnesia and keep you still and NOTHING for pain.) Now I don't care (this is obvious) how interested you are in surgery (comma) you under no circumstances need to be awake. (Unless as in my case, my surgery is better done without being knocked out, and unless this is a CHOICE of the patient, etc Obviously there ARE circumstances in which the patient should be left awake. Define "awake" in your parlance please) If your (sp, I think the word you are looking for is the contraction of "you are" which is "you're." "Your" is a possessive adjective denoting ownership) interested in surgery look it up on the internet. There are several risks to having a patient awake such as unnessesary (sp) movement, which could cause internal damage. You the patient get to retain your right to sue even though you are at fault. Whether it is given pre-operativly (sp) or not it will be given in the O.R. (OH NO IT WON'T! How dare you make such a claim!) Since none of you have an clinical, pharmacological, pathophysiologic, or Anesthesia ( unnecessary cap.) knowledge (how do you know this?) I would just do as your (sp, same error again) told and cooperate. (OMG how presumptuous!) It is a shame when a website is started by morons whom (wrong word) have no idea about anything. (Again, how would you know this? Are you claiming psychic powers? Assumes facts not in evidence) If you don't like it tuff. (sp)(temper, temper) With the mentality you present (?) then you could say that the anesthesia provider slipped you narcotics without your permission because I can tell you fentanyl (proper name, capitalize) was given to you in the O.R. (I liked Fentanyl for my surgery, pain killer is good, and I actually asked for painkiller...) It is people like you that makes (wrong tense) Anesthesia (unnecessary cap.) hard (waah, waah) simply because you think you no (sp The word you are unable to spell is "know;" to perceive clearly or apprehend and understand as fact or truth, not "no" which is a negative. As in "NO" you may not give me Versed." "No" wonder "no" doesn't mean "no" in a medical setting! You don't "know" the difference between "no" and "know.") more! If you have questions about what they were giving you in your iv (caps and contraction periods) you could have said something before it was given.
This article obviously was written by an anesthesia provider who should never have been given a "social" pass to enter the 4th grade. Sorry people it is really hard to take you seriously when you have no skill set in regards to writing, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. Getting on your high horse in a snit isn't very effective if you can't articulate it... and when you can't back up your claims of psychic ability when you proclaim what all WE did or did not do in our specific circumstance. i.e. "If you have questions about what they were giving you in your iv you could have said something before it was given." Cupcake, you weren't there and you don't know what was said or done. Also you are putting the cart before the horse with your inane statement. IT'S YOUR JOB TO TELL US, NOT OURS TO ASK! Cripes! Using your own sentence against you... "It is people like YOU (anesthesia providers) that makes (sic, wrong tense) Anesthesia (sic) hard simply because YOU (anesthesia providers) think you no (sic) more!
Ever think that you are freaks (We are actually PATIENTS. Sorry you view us in this way.) wanting to know and see and be a part of things that physicians are ethically and morally trying to keep you from experiencing that could be traumatizing? (You are "ethically and morally" required to do as we patients say, IT'S OUR BODY, not yours to do with as you like!) They do have protocol-- ie. drapes when doing c-sections. If they need you awake for your cooperation (there's that creepy description of the total obedience Versed causes again) they will do so- if there is a chance that you are going to freak and move and muck up their procedure they can't be having that for the patient's own benefit. Honestly, take your psych probs (contraction needs period) to a shrink, they are not the physicians problem.
Oh yes they are the physicians problem. We are human beings and we demand some respect from you people. Believe it or not, YOU my friend are not God. Disregarding current patient rights law makes you a criminal anyway. Regardless of your high and mighty take on us mere mortals, we do not have "psych probs" (sic) just because we don't like Versed. We got "psych probs" (sic) FROM your lousy drug. Your sentence structure in this statement is unclear; "...if there is a chance that you are going to freak and move and muck up their (WHOSE?) procedure they can't be having that for the patient's own benefit." I hope that this doesn't mean that you are actually claiming that the procedure is the PHYSICIAN'S PROCEDURE and not the PATIENT'S PROCEDURE! Nice try honey babe.
As an aside, is this part of what Versed does? It prevents the patient from "moving?" So you are NOT using this for patient "relaxation?" What you are actually doing is sedating patients into immobility, isn't that true? This is NOT what sedatives are for now is it? There are many articles on the internet which state that using Versed as an immobilization agent is a misuse of the drug. Thanks for this enlightening statement. I have been verbally attacked for suggesting that Versed causes patients to be paralyzed. Here we have an anesthesia provider (CRNA?) saying exactly that, given that this post was on versedbusters which is a web site about one single drug, Versed...
I really chopped this one up... Here it is before I got to work on it!
This article obviously was written by an anesthesia provider who should never have been given a "social" pass to enter the 4th grade. Sorry people it is really hard to take you seriously when you have no skill set in regards to writing, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. Getting on your high horse in a snit isn't very effective if you can't articulate it... and when you can't back up your claims of psychic ability when you proclaim what all WE did or did not do in our specific circumstance. i.e. "If you have questions about what they were giving you in your iv you could have said something before it was given." Cupcake, you weren't there and you don't know what was said or done. Also you are putting the cart before the horse with your inane statement. IT'S YOUR JOB TO TELL US, NOT OURS TO ASK! Cripes! Using your own sentence against you... "It is people like YOU (anesthesia providers) that makes (sic, wrong tense) Anesthesia (sic) hard simply because YOU (anesthesia providers) think you no (sic) more!
Ever think that you are freaks (We are actually PATIENTS. Sorry you view us in this way.) wanting to know and see and be a part of things that physicians are ethically and morally trying to keep you from experiencing that could be traumatizing? (You are "ethically and morally" required to do as we patients say, IT'S OUR BODY, not yours to do with as you like!) They do have protocol-- ie. drapes when doing c-sections. If they need you awake for your cooperation (there's that creepy description of the total obedience Versed causes again) they will do so- if there is a chance that you are going to freak and move and muck up their procedure they can't be having that for the patient's own benefit. Honestly, take your psych probs (contraction needs period) to a shrink, they are not the physicians problem.
Oh yes they are the physicians problem. We are human beings and we demand some respect from you people. Believe it or not, YOU my friend are not God. Disregarding current patient rights law makes you a criminal anyway. Regardless of your high and mighty take on us mere mortals, we do not have "psych probs" (sic) just because we don't like Versed. We got "psych probs" (sic) FROM your lousy drug. Your sentence structure in this statement is unclear; "...if there is a chance that you are going to freak and move and muck up their (WHOSE?) procedure they can't be having that for the patient's own benefit." I hope that this doesn't mean that you are actually claiming that the procedure is the PHYSICIAN'S PROCEDURE and not the PATIENT'S PROCEDURE! Nice try honey babe.
As an aside, is this part of what Versed does? It prevents the patient from "moving?" So you are NOT using this for patient "relaxation?" What you are actually doing is sedating patients into immobility, isn't that true? This is NOT what sedatives are for now is it? There are many articles on the internet which state that using Versed as an immobilization agent is a misuse of the drug. Thanks for this enlightening statement. I have been verbally attacked for suggesting that Versed causes patients to be paralyzed. Here we have an anesthesia provider (CRNA?) saying exactly that, given that this post was on versedbusters which is a web site about one single drug, Versed...
I really chopped this one up... Here it is before I got to work on it!
This is where you guys should leave the medical aspect of things to the professionals. Versed is an active part of an anesthesia. You should actually be happy it is given due to the fact that it able to be reversed unlike propofol(diprivan) that is given in combination with versed during concious sedation, which is not reversable. Giving versed lowers the amount of propofol needed to maintain a thereputic level of sedation during colo cases, etc. Now I don't care how interested you are in surgery you under no circumstances need to be awake. If your interested in surgery look it up on the internet. There are several risks to having a patient awake such as unnessesary movement, which could cause internal damage. You the patient get to retain your right to sue even though you are at fault. Whether it is given pre-operativly or not it will be given in the O.R. Since none of you have an clinical, pharmacological, pathophysiologic, or Anesthesia knowledge I would just do as your told and cooperate. It is a shame when a website is started by morons whom have no idea about anything. If you don't like it tuff. With the mentality you present then you could say that the anesthesia provider slipped you narcotics without your permission because I can tell you fentanyl was given to you in the O.R. It is people like you that makes Anesthesia hard simply because you think you no more! If you have questions about what they were giving you in your iv you could have said something before it was given.
Ever think that you are freaks wanting to know and see and be a part of things that physicians are ethically and morally trying to keep you from experiencing that could be traumatizing? They do have protocol-- ie. drapes when doing c-sections. If they need you awake for your cooperation they will do so- if there is a chance that you are going to freak and move and muck up their procedure they can't be having that for the patient's own benefit. Honestly, take your psych probs to a shrink, they are not the physicians problem.
Ever think that you are freaks wanting to know and see and be a part of things that physicians are ethically and morally trying to keep you from experiencing that could be traumatizing? They do have protocol-- ie. drapes when doing c-sections. If they need you awake for your cooperation they will do so- if there is a chance that you are going to freak and move and muck up their procedure they can't be having that for the patient's own benefit. Honestly, take your psych probs to a shrink, they are not the physicians problem.
Monday, September 27, 2010
ASA Statement Regarding AANA...
Here is the link; ASA Statement Regarding AANA-Sponsored Paper Published in Health Affairs, August 2010
Here is the entire statement;
August 5, 2010
ASA Statement Regarding AANA-Sponsored Paper Published in Health Affairs, August 2010
The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) - sponsored paper published in the August 2010 issue of Health Affairs, titled “No Harm Found When Nurse Anesthetists Work Without Supervision By Physicians,”1 is an advocacy manifesto masquerading as science and does a disservice to the public. It makes dangerous public policy recommendations on the basis of inadequate data, flawed analysis and distorted facts.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that in the past 25 years, anesthesia mortality rates have been reduced from two deaths per 10,000 anesthetics administered to one death per 200,000-300,000 anesthetics administered. 2 This achievement did not occur spontaneously: it is the product of forward-thinking ASA leaders and physician scientists. The development of new monitors, adoption of safety standards, creation of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, the ASA Closed Claims Project and, most recently, the Anesthesia Quality Institute are evidence of decades of our members’ commitment to improving patient safety through genuine science.
