Patients in handcuffs
The unsettling environment of the psychiatry ward
First day of psychiatry:
Psychiatry is one of those rotations that I never really had any exposure to. We had maybe what? a handful of lectures to do with psychiatric illnesses and as I said, I just never felt familiar with anything.
It is unlike any other rotation, if you hadn’t been exposed to respiratory patients, it is not a big deal because you are just going to see a patient who is sick with a different organ affected and you handle things as you always do.
However, when it is psychiatry, everything is different, is this patient suffering from bipolar disorder? Schizophrenia? Alcohol or drug abuse? I can’t tell ( This is before I read their notes obviously). Should I believe every word that this patient says? because trust me, some of the things I heard were bizarre. Not really sure where I’m going with this paragraph, but what I am trying to say is, prepare yourselves for your psychiatry rotations as it is unlike anything else you have or will experience.
Patients in handcuffs:
As me and my colleague got to the drug abuse centre early on our first day, we just hung around waiting for the doctor. Within 20 minutes, a police car pulls up with 2 gentlemen handcuffed to each other who were there for their dose of drugs. It was very unsettling for me even though I was safe. I had just never been that close to someone who was handcuffed. The worst part is they kept staring at me as we were the same ethnicity and that didn’t help the uncomfortable feeling.
Another patient walked in who was handcuffed to the police and had a history of domestic violence. Again, I felt uneasy in the room even though I was 100% safe. It was just that feeling of, ‘I have never been in this situation before’.
As I said, psychiatry will be an experience for everyone.
HEROIN:
There are two ways to use heroin: (No, this is not from personal experience)
Smoke it. You place the heroin on foil and you burn the bottom, you hold the straw to where the fumes would be and you inhale.
Advantages:
- No use of needles - so you avoid needle injuries and transmission of diseases such as AIDS.
- You avoid getting hepatitis C
Disadvantages:
- Expensive as you lose a lot of the heroin in fumes
- Takes a long time to show it’s effect
Inject it. Basic stuff.
Advantages:
- Cheaper
- Faster
Disadvantages:
- Needle injuries
- Diseases
- Hepatitis C
Some random info on heroin:
From what I gathered from one patient, heroines effect lasts around 24 hours, after which someone craves another dose.
The patient also mentioned that someone who uses heroin is highly unlikely to drink alcohol as the two do not mix well (not sure how correct this is)
Price: Around €100 per gram of heroin
Treatment:
Methadone. However, this on itself is addictive. This also makes patients high and they can end up craving this ‘treatment’
Suboxone (Bupronephrine + naloxone). A much better alternative, that removes the enjoyment from when someone uses heroin next. Should ONLY be used once the patient is starting to feel withdrawal symptoms from the drug. If the patient uses this while they are still high, they will get really sick. As the patient described
“I felt like i was going to die when I used suboxone while I was still high”
Song of the week:
Video of the week:
App you should get if you are a mac user:
Get this app: Dropover
Basically, you know how when you want to move files or folders, or you want to upload, but you have to minimise one window, or move the window around.
This app solves that problem, check it out :)
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