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I started to understand the realities of potential PTSD with a particular patient. When I was a resident, we admitted a guy whose ICD started firing while he wa
by paddedsmokes 9y ago
I started to understand the realities of potential PTSD with a particular patient. When I was a resident, we admitted a guy whose ICD started firing while he was feeling fine and mowing his lawn. He freaked out, stripped his shirt off and ran screaming up his neighborhood street until he found some help.
He told the story in an almost comical way, and I nearly started giggling because of how I imagined this would seem to an onlooker. But I quickly realized how absolutely fucking terrified he would feel. I don't think I can fully grasp the long-term emotional impact this might have on somebody who forever knows they've always got that thing in their chest and that it's statistically the most likely way they'll exit he world.
Seems you have some idea of how to cope with that, but I bet a lot of people don't have those facilities.
- JshWright 9y ago> I started to understand the realities of potential PTSD with a particular patient. When I was a resident, we admitted a guy whose ICD started firing while he was feeling fine and mowing his lawn. He freaked out, stripped his shirt off and ran screaming up his neighborhood street until he found some help. My _first_ priority (in the back of an ambulance) with someone who had an AICD fire is to get some significant sedation on board. I've seen multiple patients where the the anxiety of anticipating another discharge is amping up their SNS enough trigger their arrhythmia (triggering another shock).
- brianwawok 9y agoShould they have a Bluetooth connection to my phone to allow shutting off the stupid thing?
- JshWright 9y agoNo, for a variety of reasons... For starters, there _are_ ways to disable it externally, but they use a fairly specialized magnet. Secondly, even if they could shut it off, the patient isn't really in a position to know if it's shocking them for a legitimate reason or not. Shutting it off may simply shut their heart off... Finally, the security properties of Bluetooth aren't exactly up to the standards I would like to see for a "can deliver a fatal shock to someone's heart" type device.
- jrnichols 9y agoVersed is wonderful in that case. I got a little jolt when a patient knew hers was going to go off... so she grabbed my arm just before it happened. ZoT :/