The Health Affairs paper reflects the weaknesses of billing data when used to make an assessment of safety and quality. These billing data were not created for this purpose and do not distinguish between complications resulting from surgery or anesthesia, nor do they discriminate between conditions existing prior to surgery and those resulting from surgical or anesthetic care. Thus, meaningful analysis of anesthesia outcomes is impossible from billing codes alone. Using the anesthetic-related mortality frequency reported by the IOM,2 the 481,000 cases analyzed in the AANA-sponsored paper would have produced two deaths related to anesthesia, an obviously insufficient number to support any conclusions about mortality. This exemplifies the gross inadequacy of the paper to draw conclusions about anesthesia outcomes. Nonetheless, the authors ignore these critical limitations and advise altering Medicare policy, adhering to AANA’s advocacy agenda. And they make no apology for the disturbing trend in their own data toward increasing frequency of mortality and complications in nurse-administered anesthesia during the opt-out “experiment” as compared to improved outcomes in physician and care-team cases.
The paper acknowledges that anesthesiologists care for patients undergoing the most complex procedures, but does not recognize that this is also true for the sicker patients undergoing even routine surgery. Even if one accepted the study’s assertion that outcomes were equivalent, this would point to mortality far higher than expected in the nurse anesthesia group caring for a decidedly lower-risk population. In a scientific study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), investigators at the University of Pennsylvania found that the presence of an anesthesiologist prevented more than six excess deaths per 1,000 cases in which an anesthesia or surgical complication occurred. 3 This represents compelling evidence that anesthesiologists’ capacity to provide life-saving medical care should be reflected in standards of care.
Dulisse and Cromwell assert that the training of nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologists is essentially equivalent. Since nurse anesthetists receive approximately two and a half years of training following the bachelor’s degree and anesthesiologists spend eight years preparing for practice after the pre-medical undergraduate education (four in medical school and four in residency), this claim defies arithmetic. The prolonged period of training is to acquire the knowledge base and skills to provide expert care of the patient and all their co-existing disease before, during and after surgery. Years of experience managing complex disease in hundreds of patients, training 80 hours weekly, prepares the anesthesiologist to do more than administer anesthetic drugs and perform procedural tasks. It provides them the ability to rescue patients who have significant perioperative problems. This broad responsibility is what makes anesthesiology the practice of medicine.
ASA member anesthesiologist Ann C. Still, M.D., a former nurse anesthetist provides additional perspective on the difference between a nurse’s care and a physician anesthesiologist’s care. “Having cared for patients as a CRNA and now as an anesthesiologist, I see daily how safe patient care requires a physician’s training.” Anesthesiologists serve as the leaders of anesthesia care teams because their level of skill and training is necessary for the safety of the patient.
The authors also make the claim that unsupervised nurse anesthesia is more “cost effective.” Considering that the payment for anesthesia services under Medicare’s system (adopted by most private insurers, too) is identical whether provided by an unsupervised nurse, solo physician or the physician/CRNA team, the fallacy of the “cost effective” claim is evident.
The existing Medicare policy requiring physician supervision of nurse anesthesia is rooted in the overwhelming preference of patients, particularly Medicare beneficiaries, for a physician to be responsible for their anesthesia care. 4 Suggesting that this patient preference be pushed aside on the basis of flimsy analytics is irresponsible and is reminiscent of the “scientific studies” purchased by the tobacco industry to demonstrate the safety of tobacco. Americans understand the value of physician care, just as we saw through the false reports that promoted cigarettes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I love it when my arguments are borne out by an esteemed body such as the ASA!
Here is the entire statement;
August 5, 2010
ASA Statement Regarding AANA-Sponsored Paper Published in Health Affairs, August 2010
The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) - sponsored paper published in the August 2010 issue of Health Affairs, titled “No Harm Found When Nurse Anesthetists Work Without Supervision By Physicians,”1 is an advocacy manifesto masquerading as science and does a disservice to the public. It makes dangerous public policy recommendations on the basis of inadequate data, flawed analysis and distorted facts.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that in the past 25 years, anesthesia mortality rates have been reduced from two deaths per 10,000 anesthetics administered to one death per 200,000-300,000 anesthetics administered. 2 This achievement did not occur spontaneously: it is the product of forward-thinking ASA leaders and physician scientists. The development of new monitors, adoption of safety standards, creation of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, the ASA Closed Claims Project and, most recently, the Anesthesia Quality Institute are evidence of decades of our members’ commitment to improving patient safety through genuine science.
The Health Affairs paper reflects the weaknesses of billing data when used to make an assessment of safety and quality. These billing data were not created for this purpose and do not distinguish between complications resulting from surgery or anesthesia, nor do they discriminate between conditions existing prior to surgery and those resulting from surgical or anesthetic care. Thus, meaningful analysis of anesthesia outcomes is impossible from billing codes alone. Using the anesthetic-related mortality frequency reported by the IOM,2 the 481,000 cases analyzed in the AANA-sponsored paper would have produced two deaths related to anesthesia, an obviously insufficient number to support any conclusions about mortality. This exemplifies the gross inadequacy of the paper to draw conclusions about anesthesia outcomes. Nonetheless, the authors ignore these critical limitations and advise altering Medicare policy, adhering to AANA’s advocacy agenda. And they make no apology for the disturbing trend in their own data toward increasing frequency of mortality and complications in nurse-administered anesthesia during the opt-out “experiment” as compared to improved outcomes in physician and care-team cases.
The paper acknowledges that anesthesiologists care for patients undergoing the most complex procedures, but does not recognize that this is also true for the sicker patients undergoing even routine surgery. Even if one accepted the study’s assertion that outcomes were equivalent, this would point to mortality far higher than expected in the nurse anesthesia group caring for a decidedly lower-risk population. In a scientific study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), investigators at the University of Pennsylvania found that the presence of an anesthesiologist prevented more than six excess deaths per 1,000 cases in which an anesthesia or surgical complication occurred. 3 This represents compelling evidence that anesthesiologists’ capacity to provide life-saving medical care should be reflected in standards of care.
Dulisse and Cromwell assert that the training of nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologists is essentially equivalent. Since nurse anesthetists receive approximately two and a half years of training following the bachelor’s degree and anesthesiologists spend eight years preparing for practice after the pre-medical undergraduate education (four in medical school and four in residency), this claim defies arithmetic. The prolonged period of training is to acquire the knowledge base and skills to provide expert care of the patient and all their co-existing disease before, during and after surgery. Years of experience managing complex disease in hundreds of patients, training 80 hours weekly, prepares the anesthesiologist to do more than administer anesthetic drugs and perform procedural tasks. It provides them the ability to rescue patients who have significant perioperative problems. This broad responsibility is what makes anesthesiology the practice of medicine.
ASA member anesthesiologist Ann C. Still, M.D., a former nurse anesthetist provides additional perspective on the difference between a nurse’s care and a physician anesthesiologist’s care. “Having cared for patients as a CRNA and now as an anesthesiologist, I see daily how safe patient care requires a physician’s training.” Anesthesiologists serve as the leaders of anesthesia care teams because their level of skill and training is necessary for the safety of the patient.
The authors also make the claim that unsupervised nurse anesthesia is more “cost effective.” Considering that the payment for anesthesia services under Medicare’s system (adopted by most private insurers, too) is identical whether provided by an unsupervised nurse, solo physician or the physician/CRNA team, the fallacy of the “cost effective” claim is evident.
The existing Medicare policy requiring physician supervision of nurse anesthesia is rooted in the overwhelming preference of patients, particularly Medicare beneficiaries, for a physician to be responsible for their anesthesia care. 4 Suggesting that this patient preference be pushed aside on the basis of flimsy analytics is irresponsible and is reminiscent of the “scientific studies” purchased by the tobacco industry to demonstrate the safety of tobacco. Americans understand the value of physician care, just as we saw through the false reports that promoted cigarettes.
1. Dulisse B, Cromwell J. No Harm Found When Nurse Anesthetists Work Without Supervision by Physicians. Health Affairs. 29(8) August 2010.
2. Committee on Quality of Healthcare in America, Institute of Medicine: To Err is Human, Building a Safer Health Stystem. Edited by Kohn L, Corrigan J, Donaldson M. Washington, National Academy Press, 1999, p 241.
I love it when my arguments are borne out by an esteemed body such as the ASA!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Here's one from Allexperts
Rex Russell the expert who answered is my kind of guy! Here's the link; Anesthesiology: Regional Anesthesia w/o sedation, ulnar nerve, long term memory loss
Of particular note is the person who wrote the questions experience trying to avoid Versed. They told him that a Bier block without sedation is "impossible." What a crock! Liars. I had a Bier block without sedation of any kind for removal of hardware in my wrist. It was just fine. No problem.
Of particular note is the person who wrote the questions experience trying to avoid Versed. They told him that a Bier block without sedation is "impossible." What a crock! Liars. I had a Bier block without sedation of any kind for removal of hardware in my wrist. It was just fine. No problem.
Reader Comment
Rose has left a new comment on your post "Here's Another Great Discussion About Versed/Midaz...":
Nomidazolam blogspot should be required reading for all anesthesiologists & CRNAs (and med students going into those fields). I would love to believe that they honestly don't know how this drug is mentally wrecking some of us, but it appears that the opposite may be true. We are not all a bunch of crazies with previous psychological issues. I can't undo the fact that I was given this drug ,although I would if I could (my biggest regret in life). All I want now is an absolute guarantee that I will never be given this drug again...and to have an HONEST, competent, caring medical team treating me. Is that really too much to ask ?
This reader "Rose" brings up a very salient point. All of us who have been harmed by Versed want some kind of reassurance from the medical professionals that if we say NO to Versed/Midazolam that we will not get this drug! Why is that so hard for medical folks to comply with? There are comments all over the web about patients declining Versed, by name, writing this on their intake paperwork and STILL GETTING VERSED! What's up with that? I have mentioned elsewhere that I don't like Demerol. This is not a problem for my caregivers, but declining Versed is. Even Mike (see other post and apology) says that he will only give a drug that the patient doesn't want in a "life and death" situation. So clearly we are going to get Versed again, even though we don't want it and it caused us harm.
There are other posts which claim that listing Versed as an allergy doesn't work either. The nurse will grill you about your "alleged" allergy and strike it from your records if he/she doesn't agree with the patients assessment! (see http://www.allnurses.com/ posts on here about allergies) I have a friend who actually had the hospital pharmacy guy come in and tell her that her Versed allergy was simply an "aversion" and the nurse immediately shot her up with it. What can one make of such irresponsible (childish, hateful, domineering, dictatorial, etc.) behavior from the MOST TRUSTED members of our society? This is NOT for the patient, this is for YOUR OWN devious reasons... If this drug was really for us patients comfort, then we would be able to refuse it, especially after having severe adverse reactions to it wouldn't we?
My own sister has had Versed many times. She doesn't get the amnesia either, but when she declines it due to the torture she has to endure while the caregivers feel she should be amnestic is beyond endurance. Their answer? "I'll give you MORE VERSED!" The other trick they used just a month ago is that they agreed to use ONLY painkillers such as Fentanyl, no Versed. When she demanded to know what they were putting into the IV, the reply was "Oh this is the Versed!" Say what? She says then it was too late... Why is this happening?
