helmets are not optional

[OakLeaf]

Oh, that's hard! I hear ya - but that's still hard.

I don't go to the ER for just anything, and I've got the kind of pain threshold where when I spilled hot oil and melted my carpet, it didn't really hurt my foot; when I cut my thumb so deeply I had a scar contracture for a year, it didn't much hurt my hand (and I kept on cooking after I got the bleeding stopped), and I never needed medical care for either one of those.

But when I had food poisoning a couple of weeks ago, another eleven hours of moaning in pain with a headache that ultimately Demerol and a liter of fluids helped but didn't eliminate (actually I think mostly it made me stop caring about the headache), and the most miserable nausea you can imagine - sorry, another eleven hours of that wasn't in the cards.

No, I wouldn't have died of it. But to say that was an abuse of the ER is just hard

Mostly what I've done that I would consider an abuse of the ER is when my PCP has refused to see me for a sprain because "I'd have to send you to the ER for X-rays anyhow." I wonder how in tune ER staff are with the state of primary care in this country.

[Jolt]

Oh, that's hard! I hear ya - but that's still hard.

I don't go to the ER for just anything, and I've got the kind of pain threshold where when I spilled hot oil and melted my carpet, it didn't really hurt my foot; when I cut my thumb so deeply I had a scar contracture for a year, it didn't much hurt my hand (and I kept on cooking after I got the bleeding stopped), and I never needed medical care for either one of those.

But when I had food poisoning a couple of weeks ago, another eleven hours of moaning in pain with a headache that ultimately Demerol and a liter of fluids helped but didn't eliminate (actually I think mostly it made me stop caring about the headache), and the most miserable nausea you can imagine - sorry, another eleven hours of that wasn't in the cards.

No, I wouldn't have died of it. But to say that was an abuse of the ER is just hard

Mostly what I've done that I would consider an abuse of the ER is when my PCP has refused to see me for a sprain because "I'd have to send you to the ER for X-rays anyhow." I wonder how in tune ER staff are with the state of primary care in this country.

Sorry if my previous post came across as a bit harsh--that's the problem with typing things rather than saying them sometimes. I agree with you that a lot of the problem is the state of primary care. As far as your food-poisoning incident, from what you describe it sounds like it was worse than the standard stomach bug (which is more what I was thinking of in the previous post) and I can't really blame you for going to the ER in that case. Again, apologies if my post was offensive.