ER - venting - Headaches & Migraines Message Board

froggy123 · 12-10-2004, 07:57 AM

I went to the ER yesterday partly for a 4 day migraine, partly because I was having stroke-type symptoms that I've never had before. Numbness on my right side, cheek, hand, lower arm, foot, back of leg, calf. The school nurse checked and i had some weakness in my right hand. It was also freezing compared to my left. I was scared. The ER though, It was rediculous!!! I had to wait in the emergency room for 5 hours. I'm sound sensitive, so being in there made it even worse --- kids running around and hollering, parents yelling at their kids, people talking like nothing is wrong with them. I really don't think that the triage nurse knew how to check weakness in the legs though. She said that they are exactly the same strength, which i know for a fact that arent to begin with, because I had major knee surgery on my right knee not too long ago, and my PT checked the strength last Monday, and there's still quite a difference...just thought that was funny. Anyways, the triage nurse said we could sit in the lobby because of my migraine, then a cop said we couldn't because its illegal to be in hearing distance of the reception and triage, so we moved just into the room. Then a different cop said we couldn't sit there because its a fire hazard. So we had to move into the waiting room. Needless to say, I was in tears in like 10 minutes...the noise made a fullblown migraine that much worse. It's a hospital and they didn't even have ear plugs!!! Ugh. Then they finally got me a bed, and behold, it was on the other half of the triage room seperated by a curtain. Can't be in hearing distance of the triage my butt! They did a CT scan, which came out normal. They blamed the numbness on the migraine. The doc gave me some percocet to help ease the pain, since all of us knew he wasn't going to get rid of hte migraine. I was glad for that, because it helps my pain so much!

But I was wondering what you all do when you need to go to the ER. With all of the noise and waiting and your head killing you...it's like torture!

chaos250 · 12-10-2004, 03:20 PM

I guess that I am lucky, the ER on the island that I live on is very understanding. They take me straight back, make sure that the lights are turned off keep the door to my room shut and even keep the lights low when they exam me. The last time I had to go in they kind freaked because I had weakness in my left leg. I had to tell them like 5 times it was due to a ruptured disk in my lower back. They also put me on an IV and gave me Diladid(2 shots). Once the pain was down to a 4 they gave me the option of going home if I wanted to.

I am so sorry that you have had such an bad time at the ER. Sometimes I think they either don't fully understand or don't care about those of us with migraines. There are also those doctors that think that we are addicted to drugs, that is why I asked my doctor to fill out this form I got off the internet stating that I was not a drug seeker and what should be done for me if I showed up at the hospital ER. I got it off of the National Headache Foundation Website I am pretty sure and if not there it was off a link on that site.

resonance · 12-10-2004, 03:50 PM

Be thankful...my last ER visit was a 16 hour wait with an extreme headache.

-Jonathan