Obviously the medical field is so enamored of this drug, OR so dependant on its use, they can't treat you without that "cooperation" and amnesia. So no matter what we do or say, there will be a fight with them over it, or you will get it regardless of what you say. I cannot fathom the conceit that would allow a person in a position of authority over a helpless patient to abuse their power in such a way.
I ASSUME that being able to treat people as slabs of meat, being unconcerned about patient pain, (and the worry of sufficient amounts of painkiller without harming the patient) the ability to do whatever they want without having to answer any questions, explain any part of the procedure etc is a draw. They also mention patient "cooperation" as a selling point among themselves. Abject obedience is what they really mean. They want you to obey them without question, and they want to retain the ability to FORCE you to obey them and endure whatever torture they devise, without consequences. You probably won't remember how abusive and uncaring they were anyway, so what's to stop them?
Like most people who have become addicted to behaving like petty, self righteous tyrants without any recourse, of course they won't let the patient get away with declining Versed. (Any of you medical people who take exception to this statement better look in the mirror.) You know for a fact that Versed is for YOUR benefit, not the patient. That's why we don't seem to be able to get an assurance that it won't be used. You will stoop to any sort of lies, omissions, deceit, false pretences etc. to get that drug into every single patient who walks through the door. Dorothy (patient relations) told me that after my debacle. "Everybody who walks through the door gets Versed." This attitude is all over the internet! It's here on this blog. It's on allnurses, allexperts, nurse-anesthesia, askapatient, law blogs, it's everywhere.
We patients are not mental defectives because we don't want your precious Versed which caused us such mental anguish. Why would we want a drug like this in the first place? Then when it was forced on us we reacted badly! We'd be crazy to allow its use again! YOU have the issues because you won't let us decline it! You won't let something like patient care or those pesky "informed consent" laws interfere with your drug pushing... What is wrong with you?
Nomidazolam blogspot should be required reading for all anesthesiologists & CRNAs (and med students going into those fields). I would love to believe that they honestly don't know how this drug is mentally wrecking some of us, but it appears that the opposite may be true. We are not all a bunch of crazies with previous psychological issues. I can't undo the fact that I was given this drug ,although I would if I could (my biggest regret in life). All I want now is an absolute guarantee that I will never be given this drug again...and to have an HONEST, competent, caring medical team treating me. Is that really too much to ask ?
This reader "Rose" brings up a very salient point. All of us who have been harmed by Versed want some kind of reassurance from the medical professionals that if we say NO to Versed/Midazolam that we will not get this drug! Why is that so hard for medical folks to comply with? There are comments all over the web about patients declining Versed, by name, writing this on their intake paperwork and STILL GETTING VERSED! What's up with that? I have mentioned elsewhere that I don't like Demerol. This is not a problem for my caregivers, but declining Versed is. Even Mike (see other post and apology) says that he will only give a drug that the patient doesn't want in a "life and death" situation. So clearly we are going to get Versed again, even though we don't want it and it caused us harm.
There are other posts which claim that listing Versed as an allergy doesn't work either. The nurse will grill you about your "alleged" allergy and strike it from your records if he/she doesn't agree with the patients assessment! (see http://www.allnurses.com/ posts on here about allergies) I have a friend who actually had the hospital pharmacy guy come in and tell her that her Versed allergy was simply an "aversion" and the nurse immediately shot her up with it. What can one make of such irresponsible (childish, hateful, domineering, dictatorial, etc.) behavior from the MOST TRUSTED members of our society? This is NOT for the patient, this is for YOUR OWN devious reasons... If this drug was really for us patients comfort, then we would be able to refuse it, especially after having severe adverse reactions to it wouldn't we?
My own sister has had Versed many times. She doesn't get the amnesia either, but when she declines it due to the torture she has to endure while the caregivers feel she should be amnestic is beyond endurance. Their answer? "I'll give you MORE VERSED!" The other trick they used just a month ago is that they agreed to use ONLY painkillers such as Fentanyl, no Versed. When she demanded to know what they were putting into the IV, the reply was "Oh this is the Versed!" Say what? She says then it was too late... Why is this happening?
Obviously the medical field is so enamored of this drug, OR so dependant on its use, they can't treat you without that "cooperation" and amnesia. So no matter what we do or say, there will be a fight with them over it, or you will get it regardless of what you say. I cannot fathom the conceit that would allow a person in a position of authority over a helpless patient to abuse their power in such a way.
I ASSUME that being able to treat people as slabs of meat, being unconcerned about patient pain, (and the worry of sufficient amounts of painkiller without harming the patient) the ability to do whatever they want without having to answer any questions, explain any part of the procedure etc is a draw. They also mention patient "cooperation" as a selling point among themselves. Abject obedience is what they really mean. They want you to obey them without question, and they want to retain the ability to FORCE you to obey them and endure whatever torture they devise, without consequences. You probably won't remember how abusive and uncaring they were anyway, so what's to stop them?
Like most people who have become addicted to behaving like petty, self righteous tyrants without any recourse, of course they won't let the patient get away with declining Versed. (Any of you medical people who take exception to this statement better look in the mirror.) You know for a fact that Versed is for YOUR benefit, not the patient. That's why we don't seem to be able to get an assurance that it won't be used. You will stoop to any sort of lies, omissions, deceit, false pretences etc. to get that drug into every single patient who walks through the door. Dorothy (patient relations) told me that after my debacle. "Everybody who walks through the door gets Versed." This attitude is all over the internet! It's here on this blog. It's on allnurses, allexperts, nurse-anesthesia, askapatient, law blogs, it's everywhere.
We patients are not mental defectives because we don't want your precious Versed which caused us such mental anguish. Why would we want a drug like this in the first place? Then when it was forced on us we reacted badly! We'd be crazy to allow its use again! YOU have the issues because you won't let us decline it! You won't let something like patient care or those pesky "informed consent" laws interfere with your drug pushing... What is wrong with you?
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Here's Another Great Discussion About Versed/Midazolam
Of note in this particular discussion is the singular lack of "good" reports. Informed consent seems to be an issue as well. Versed Discussions @ http://www.patientsville.com/ to see the posts in situ, and read them below. None of these comments are mine...
- 8 day ago I had an endoscopy… 8 day ago I had an endoscopy where they used Versed. Since then I have had a horrible time with short term memory. I have had episodes of feeling agressive, angry and verbally hostile and seemed to be "out of control". I have had a "wired" feeling, difficulty falling asleep and lots of anxiety during the day. I am normally a very calm, organized person and can't seem to get things back in control. Fortunately I went through the late 60's and early 70's meditating and doing yoga. I have been counting on these methods of healing to get back to normal. Can't wait to feel like myself again.
- Got Versed without knowledge… Got Versed without knowledge or consent. Never expected a doctor to give me a date-rape drug. Took me a while to figure out why I am so angry, obsessive, enraged after an endoscopy. Took me a while to figure out what was done to me. Now I know why the doctor and nurses gave me such a creepy feeling with their evasive non-answers to ANY question. If it was for my benefit, they would have asked me. Instead, my doctor and the staff didn't need to answer any questions or waste time with my care. Instead of the conscious sedation promised, they chose to wipe my memory rather than be concerned about my suffering. What is really frightening is that these people actually believe that explicit memory is the only kind. Almost a week later and I am haunted, frightened, crying, in helpless rage at myself for trusting someone so twisted as to torture a helpless, gagged and drugged person and then wipe their memory of it. How do I know it was so bad? Why else would you cover your tracks with sneaky amnesia as a replacement for adequate anesthesia or analgesia?
- My fifteen-year-old daughter… My fifteen-year-old daughter had oral surgery three years ago (when she was 12) where Versed was used for the proceedure. She had to be awakened by paramedics with a sternum rub when I could not waken her once I brought her home from the surgeon's office. Shorty after the sugery, she began to display symptoms of anxiety which grew in severity to the point where she had to be forced to leave our home. She is still coping with anxiety syptoms whereas, before the application of the drug, she was a confident, well adjusted 12-year-old.
- I recently had a cataract… I recently had a cataract operation at the Jules Stein hospital eye institute, which is associated with UCLA hospital in Westwood wood California. Although the operation was a success, the use of Versed during the operation was a disaster for me. For five weeks after I had great trouble with memory loss. Not being able. That said..sble to remember such simple things as my address, telephone No. Or where I was going when I would leave the house on an errand. I sometimes had trouble remembering simple words and would not be able to express myself properly. It has now been 2 months since the operation, and there are times that I still don’t feel up to par. That said I was never informed about side effect, plus the fact that the clinic charged an additional 100 dollars for an examination after
I had already had a complete workup on week before. Versed is a terrible drug.
Got This From a Reader
This is a very 'enlightening' article. I have some excerpts up elsewhere, but this is good enough to put up in it's entirety! Thanks for sending it.
"I'm sure you've most likely read all there is to read about Versed, but just in case........I had this in my favorites and found it to be 'enlightening'. While they talk mostly about colonoscopy and Versed it does validate what many of us are saying about this awful drug and how it's pushed. The nurses who say 'never', the documented case of a doctor lying, CRNA's who will not allow it given to them, nurses who say their own facility abuses patients with Versed and on and on and on.
"
http://colonoscopyblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/do-you-want-conscious-sedation.html
Keep up the good work, Jackie.
Casey
"I'm sure you've most likely read all there is to read about Versed, but just in case........I had this in my favorites and found it to be 'enlightening'. While they talk mostly about colonoscopy and Versed it does validate what many of us are saying about this awful drug and how it's pushed. The nurses who say 'never', the documented case of a doctor lying, CRNA's who will not allow it given to them, nurses who say their own facility abuses patients with Versed and on and on and on.
"
http://colonoscopyblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/do-you-want-conscious-sedation.html
Keep up the good work, Jackie.
Casey
PTSD From a Hospital/Outpatient Clinic
I have been ridiculed and my character besmirched for daring to suggest that my PTSD ORIGINATED at the outpatient surgery center at a Medical Center. Here are some articles from Springer link, not exactly an "alternate" source for information...
As you may have read elsewhere my descriptions of what I felt while my CRNA told me I was "very relaxed." I felt helpless, enraged, violent, ashamed, humiliated and horrified that I was treated without consent and in direct violation of my very adamant instructions. These are all harbingers of later development of PTSD. The reason I was so helpless was because of Versed/Midazolam. Since I was aware of what was going on albeit helpless to do anything about it, the absolutely HUMILIATING things that Aaron said are still burned into my mind along with the humiliation of being chemically forced to be completely docile and obedient. I was FURIOUS, but completely unable to do anything about it while all the things which I had strictly prohibited were done to me. Aaron was not alone in this, the entire team was completely fine with assaulting me with drugs and procedures which they had all heard me decline. They are all guilty. Anyway, here is the first link; SpringerLink - Journal of Traumatic Stress, Volume 13, Number 3 I have italicized and bold faced those things which I want to stress...
"A DSM-IV diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) required for the first time that individuals must report experiencing intense fear, helplessness, or horror at the time of the trauma. (make no mistake it was traumatic) In a longitudinal study of 138 victims of violent crime, (yes, being forcefully drugged against my will and surgery performed as badly as it was is a violent crime) we investigated whether reports of intense trauma-related emotions characterized individuals who, after 6 months, met criteria for PTSD according to the DSM-III-R. We found that intense levels of all 3 emotions strongly predicted later PTSD. However, a small number of those who later met DSM-III-R or ICD criteria for PTSD did not report intense emotions at the time of the trauma. They did, however, report high levels of either anger with others or shame."
2nd reading from here; SpringerLink - Journal of Traumatic Stress, Volume 13, Number 1
"The goal of the present study was to explore the relationship between anger and dissociation and their relationship to symptoms of posttrauma pathology. One hundred four female assault victims were assessed prospectively 2, 4, and 12 weeks postassault. Measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity, social functioning, anger, and dissociation were obtained at all assessments. Results revealed that differentiation between symptoms that predict later PTSD and impaired social functioning first becomes evident at 4 weeks postassault. At 4 weeks postassault, anger expression (remember what I have said all along about the homicidal RAGE?) was predictive of later PTSD severity, whereas dissociation was predictive of poorer later functioning." (Once again I feel fortunate, lucky even that I did not experience dissociation, merely profound PTSD)
3rd reading from here;SpringerLink - Abstract
"The presentation outlines research conducted on 500 women by the author which demonstrated that genital medical procedures ( In my case being exposed to the jerk CRNA who had already humiliated me by commenting on my body and parts, and having a catheter inserted which caused a kidney infection.) could be sufficiently stressful to induce Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This occurred in women who had been previously sexually traumatised and also in women who had had no apparent previous psychological stress. Factors which predisposed to the development of PTSD were shown to include: feelings of powerlessness and loss of control by the woman; lack of consent; lack of information; perceived lack of sympathy in the examiner; and the experience of physical pain. These factors are compared to the situation arising in sexual assault, sexual torture and circumcision. Preliminary findings of a comparative study of PTSD in circumcised men are described."
So there you have it, every last one of the factors which predispose for PTSD are apparent in my treatment. I was given a drug against my will and without consent which rendered me helpless, and subject to their whims. I had ZERO information about the surgery, the drugs, the fact that they were going to ignore my wishes as irrelevant to their own desires. They had ZERO sympathy for me especially afterward. I swear if Dorothy (patient relations, what a misnomer) had dismissed me again I was going to go berserk. She stated that everybody gets Versed whether they want it or not. She told me to just "get over it." Isn't that what people used to tell rape victims? She said they were "only trying to help." With that kind of help, who needs enemies? She also LIED about the catheter, said I didn't get one. How else would I suddenly get a kidney infection? Right there on the chart it says that the catheter went in easily! What were they going to do let me pee all over everything? How STUPID do they think I am. Oh yeah, they told me many times how ignorant, uneducated and idiotic I am because I took exception to being treated like a farm animal. I did NOT consent to any of this!!! The real anesthesiologist was also nasty and unsympathetic. He wrote an entire report which he made up. It's on this blog. Please note that my signature does NOT appear on the document... 3 guesses as to why this particular "interview" wasn't shown to me to authenticate? Maybe because it is ALL lies and obfuscations? He lied about knowing what happened to me, lied about just everything. That's all up along with his little fraudulent "interview" in an old post.
THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO HOPE THAT I WOULD SURVIVE THIS ASSAULT WITHOUT PTSD! Too bad nobody cared.
As you may have read elsewhere my descriptions of what I felt while my CRNA told me I was "very relaxed." I felt helpless, enraged, violent, ashamed, humiliated and horrified that I was treated without consent and in direct violation of my very adamant instructions. These are all harbingers of later development of PTSD. The reason I was so helpless was because of Versed/Midazolam. Since I was aware of what was going on albeit helpless to do anything about it, the absolutely HUMILIATING things that Aaron said are still burned into my mind along with the humiliation of being chemically forced to be completely docile and obedient. I was FURIOUS, but completely unable to do anything about it while all the things which I had strictly prohibited were done to me. Aaron was not alone in this, the entire team was completely fine with assaulting me with drugs and procedures which they had all heard me decline. They are all guilty. Anyway, here is the first link; SpringerLink - Journal of Traumatic Stress, Volume 13, Number 3 I have italicized and bold faced those things which I want to stress...
"A DSM-IV diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) required for the first time that individuals must report experiencing intense fear, helplessness, or horror at the time of the trauma. (make no mistake it was traumatic) In a longitudinal study of 138 victims of violent crime, (yes, being forcefully drugged against my will and surgery performed as badly as it was is a violent crime) we investigated whether reports of intense trauma-related emotions characterized individuals who, after 6 months, met criteria for PTSD according to the DSM-III-R. We found that intense levels of all 3 emotions strongly predicted later PTSD. However, a small number of those who later met DSM-III-R or ICD criteria for PTSD did not report intense emotions at the time of the trauma. They did, however, report high levels of either anger with others or shame."
2nd reading from here; SpringerLink - Journal of Traumatic Stress, Volume 13, Number 1
"The goal of the present study was to explore the relationship between anger and dissociation and their relationship to symptoms of posttrauma pathology. One hundred four female assault victims were assessed prospectively 2, 4, and 12 weeks postassault. Measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity, social functioning, anger, and dissociation were obtained at all assessments. Results revealed that differentiation between symptoms that predict later PTSD and impaired social functioning first becomes evident at 4 weeks postassault. At 4 weeks postassault, anger expression (remember what I have said all along about the homicidal RAGE?) was predictive of later PTSD severity, whereas dissociation was predictive of poorer later functioning." (Once again I feel fortunate, lucky even that I did not experience dissociation, merely profound PTSD)
3rd reading from here;SpringerLink - Abstract
"The presentation outlines research conducted on 500 women by the author which demonstrated that genital medical procedures ( In my case being exposed to the jerk CRNA who had already humiliated me by commenting on my body and parts, and having a catheter inserted which caused a kidney infection.) could be sufficiently stressful to induce Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This occurred in women who had been previously sexually traumatised and also in women who had had no apparent previous psychological stress. Factors which predisposed to the development of PTSD were shown to include: feelings of powerlessness and loss of control by the woman; lack of consent; lack of information; perceived lack of sympathy in the examiner; and the experience of physical pain. These factors are compared to the situation arising in sexual assault, sexual torture and circumcision. Preliminary findings of a comparative study of PTSD in circumcised men are described."
So there you have it, every last one of the factors which predispose for PTSD are apparent in my treatment. I was given a drug against my will and without consent which rendered me helpless, and subject to their whims. I had ZERO information about the surgery, the drugs, the fact that they were going to ignore my wishes as irrelevant to their own desires. They had ZERO sympathy for me especially afterward. I swear if Dorothy (patient relations, what a misnomer) had dismissed me again I was going to go berserk. She stated that everybody gets Versed whether they want it or not. She told me to just "get over it." Isn't that what people used to tell rape victims? She said they were "only trying to help." With that kind of help, who needs enemies? She also LIED about the catheter, said I didn't get one. How else would I suddenly get a kidney infection? Right there on the chart it says that the catheter went in easily! What were they going to do let me pee all over everything? How STUPID do they think I am. Oh yeah, they told me many times how ignorant, uneducated and idiotic I am because I took exception to being treated like a farm animal. I did NOT consent to any of this!!! The real anesthesiologist was also nasty and unsympathetic. He wrote an entire report which he made up. It's on this blog. Please note that my signature does NOT appear on the document... 3 guesses as to why this particular "interview" wasn't shown to me to authenticate? Maybe because it is ALL lies and obfuscations? He lied about knowing what happened to me, lied about just everything. That's all up along with his little fraudulent "interview" in an old post.
THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO HOPE THAT I WOULD SURVIVE THIS ASSAULT WITHOUT PTSD! Too bad nobody cared.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Any of You Anesthesia Types...
Any of you anesthesia types who feel as Mike does that he wouldn't give a medication UNLESS there was a life and death situation, please explain this sentiment. On this blog I am speaking of a particular drug called Versed/Midazolam. As far as I can tell, this is NOT a drug which has any kind of "life and death" implications. Do you intend to inject me with this poison against my will and claim it's a "life and death" situation? Would you claim that I was "combative" and you couldn't do your job without this one single sedative to the exclusion of any other? Would you choose another one that doesn't include PTSD and severe, long lasting side effects and for which there is no refusal from me? Would you?
What would happen to you if you did inject me with the one drug which I had forbidden? I have a medic alert bracelet on, would you claim that you didn't see it, couldn't find it, etc. just in order to shoot me up with this dastardly drug? I have said elsewhere that my experience with this drug was so bad that I would rather expire than be subjected to it again. Should that be in a DNR report? Should I carry that in my wallet? What "life and death" situation would demand that I receive Versed? Just curious.
Remember that in my experience, my CRNA Aaron claimed that he "knows what's best" for me regardless of my wishes and experience and shot me up with Versed clearly contrary to my instructions, so what's to stop you from claiming a "life and death" situation? Have you read the effects of long term Versed use on ICU patients? I have them on this blog... (also up is a list of severe side effects of Versed) Would you cram me full of Versed to force me to be docile and accepting of intubation or whatever, knowing that you were not only destroying my mental health but causing cognitive dysfunction as well? Is that kind of life worth living? Not for me! I'd rather be dead than go through that again. ISN'T THIS MY CHOICE REGARDLESS OF "LIFE AND DEATH" SITUATIONS? Don't give me Versed under any circumstances. Period. End of statement. (you know my name and you know where I live, if you have cause to treat me, be advised)
PS Please keep in mind that I don't get amnesia from Versed. If 7-12 mg in an hour doesn't do it, then you will kill me trying to get amnesia. (My full sibling doesn't get the amnesia either) Also, now that I am aware of what Versed (Vitamin V) IS and what it does to me, the instant I start to feel that bizarre burning desire to OBEY, I will become extremely violent. I will rip out the IV and attack whoever I find in the area. That's a promise. If I hadn't been so shocked and confused by the whole, "I don't give a shit what my patient says I'm going to show her who is boss" attitude from Aaron, the unauthorized (and forbidden) administration of debilitating drugs, that strange desire to obey, the inability to speak coherently etc. I would have attacked Aaron. It took a while for the betrayal of trust to sink in to my Versed addled brain and by then it was too late. The muscular relaxation (paralyzed) was such that I couldn't fight it. This won't happen again. Ask the nurses in the PACU if they want to see me again under the influence of Versed... Hint; I don't think so, or HELL NO!
What would happen to you if you did inject me with the one drug which I had forbidden? I have a medic alert bracelet on, would you claim that you didn't see it, couldn't find it, etc. just in order to shoot me up with this dastardly drug? I have said elsewhere that my experience with this drug was so bad that I would rather expire than be subjected to it again. Should that be in a DNR report? Should I carry that in my wallet? What "life and death" situation would demand that I receive Versed? Just curious.
Remember that in my experience, my CRNA Aaron claimed that he "knows what's best" for me regardless of my wishes and experience and shot me up with Versed clearly contrary to my instructions, so what's to stop you from claiming a "life and death" situation? Have you read the effects of long term Versed use on ICU patients? I have them on this blog... (also up is a list of severe side effects of Versed) Would you cram me full of Versed to force me to be docile and accepting of intubation or whatever, knowing that you were not only destroying my mental health but causing cognitive dysfunction as well? Is that kind of life worth living? Not for me! I'd rather be dead than go through that again. ISN'T THIS MY CHOICE REGARDLESS OF "LIFE AND DEATH" SITUATIONS? Don't give me Versed under any circumstances. Period. End of statement. (you know my name and you know where I live, if you have cause to treat me, be advised)
PS Please keep in mind that I don't get amnesia from Versed. If 7-12 mg in an hour doesn't do it, then you will kill me trying to get amnesia. (My full sibling doesn't get the amnesia either) Also, now that I am aware of what Versed (Vitamin V) IS and what it does to me, the instant I start to feel that bizarre burning desire to OBEY, I will become extremely violent. I will rip out the IV and attack whoever I find in the area. That's a promise. If I hadn't been so shocked and confused by the whole, "I don't give a shit what my patient says I'm going to show her who is boss" attitude from Aaron, the unauthorized (and forbidden) administration of debilitating drugs, that strange desire to obey, the inability to speak coherently etc. I would have attacked Aaron. It took a while for the betrayal of trust to sink in to my Versed addled brain and by then it was too late. The muscular relaxation (paralyzed) was such that I couldn't fight it. This won't happen again. Ask the nurses in the PACU if they want to see me again under the influence of Versed... Hint; I don't think so, or HELL NO!
Response From a Regular Reader
This story is from a person whom I have corresponded with for some time. He/she (yes I know which) wishes to remain anonymous "(You have my permission to post it, anonymously)" Sent via e-mail to nomidazolam@aol.com
I am someone who also apparently misinterpreted what was said. Mike, I have to admit I was appalled by your comments as well, even though I now know you did not mean it the way it sounded , and it wasn't the whole story. Lesson to be learned : Be really really careful about how you publicly describe your interactions with patients. I had an absolutely terrifying experience with "conscious sedation" over two years ago, and have been left with PTSD as a result (I have been told this by more than one doctor). NO ONE explained anything about the drugs I would be receiving (Versed&Fentanyl) for my routine screening colonoscopy, other than to say I would be given a "sedative" ..and NO ONE explained the amnesia to me (this is the norm, not the exception!).
I am someone who also apparently misinterpreted what was said. Mike, I have to admit I was appalled by your comments as well, even though I now know you did not mean it the way it sounded , and it wasn't the whole story. Lesson to be learned : Be really really careful about how you publicly describe your interactions with patients. I had an absolutely terrifying experience with "conscious sedation" over two years ago, and have been left with PTSD as a result (I have been told this by more than one doctor). NO ONE explained anything about the drugs I would be receiving (Versed&Fentanyl) for my routine screening colonoscopy, other than to say I would be given a "sedative" ..and NO ONE explained the amnesia to me (this is the norm, not the exception!).
I had even requested & expected to be awake for the procedure ! Besides amnesia for almost 3 hours after the 12-minute procedure (during which time I was "awake" & talking), I also had extreme vertigo & nausea from the Fentanyl. I was actually scolded by the nurses that I "should have said something" about my intolerance to narcotics when asked if I had any allergies. I HAD NO IDEA THAT WAS AN ALLERGY , and again, NO ONE told me what drugs I would be receiving ! Perhaps the most disturbing comment a nurse made to me (similar to your "Good times" comment, which I actually find frightening) was "We're going to have fun today !" I sure as hell didn't have any "fun," so maybe THEY all had fun at my expense ? (What REALLY goes on once we're doped up, can you tell us ???) I could go on, but I'll stop now. I just wanted you to know how important it is to be completely honest with patients about everything. You do not realize the absolute trust we patients put in you, and when you betray that trust (intentional or not), it is every bit as harmful as if you caused us physical harm. Thanks for letting me vent.
Thanks for your comments...write to me any time, as you already know!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
I owe an Apology to Mike!
Mike has left a new comment on your post "Right From the Start CRNA's are Trained in Subterf...":
I am that former student now CRNA.
You have taken something very simple out of context and made up an allegation which is entirely untrue and insulting.
Like every drug I give to my patients I tell them what it is. They all know well ahead of time that versed has the property of antegrade amnesia most of the time as well as sedative effects. My patients are quite happy at the idea of not remembering. You may not feel that way but you should know the majority are very appreciative of it.
It is a serious allegation you make that I "lie" to my patients. That has NEVER happened nor would it ever and I take extreme exception to that comment. I do not understand where you get off making such a judgment about someone you do not even know.
Lastly, if any of my patients ever told me they didnt want something, regardless of what drug it may be, I would not give them it unless there was a life and death reason.
Slandering an individual in this manner is just unbelievable. I expect an apology.
Posted by Mike to No Midazolam at September 15, 2010 6:01 PM
It seems I owe an apology to Mike. I misinterpreted what he said. I have his full statement up on here, so that people can see where I may have gotten the idea that he was less than truthful with his patients. He has straightened me out.
Mike, I am truly sorry that I didn't read between the lines. I am very happy that you inform your patients that AMNESIA will result from this drug. Thank you, and I really mean that. While I personally don't understand why somebody would accept AMNESIA as a way of masking pain and discomfort, I guess if it is explained in a certain way, maybe somebody would accept it.
You did state that you didn't want to spend 5 minutes explaining your position... Maybe you don't get how insulting that sounds to a patient? Sorry, but that's what you said.
You also never said that you explain the AMNESIA or that not every single person gets Versed! You make it sound like you have no time to explain anything (the 5 minute thing) and that you immediately give all your patients Versed. If you have read anything else on this blog, you will see that my CRNA claimed that he had "no time" to explain anything to me. (against the law and a lie) Even though I declined any drugs that would incapacitate me, he said that he "knows what's best" (afterward, and also obviously a lie because here I am as a direct result of his actions) and proceeded to inject me with "Vitamin V."
The "good times" did roll for HIM! He was able to get complete and abject obedience from me with Versed and then claim that my inability to object any more was my "consent" for the general anesthetic which I had also declined. All of this was completely UNNECESSARY as I had the same surgery again without any Versed or G/A. This is my personal experience and it DOES color how I interpret things.
I have never been treated with such disrespect in my entire life. Course I've never been to jail, arrested, gang raped, etc. so there are some other experiences which might have made me less sensitive to being treated without regard for my wishes...
Anyway Mike, thanks for setting me straight. I am very pleased that what you wrote wasn't the whole story. Your immediate and angry response is exactly what I would expect from a person who feels they are being falsely accused. Thanks for not making it PERSONAL and calling me a kook etc. In which case my response would have been quite different I can assure you! I abjectly apologise!
Here is the paragraph which I took exception to in its entirety; the passages I misinterpreted are in italics and bold.
"7:15 and its time to go to the holding area and see if my first patient is there. Once I find my patient I do a review of the chart and go say hello. I have learned not to say the word “student” to patients and I now say that I am ‘part of the anesthesia team’. When patients hear the word ‘student’ they think of a rank amateur and often get very nervous right away. This ends in me spending 5 minutes explaining how I have been an RN for a very long time and this isn’t my first IV! Anyway, then in goes the IV and 1-2 mg of versed. Good times!"
My interpretation; Mike reviews chart and says only "hello." He has "learned not to say the word 'student'" and instead tells something also true, but not the whole truth, a lie of omission. Just like my CRNA told me that "Vitamin V" was simply a muscle relaxant. That's true, but not the whole truth, also a lie of omission. (I have to add that the people at AANA agree that Aaron's description of "Vitamin V" aka Versed/Midazolam as a muscle relaxant was improper, and a false and deceptive description of the drug.) If Mike has "learned not to say" certain words because he doesn't want to "spend 5 minutes explaining" things, wouldn't it follow that he might have "learned not to say the word" 'amnesia' either which might require another "5 minutes" of explanation? (and this is a very common practice, look through http://www.askapatient.com/ and http://www.versedbusters.blogspot.com/ and see how many people fell for the "relaxation" line besides me.) "...then in goes the IV and 1-2 mg of versed. (sic) Good times!"
Sorry, but to me it reads like;
1)"Hello, I'm part of the anesthesia team," (an obfuscating description of role in patient care omitting pertinent student status and the only verbal interaction with patient.)
2)IV insertion, AND
3)immediate injection of Versed to ALL patients without explanation.
(The sentence states "...in goes the IV AND 1-2 mg of versed." (sic) So the IV and the Versed are inseparable according to the sentence structure. You get an IV and you WILL get Versed immediately. )
4)Good times! (No more annoying interaction with a patient?)
Where is the part about getting informed consent? That takes at least five minutes and isn't mentioned. I assume that SRNA's aren't allowed to get "informed consent." Is this in the chart review? Wouldn't that be something to mention as in "I checked the patient chart for informed consent?" This is a pretty important part of patient care isn't it? Does the SRNA check for proper consent when perusing patient charts? (and before routinely injecting every single patient with Versed simultaneous with IV insertion) The way this passage is written it doesn't sound like anybody got an informed consent. I didn't either.
I still don't know what to make of the "Good times!" statement. A total blackout of events doesn't qualify as "good times" for a patient... For those of us who have recall of events transpiring subsequent to injection with brain disabling chemicals via Versed, this was ABSOLUTELY NOT A GOOD TIME.
Anyway, this is merely so that people can see how I arrived at my "erroneous" conclusions, not as an excuse. Nothing is out of context. I made a judgement call based solely on what was written, albeit without knowing the rest of the story. Thanks Mike!
I am that former student now CRNA.
You have taken something very simple out of context and made up an allegation which is entirely untrue and insulting.
Like every drug I give to my patients I tell them what it is. They all know well ahead of time that versed has the property of antegrade amnesia most of the time as well as sedative effects. My patients are quite happy at the idea of not remembering. You may not feel that way but you should know the majority are very appreciative of it.
It is a serious allegation you make that I "lie" to my patients. That has NEVER happened nor would it ever and I take extreme exception to that comment. I do not understand where you get off making such a judgment about someone you do not even know.
Lastly, if any of my patients ever told me they didnt want something, regardless of what drug it may be, I would not give them it unless there was a life and death reason.
Slandering an individual in this manner is just unbelievable. I expect an apology.
Posted by Mike to No Midazolam at September 15, 2010 6:01 PM
It seems I owe an apology to Mike. I misinterpreted what he said. I have his full statement up on here, so that people can see where I may have gotten the idea that he was less than truthful with his patients. He has straightened me out.
Mike, I am truly sorry that I didn't read between the lines. I am very happy that you inform your patients that AMNESIA will result from this drug. Thank you, and I really mean that. While I personally don't understand why somebody would accept AMNESIA as a way of masking pain and discomfort, I guess if it is explained in a certain way, maybe somebody would accept it.
You did state that you didn't want to spend 5 minutes explaining your position... Maybe you don't get how insulting that sounds to a patient? Sorry, but that's what you said.
You also never said that you explain the AMNESIA or that not every single person gets Versed! You make it sound like you have no time to explain anything (the 5 minute thing) and that you immediately give all your patients Versed. If you have read anything else on this blog, you will see that my CRNA claimed that he had "no time" to explain anything to me. (against the law and a lie) Even though I declined any drugs that would incapacitate me, he said that he "knows what's best" (afterward, and also obviously a lie because here I am as a direct result of his actions) and proceeded to inject me with "Vitamin V."
The "good times" did roll for HIM! He was able to get complete and abject obedience from me with Versed and then claim that my inability to object any more was my "consent" for the general anesthetic which I had also declined. All of this was completely UNNECESSARY as I had the same surgery again without any Versed or G/A. This is my personal experience and it DOES color how I interpret things.
I have never been treated with such disrespect in my entire life. Course I've never been to jail, arrested, gang raped, etc. so there are some other experiences which might have made me less sensitive to being treated without regard for my wishes...
Anyway Mike, thanks for setting me straight. I am very pleased that what you wrote wasn't the whole story. Your immediate and angry response is exactly what I would expect from a person who feels they are being falsely accused. Thanks for not making it PERSONAL and calling me a kook etc. In which case my response would have been quite different I can assure you! I abjectly apologise!
Here is the paragraph which I took exception to in its entirety; the passages I misinterpreted are in italics and bold.
"7:15 and its time to go to the holding area and see if my first patient is there. Once I find my patient I do a review of the chart and go say hello. I have learned not to say the word “student” to patients and I now say that I am ‘part of the anesthesia team’. When patients hear the word ‘student’ they think of a rank amateur and often get very nervous right away. This ends in me spending 5 minutes explaining how I have been an RN for a very long time and this isn’t my first IV! Anyway, then in goes the IV and 1-2 mg of versed. Good times!"
My interpretation; Mike reviews chart and says only "hello." He has "learned not to say the word 'student'" and instead tells something also true, but not the whole truth, a lie of omission. Just like my CRNA told me that "Vitamin V" was simply a muscle relaxant. That's true, but not the whole truth, also a lie of omission. (I have to add that the people at AANA agree that Aaron's description of "Vitamin V" aka Versed/Midazolam as a muscle relaxant was improper, and a false and deceptive description of the drug.) If Mike has "learned not to say" certain words because he doesn't want to "spend 5 minutes explaining" things, wouldn't it follow that he might have "learned not to say the word" 'amnesia' either which might require another "5 minutes" of explanation? (and this is a very common practice, look through http://www.askapatient.com/ and http://www.versedbusters.blogspot.com/ and see how many people fell for the "relaxation" line besides me.) "...then in goes the IV and 1-2 mg of versed. (sic) Good times!"
Sorry, but to me it reads like;
1)"Hello, I'm part of the anesthesia team," (an obfuscating description of role in patient care omitting pertinent student status and the only verbal interaction with patient.)
2)IV insertion, AND
3)immediate injection of Versed to ALL patients without explanation.
(The sentence states "...in goes the IV AND 1-2 mg of versed." (sic) So the IV and the Versed are inseparable according to the sentence structure. You get an IV and you WILL get Versed immediately. )
4)Good times! (No more annoying interaction with a patient?)
Where is the part about getting informed consent? That takes at least five minutes and isn't mentioned. I assume that SRNA's aren't allowed to get "informed consent." Is this in the chart review? Wouldn't that be something to mention as in "I checked the patient chart for informed consent?" This is a pretty important part of patient care isn't it? Does the SRNA check for proper consent when perusing patient charts? (and before routinely injecting every single patient with Versed simultaneous with IV insertion) The way this passage is written it doesn't sound like anybody got an informed consent. I didn't either.
I still don't know what to make of the "Good times!" statement. A total blackout of events doesn't qualify as "good times" for a patient... For those of us who have recall of events transpiring subsequent to injection with brain disabling chemicals via Versed, this was ABSOLUTELY NOT A GOOD TIME.
Anyway, this is merely so that people can see how I arrived at my "erroneous" conclusions, not as an excuse. Nothing is out of context. I made a judgement call based solely on what was written, albeit without knowing the rest of the story. Thanks Mike!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Conflict of Interest
I've been ranting for some time about the cost of medical procedures and the quick rush to perform the most expensive thing possible for the patient. In particular the overuse of Versed, which quite conveniently makes for an addional few thousand dollars tacked on to the bill... Here's an article about my ill advised and uninformed surgery for my distal radius fracture. I believe that my surgeon is part owner of the place where this surgery was performed.
The Man-Nurse Diaries
Here's the article reproduced from the above link...
The Man-Nurse Diaries
Here's the article reproduced from the above link...
Monday, August 23, 2010
Cha-Ching - Financial incentives affect surgical decisions
This was on our hospital's intranet website today:
Financial incentives affect surgical decisions
Last Updated: 2010-08-18 14:41:10 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Your odds of going under the knife may depend on whether or not your orthopedic surgeon has a financial stake in your treatment center, suggests a new study. Patients receiving care for their wrist, rotator cuff or knee from a provider with ownership in the facility were up to twice as likely to have surgery compared to those treated by non-owners.
I'm certain you could do this kind of study for surgeries and interventions in other high-income fields, like cardiology, oncology, obstetrics (YOU KNEW THAT WAS COMING!), etc.
It's a shame, because while some paranoid people treat their doctors like car mechanics (i.e. maybe good but probably out to get your money), most people think doctors are above that sort of thing.
Financial incentives affect surgical decisions
Last Updated: 2010-08-18 14:41:10 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Your odds of going under the knife may depend on whether or not your orthopedic surgeon has a financial stake in your treatment center, suggests a new study. Patients receiving care for their wrist, rotator cuff or knee from a provider with ownership in the facility were up to twice as likely to have surgery compared to those treated by non-owners.
I'm certain you could do this kind of study for surgeries and interventions in other high-income fields, like cardiology, oncology, obstetrics (YOU KNEW THAT WAS COMING!), etc.
It's a shame, because while some paranoid people treat their doctors like car mechanics (i.e. maybe good but probably out to get your money), most people think doctors are above that sort of thing.
Right From the Start CRNA's are Trained in Subterfuge
Apparently CRNA's are trained to use lies and ommissions to get that Versed into patients! Here's an excerpt from the diary of a SRNA. Of particular note, this person doesn't tell the patient that he is just a trainee. Isn't there a law about this? He doesn't want to spend 5 (FIVE) MINUTES explaining anything to the patient. The very first thing he does is inject Versed with the following sentence being "Good Times." Unfortunately he doesn't specify who these "good times" are for. Him? Or his drugged up patient? He says "Hello" lies to them (by ommission) and then shoots them up with Versed.
Clinical Day as a student nurse anesthetist - CRNAbiz.com Please review my apology to Mike in a subsequent post. In this link it does sound like something which he claims it isn't and *I* believe him.
Clinical Day as a student nurse anesthetist - CRNAbiz.com Please review my apology to Mike in a subsequent post. In this link it does sound like something which he claims it isn't and *I* believe him.
Circumvent the system...
As some people have noticed I have begun to require that folks who post here have some kind of account... This is because I was getting a huge amount of threatening posts that were very disturbing. They were all alleging, purporting, pretending, or alluding to the fact that they are CRNA's, or anesthesia nurses. It was amusing at first and the posts do prove my point about their character and motives, but it was getting too upsetting to be the target of such threats from the medical community in anonymity. It was enough to be viciously attacked at the hospital, kicked in the head with Versed and then violently knocked out and cut open against my will. So anyway, the point is, if you want to write a comment and don't want to go through the effort to get an account, just e-mail me! nomidazolam@aol.com If you just need to vent and don't want me to copy your e-mail on here, just let me know.
Still Trust the FDA and Medical People? "Date Rape Drug Being Pushed For Pain"
Here's an article from Dr. Douglass II, M.D. in a Daily Dose e-mail I recieved.
Big Pharma sells date rape drug
Big Pharma's looking for a date with pain victims... but if you say "yes" to this one, watch out -- because they're ready to slip you a mickey like you would not believe.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals has been cooking up a frightening solution for the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia. It's called sodium oxybate, but anyone who watches crime shows probably knows it better as GHB -- the date-rape drug.
Luckily, an FDA panel gave a resounding "hell, no!" to this thing... but that's not the last word on this one. The company says it will try to persuade the FDA to overrule that panel when it makes its final decision next month.
One of the drug's side effects is a loss of consciousness. It's such a reliable side effect that Jazz has even worked it into the bizarre dosing schedule.
Here's how it works: Set your alarm for two hours, and then take your dose. You'll pass right out, but don't expect to get too comfortable -- the second dose needs to be taken when the alarm sounds.
I don't know what's worse: chronic pain... or constantly being forced into, out of, and back into a chemically induced stupor.
And if that's not enough for you, this med can bring plenty of other nasty side effects along for the ride: breathing problems, depression, nausea, coma and even death.
But wait -- because the news here actually gets even worse.
Despite the recent rejection, this drug is already out there, and you don't need to hit the streets to get it. It's been approved for narcolepsy, and is being sold right now under the name Xyrem.
And you know the drill: Once a med is approved for a single condition, docs can prescribe it for any reason they want -- something they've already proven they'll do for Xyrem.
In fact, the drug's maker -- Orphan, now part of Jazz Pharmaceuticals -- had to pay a $20 million fine in 2007 after a whistleblower exposed illegal marketing towards those off-label uses for Xyrem -- including pain.
That's not the only street drug on the menu today -- keep reading for the new depression "wonder drug."
--------------------------------------------------------
Street drug aimed at depression
If you want to know the future of medicine, it seems all you have to do is hit the streets. Illegal drugs today, hot new treatments tomorrow.
I've already warned you about Big Pharma's push to get the date rape drug GHB approved for pain... and now, researchers claim you can party your blues away with a hardcore street med used on the "rave" scene.
In fact, they say the drug -- ketamine, a horse tranquilizer also known as Special K -- can stop depression almost instantly, and reverse severe and even suicidal mood swings.
The researchers gave the drug to 18 severely depressed bipolar patients who had already tried -- and failed on -- an average of seven drugs. Within 40 minutes, 71 percent of them were on a bliss-filled trip that lasted up to three days, according to the study in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Another new study on rats published in Science found that Special K improved the rodents' moods... although I'm not quite sure how you can tell a depressed rat from a happy one with any great degree of certainty.
But don't sign up for this yet... because there's a reason this addictive drug is so big on the party scene: It delivers a high that users say is on par with a PCP or LSD experience.
And while the researchers behind the new study claimed side effects were limited to headaches, loopiness and a complete disconnection from reality, a recent study from Hong Kong shows what ketamine will REALLY do to you.
Up to 60 percent of the youths taking this med as a party drug ended up depressed and battling poor memory and concentration problems. Long-term users also suffered liver and kidney problems and incontinence, according to the study.
Not exactly promising now, is it?
On the other hand, maybe that's how kids like to "rave" these days -- in adult diapers, weeping in the corner.
It's their party.
But if you're suffering from depression, do yourself a favor and find a different scene.
Rave on,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
Big Pharma sells date rape drug
Big Pharma's looking for a date with pain victims... but if you say "yes" to this one, watch out -- because they're ready to slip you a mickey like you would not believe.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals has been cooking up a frightening solution for the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia. It's called sodium oxybate, but anyone who watches crime shows probably knows it better as GHB -- the date-rape drug.
Luckily, an FDA panel gave a resounding "hell, no!" to this thing... but that's not the last word on this one. The company says it will try to persuade the FDA to overrule that panel when it makes its final decision next month.
One of the drug's side effects is a loss of consciousness. It's such a reliable side effect that Jazz has even worked it into the bizarre dosing schedule.
Here's how it works: Set your alarm for two hours, and then take your dose. You'll pass right out, but don't expect to get too comfortable -- the second dose needs to be taken when the alarm sounds.
I don't know what's worse: chronic pain... or constantly being forced into, out of, and back into a chemically induced stupor.
And if that's not enough for you, this med can bring plenty of other nasty side effects along for the ride: breathing problems, depression, nausea, coma and even death.
But wait -- because the news here actually gets even worse.
Despite the recent rejection, this drug is already out there, and you don't need to hit the streets to get it. It's been approved for narcolepsy, and is being sold right now under the name Xyrem.
And you know the drill: Once a med is approved for a single condition, docs can prescribe it for any reason they want -- something they've already proven they'll do for Xyrem.
In fact, the drug's maker -- Orphan, now part of Jazz Pharmaceuticals -- had to pay a $20 million fine in 2007 after a whistleblower exposed illegal marketing towards those off-label uses for Xyrem -- including pain.
That's not the only street drug on the menu today -- keep reading for the new depression "wonder drug."
--------------------------------------------------------
Street drug aimed at depression
If you want to know the future of medicine, it seems all you have to do is hit the streets. Illegal drugs today, hot new treatments tomorrow.
I've already warned you about Big Pharma's push to get the date rape drug GHB approved for pain... and now, researchers claim you can party your blues away with a hardcore street med used on the "rave" scene.
In fact, they say the drug -- ketamine, a horse tranquilizer also known as Special K -- can stop depression almost instantly, and reverse severe and even suicidal mood swings.
The researchers gave the drug to 18 severely depressed bipolar patients who had already tried -- and failed on -- an average of seven drugs. Within 40 minutes, 71 percent of them were on a bliss-filled trip that lasted up to three days, according to the study in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Another new study on rats published in Science found that Special K improved the rodents' moods... although I'm not quite sure how you can tell a depressed rat from a happy one with any great degree of certainty.
But don't sign up for this yet... because there's a reason this addictive drug is so big on the party scene: It delivers a high that users say is on par with a PCP or LSD experience.
And while the researchers behind the new study claimed side effects were limited to headaches, loopiness and a complete disconnection from reality, a recent study from Hong Kong shows what ketamine will REALLY do to you.
Up to 60 percent of the youths taking this med as a party drug ended up depressed and battling poor memory and concentration problems. Long-term users also suffered liver and kidney problems and incontinence, according to the study.
Not exactly promising now, is it?
On the other hand, maybe that's how kids like to "rave" these days -- in adult diapers, weeping in the corner.
It's their party.
But if you're suffering from depression, do yourself a favor and find a different scene.
Rave on,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
More Bizarre Mind Control
Since "John" sent in his comments, I have gotten some interesting e-mails. This one comes from World Net Daily and is substantiated by Popular Science and some other places. World Net Daily is a conservative on line outfit, so if you are one of those touchy feely types who feel that anything is all right as long as you are trying to help, you may not like it, sooo go look elsewhere for this before calling me a liar and kook. Kay? Here's the link...U.S. soldiers to be subjected to 'mind control' Can ya just hardly WAIT for this technology? Being chemically beaten in to submission with Versed is just not enough, we have to have other ways of controling people. I am going to actively discourage my daughter from joining the armed forces at this point.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Interesting Thread in Allnurses
I'm allergic to.....(laundry list)! - Nursing for Nurses It sure sounds like some of these nurses have a total disrespect and disregard for patient's wishes. One claims to remove "allergies" from a patient's chart if THEY feel it isn't a true allergy. In my experience, I was absolutely truthful about "allergies" just like these nurses wanted me to be. I have no true "allergies" to anything including anesthesia drugs. However I have severe paradoxical reactions, major depression, lack of healing etc after being anesthetized. I have had many major surgeries with only nerve blocks because of the fighting and restraint problems. Of course I explain all of this and guess what gets put in my chart? NOTHING! Then *I* was blamed for not listing these problems as allergies. I have been instructed by a few medical people to list Versed as an allergy, but now I see that some smartass nurse will simply remove it from my chart if I list it as an allergy and he/she feels that it isn't. So then I get the very drugs and procedures which it is MY RIGHT UNDER THE LAW to prohibit. Can we patients win? Damned if you do and damned if you don't!
Also of note in this thread is the alleged "drug seeking behavior." Listen you sanctimonious, self rightious know-it-alls, I don't like Demerol, it makes me hallucinate. Don't give it to me under any circumstances. I want some kind of Morphine type pain killer. Oxycontin doesn't even begin to help with pain, so don't give it to me. Don't give me Vicodin either. These drugs make me so sick I only WISH I was dead. If you can't give me Morphine or Fentanyl, (along with an anti emetic) then let me know ahead of time and I will bring Alleve (Naproxyn) which works better than your mind altering drugs any day. Get it? It's NOT drug seeking, it's information which *I* know and you DON'T, no matter how superior to me you may feel. Just because one drug works better on some than another one is no reason to accuse the patient of "drug seeking behavior."
If I don't want or need Versed, DON'T ARGUE WITH ME! Don't persist in asking about allergies vs. side effects. It doesn't matter to me which it is, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference in the real world. I won't have it. (I truly don't care if you like it, or if everybody else on the face of the earth loves Versed. I really don't!) You guys can cry and moan and complain all you want. Poor babies. Yes by all means refuse to treat me as one "nurse" threatens in this thread. I can (easily) find somebody else who is more capable and have them treat me. Be as honest with me as I am with you and we will get along fine.
Also of note in this thread is the alleged "drug seeking behavior." Listen you sanctimonious, self rightious know-it-alls, I don't like Demerol, it makes me hallucinate. Don't give it to me under any circumstances. I want some kind of Morphine type pain killer. Oxycontin doesn't even begin to help with pain, so don't give it to me. Don't give me Vicodin either. These drugs make me so sick I only WISH I was dead. If you can't give me Morphine or Fentanyl, (along with an anti emetic) then let me know ahead of time and I will bring Alleve (Naproxyn) which works better than your mind altering drugs any day. Get it? It's NOT drug seeking, it's information which *I* know and you DON'T, no matter how superior to me you may feel. Just because one drug works better on some than another one is no reason to accuse the patient of "drug seeking behavior."
If I don't want or need Versed, DON'T ARGUE WITH ME! Don't persist in asking about allergies vs. side effects. It doesn't matter to me which it is, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference in the real world. I won't have it. (I truly don't care if you like it, or if everybody else on the face of the earth loves Versed. I really don't!) You guys can cry and moan and complain all you want. Poor babies. Yes by all means refuse to treat me as one "nurse" threatens in this thread. I can (easily) find somebody else who is more capable and have them treat me. Be as honest with me as I am with you and we will get along fine.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
This one came in the "Comments"
When I first read this, I thought it was somebody who was well versed in SATIRE. However I found it provoking enough to actually LOOK at some of the things "John" had suggested. I ended up thinking that this piece is from on obviously educated person, who may not be kidding me. Scientists have been looking at Versed and other drugs JUST BECAUSE they screw with your memory. I have links on here to a web site which has posters who claim to use hypnosis techniques to subliminally impact their anesthesia patients... Even though these anesthesia nurses do not have a license to do this kind of brainwashing and do not have informed consent, ( I can only assume that any normal person would object to a nurse trying to influence their behavior while under a drug like Versed and would withold consent for this.) As an aside, I HAVE noticed in politics that what is being said is not necessarily true. (from "John's" suggestions is this link;
Slate conducted a mass experiment in altering political memories. Were you fooled? - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine
I am thinking of the "surplus" under Clinton that people talk about. There never was a surplus... It was an accounting trick, but how many people will get all upset if I point out that government of every kind has never stayed within its means? Certainly not the Clinton administration or any other administration in this country. Children's textbooks have also been under fire recently for slanting, omitting and otherwise tampering with history. Michelle Obama actually said that she wanted to "change history." Our new "Health Care Ripoff" bill wrests control of health care from the patient and gives it to government agencies, what will they decide about you and force you to accept? So although I personally have a problem with the conspiracy theory, it does have some merit. Please also see Brad's blogs about Versed for torture and Versed for couple's counseling...
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John has left a new comment on your post "Another Person Forced to Have Surgery":
I am sorry to hear of your misfortune.
What you have stumbled upon is a larger symptom of a dark devious, even diabolical, plan for the future.
You are just another example of a failed methodology to alter/remove/repair your mind and memory by the gigantic nano-pharma companies that are attempting to lay the groundwork for complete global domination via mass mind/memory modification and implantation of "false memories".
Hang with me for a moment.
Your surgeon, anesthesia provider, healthcare provider are just the unknowing being led by the knowing. One grand experiment in which they are the pawns in the game.
In an attempt to lay the groundwork for this grand delusion, your mind/memory was raped and pillaged, in an unsuccessful effort to scrape certain memory cells from your brain much like a D&C. And in due course make it fertile for placing false memories in your mind, in order to modify behavior to suit entities that are as yet, lurking beneath the radar. In your case, however, they failed to scrape it clean and left some debris that are manifesting themselves as your present problems. An unintentional morbidity.
Read the blurb below and then Google the article and "memory modification" to learn more on this. The article below speaks for itself.
God Be With you,
_________________________
The Memory Doctor
By William Saletan
Part I: The Ministry of Truth
In 1984, George Orwell told the story of Winston Smith, an employee in the propaganda office of a totalitarian regime. Smith's job at the fictional Ministry of Truth was to destroy photographs and alter documents, remaking the past to fit the needs of the present. But 1984 came and went, along with Soviet communism. In the age of the Internet, nobody could tamper with the past that way. Could they?
Yes, we can.
We took the Ministry of Truth as our model. Here's how Orwell described its work:
As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any particular number of The Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in its stead. This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs—to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place.
Slate conducted a mass experiment in altering political memories. Were you fooled? - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine
I am thinking of the "surplus" under Clinton that people talk about. There never was a surplus... It was an accounting trick, but how many people will get all upset if I point out that government of every kind has never stayed within its means? Certainly not the Clinton administration or any other administration in this country. Children's textbooks have also been under fire recently for slanting, omitting and otherwise tampering with history. Michelle Obama actually said that she wanted to "change history." Our new "Health Care Ripoff" bill wrests control of health care from the patient and gives it to government agencies, what will they decide about you and force you to accept? So although I personally have a problem with the conspiracy theory, it does have some merit. Please also see Brad's blogs about Versed for torture and Versed for couple's counseling...
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John has left a new comment on your post "Another Person Forced to Have Surgery":
I am sorry to hear of your misfortune.
What you have stumbled upon is a larger symptom of a dark devious, even diabolical, plan for the future.
You are just another example of a failed methodology to alter/remove/repair your mind and memory by the gigantic nano-pharma companies that are attempting to lay the groundwork for complete global domination via mass mind/memory modification and implantation of "false memories".
Hang with me for a moment.
Your surgeon, anesthesia provider, healthcare provider are just the unknowing being led by the knowing. One grand experiment in which they are the pawns in the game.
In an attempt to lay the groundwork for this grand delusion, your mind/memory was raped and pillaged, in an unsuccessful effort to scrape certain memory cells from your brain much like a D&C. And in due course make it fertile for placing false memories in your mind, in order to modify behavior to suit entities that are as yet, lurking beneath the radar. In your case, however, they failed to scrape it clean and left some debris that are manifesting themselves as your present problems. An unintentional morbidity.
Read the blurb below and then Google the article and "memory modification" to learn more on this. The article below speaks for itself.
God Be With you,
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The Memory Doctor
By William Saletan
Part I: The Ministry of Truth
In 1984, George Orwell told the story of Winston Smith, an employee in the propaganda office of a totalitarian regime. Smith's job at the fictional Ministry of Truth was to destroy photographs and alter documents, remaking the past to fit the needs of the present. But 1984 came and went, along with Soviet communism. In the age of the Internet, nobody could tamper with the past that way. Could they?
Yes, we can.
We took the Ministry of Truth as our model. Here's how Orwell described its work:
As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any particular number of The Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in its stead. This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs—to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Another Story
This excerpt is from this site; Colonoscopy Secrets: Tips & Tricks for an Easy Procedure! I have highlighted and italicized several very alarming sentences from this post...
July 25, 2010
Major Tom @ 12:25 pm
Great article and I hope that everyone who reads it will consider getting a colonoscopy. There is a TON of misinformation about colonoscopy, especially with the sedation drugs. My job involves a lot of international travel (I fly for a commercial airline) and my healthcare always takes a back seat to the rest of the things that I have to do. My primary care doc is always admonishing me to get a colonoscopy (FAP runs in my family and I could not be in a higher risk catagory for colon cancer) BUT I don’t want to risk the long term memory-loss that sometimes occurs (rarely) with the sedation drugs such as midazolam (Versed). My neighbor is a nurse practitoner and she sustained some pretty serious and long-term memory loss after getting just 4mg of Versed for her colonoscopy and this is the most commonly used drug. I’m not a doctor (although I did get accepted into med school before starting my current career); when I google “versed problems” I get a slew of credible horror stories about Versed and memory loss/PTSD. Sure, some of these people are nuts, but most are certianly not. My primary care doc says that Versed is usually safe, but in a certian percentage of patients, it’s really, really bad and that you feel great immediately afterwards, but then you gradually notice memory loss (PIN numbers, birthdays etc). She said that Versed is commonly used because it’s cheap and that a lot of insurance companies won’t pay for diprivan (the MJ drug) which is much better. Now I’m having symptoms (bleeding) and have been trying to find a doc who will do the colonoscopy without drus (common everywhere but in the USA and with a decent doc, it’s painful without drugs). What really bothers me is that I scheduled an exam, was promised no drugs, did the prep and reported only to have the doc try to browbeat me into accepting an IV (just in case) and she insisted that I sign a sedation consent! Luckily a nurse told me that if I signed the consent that I would get sedation no matter what I was promised, so I politely proceeded to get my clothes and leave. I was bleeding slightly and the GI doc insisted that I not leave; she explained that they basically use subterfuge to get everyone to sign the sedation consent then give them the Versed and that most will have amnesia anyway, so what is the harm?? I have been told that I’m a really calm, nice guy (especially with female medical people) but I lost it after hearing that. The nurse verified what most people say about colonoscopy: immediately afterwards they feel fine (are we really done?) but after they get home, the creepy amnesia starts and they get hostile, call and get really agitated as they begin to remember what really happened to them. Cute. When did ethics get stricken from medical practice in the GI suite? This scared me badly (and I have been in real combat). To be honest, the GI doc freely admitted that they lie to patients about the sedation to get them to agree to the colonoscopy and you can’t dispute that this saves lives. She said that if they actually explained that Versed may cause a small number of people to have long-term memory loss, that few would agree to receive it. Especially when they find out that an alternative exists (diprivan/propofol) but that it’s expensive. Anyway, I didn’t sign the sedation consent, the doc started the exam without any drugs and it was pretty comfortable. She then ran into a bend that she couldn’t navigate and told me that the nurse anesthetist who was standing by would give me propofol; which I declined..the GI doc then told me that she was going to finish the exam and that I was getting sedation despite my protests. The nurse anesthetist said: “I’m not administering anything to this guy since he’s refusing to consent” and she verified that Versed had a lot of problems but that propofol did not..I still didn’t want to risk it. I asked to have the scope removed and the anesthetist suggested just painkiller (fentanyl)which I agreed to, she gave it and in went the scope without problems. The GI doc apologized about her deception; she explained that a previous patient who refused sedation (same reasons) had an incomplete exam (same problem) and that he ended up with undetected colon cancer that killed him within months. At this point I stopped seeing the GI doc as a liar and understood her posistion; reluctantly admitting that sedation with propfol was probably o.k. The anesthetist asked if I was consenting to propofol for the rest of the exam, I replied yes and the next thing I remember is waking up in recovery. Long story, but it’s sad that docs have to lie to patients about Versed just because insurance companies often refuse to pay for propofol. I now understand (sort of) why GI docs feel that they have to decieve colonoscopy patients; I don’t agree but I understand the logic. And I had a precancerous condition so I need yearly exams. When the doc called me to tell me that I needed a repeat exam in 12 months, I thought that she would be surprized that I readily agreed to do this. She laughed and told me that I was already on the schedule for next year, with the anesthetist…go figure.
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I can't be the only person who finds this alarming! First of all this drug Versed is harmful, extremely so, in many people including the arrogant medical providers... Why the NP that this person refers to would ever allow herself to be given this drug is beyond me! Secondly, look at what else the staff indulged in with this man. They promise NOT to give you Versed and then give it to you anyway. I thought that informed consent laws allowed the patient to decide how much risk to take? (at least he GOT an informed consent, unlike myself) Informed consent laws also state that the patient is to be informed of the "risks, benefits and alternatives prior to treatment." How does it happen that they use lies, tricks, omittions and deceit and GET AWAY WITH IT? But the most telling statement in this whole story is this one; "...the GI doc then told me that she was going to finish the exam and that I was getting sedation despite my protests." OH-----MY-----GOD! Who in the hell is this "doc" and who gave her the right to defy the patient, subject him to extreme risk he was unwilling to take, not to mention breaking every single law there is pertaining to "informed consent?!" Just so she could "finish the exam?" That is NOT her place to decide. Shocking, horrifying, geez there aren't words to describe this kind of criminal behavior! How and why is this abusive and lawless behavior happening?
I also want to add, that in this PARTICULAR case the CRNA did the right thing. All you CRNA's who come here and post stupid, hateful comments and act like lunatics need to make an example of this one and use this person as a role model.
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I can't be the only person who finds this alarming! First of all this drug Versed is harmful, extremely so, in many people including the arrogant medical providers... Why the NP that this person refers to would ever allow herself to be given this drug is beyond me! Secondly, look at what else the staff indulged in with this man. They promise NOT to give you Versed and then give it to you anyway. I thought that informed consent laws allowed the patient to decide how much risk to take? (at least he GOT an informed consent, unlike myself) Informed consent laws also state that the patient is to be informed of the "risks, benefits and alternatives prior to treatment." How does it happen that they use lies, tricks, omittions and deceit and GET AWAY WITH IT? But the most telling statement in this whole story is this one; "...the GI doc then told me that she was going to finish the exam and that I was getting sedation despite my protests." OH-----MY-----GOD! Who in the hell is this "doc" and who gave her the right to defy the patient, subject him to extreme risk he was unwilling to take, not to mention breaking every single law there is pertaining to "informed consent?!" Just so she could "finish the exam?" That is NOT her place to decide. Shocking, horrifying, geez there aren't words to describe this kind of criminal behavior! How and why is this abusive and lawless behavior happening?
I also want to add, that in this PARTICULAR case the CRNA did the right thing. All you CRNA's who come here and post stupid, hateful comments and act like lunatics need to make an example of this one and use this person as a role model.
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