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Bad Headache


skinut2234

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Of course a head ache could be something more serious, like a stroke.

"While the severity of migraine attacks often causes patients to fear they are having a stroke the likelihood of a migraine attack causing a stroke is very remote. That is not to say that migraine sufferers cannot have a stroke associated with their migraines. In persons under age 40 the most common associated factor for stroke is migraine headache."

http://www.headaches.org/consumer/topicsheets/stroke.html

Would you tell a person with chest pain that it's probably just acid reflux and that they shouldn't have called 911? Probably not, right?

The truth is that the majority of the public have no clue as to what a stroke even is till its too late. They don't know what the signs and symptoms are till they are laying on the ground half dead. Anything less then that and they will wait to let it pass instead of causing an inconvenience to someone who is paid to come when people perceive an emergent medical condition exists.

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:?: :?: :?: [align=justify]I am new to this website and have only been an EMT-B for about a year now. After reading the comments paramedic's vs basic EMT's, I think that everyone is loosing site of the whole picture. We should be grateful that there are people out there willing to help out in a pre-hospital setting to help someone who needs help. You can go over and over Doc's vs Paramedic's vs EMT-B's vs First Responders all day long and get no where. Hats off to all of us that are willing to try our best for our fellow brothers and sisters out there. I agree that perhaps we should all have more education in some situations but all of the education in the world is not going to guarantee anyone to make the right choices.....even Doc's.....

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Well then we should just drop the EMT requirement altogether and replace them with 8 hour standard first aiders.

After all, education doesn't really matter. As long as somebody is "willing to help, that's enough.

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Well then we should just drop the EMT requirement altogether and replace them with 8 hour standard first aiders.

After all, education doesn't really matter. As long as somebody is "willing to help, that's enough.

Dang, and I wasted all of those years in med school.

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:lol::) Let me explain. I moved from Dallas Texas to Renville, Minnesota a very small town of 1300 people, mostly elderly, and for us to receive an ALS intercept out here is about a 45 min ETA. We can get a helicopter, if the weather is good enough to fly, from North Memorial which is at least a half hour flight to get to us. We are all a volunteer EMT service and a lot of times I leave my job, a Bookkeeper for 2 Newspaper companies to assist on daytime runs and it only takes us an ETA of 10 -12 min to the Hospital. If you ask anyone of the residents in this town which they would prefer waiting for them to transport or us to take them to a hospital, they would take anyone of us EMT's... Their Thank Yous are submitted to our local newspapers all the time patting our service on the back for a job well done.

We should all be treated with respect is all I was saying...not that education is self is not needed compassion is.

Have a great day and Doc thank you for being out there for all of us EMT's.

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As a BLS provider, the only time I'd transport a patient who appeared to be having a stroke* without ALS is if the wait for ALS is longer than the trip to the hospital. All the good reasons to call ALS can happen waiting for them or transporting without them, so I may as well get the patient to the ER. Ideally, we intercept with ALS en-route so that we have -someone- who can take care of seizure or airway compromise or fluid loss as soon as possible.

I've also found that most paramedics have no problem when you say, "Her vitals are good, her airway is fine right now, but I'm concerned because of X, Y, and Z". They tend to understand that I am doing what was discussed in earlier posts - I'm calling them for what they might need to do, not necessarily what they need to do right now. As I see it, they're being paid, it's not going to hurt them to ride in with me, and it may benefit the patient. Most areas that I have worked in have enough ALS available that taking one paramedic out of service isn't going to deprive someone else of ALS care.

On a different note:

We had a "just a headache" call about a year ago that turned out to be more. We were called around 6 am and arrived to find a woman in mid-60s, c/o headache (4/1-->10) on the left side of her head behind her ear. She described intermittent throbbing pain x several days, no radiation. COAx4. No other pain anywhere, no recent trauma, no dizziness, no vomiting, no nausea, no extremity tingling, no balance or coordination problems, no visual disturbances, no memory loss, no mental status change, no confusion, no etOH or recreational drug use. Equal and reactive pupils, equal grip strength, no slurred speech, no signs of trauma. Her only PMH was HTN, only prescriptions were to control the HTN. Vital were within normal limits. She'd recently had her eyeglasses prescription updated. There was absolutely nothing abnormal that she could think of or that I could find, aside from this occasional throbbing pain. She called 911 because she "had a feeling" that she shouldn't wait for her doctor's appointment a few hours later. We transported her BLS, gave the hospital the long list of everything that wasn't wrong, and went on our way.

A week later we responded for her again, this time for seizures. She had a 9 inch curve of staples on the size of her head. She'd had a tennis-ball sized tumor removed from her brain two days after we transported her, and hadn't properly followed her post-op directions for taking dilantin.

*Or headache with changes in mental status, decreased level of consciousness, "looks like crap" - anything that makes me think seizures or respiratory compromise are a concern.

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My husband and I are a team ( considered one EMT) because we have 2 small kids. Several months ago he took a call elderly women knitting developed a severe headache that radiated down her neck and back. There were no other S/S. She was transported to the hospital via our ambulance and then flown to the cities (2 and half hours away by ground) where she stayed for about 6 or 8 days. It was a bleed on the brain for what we were told and she did have surgery. Her family got to spend a few more days with her once she was moved out of intensive care. She passed away at the hospital.

It is helping people in cases like this that makes us feel good about being an EMT-B.

Have a great day!

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"My husband and I are a team ( considered one EMT) because we have 2 small kids."

How does having children affect your license status? Do you lose one quarter of your license for each child?

"Several months ago he took a call elderly women knitting developed a severe headache that radiated down her neck and back. There were no other S/S. She was transported to the hospital via our ambulance and then flown to the cities (2 and half hours away by ground) where she stayed for about 6 or 8 days. It was a bleed on the brain for what we were told and she did have surgery. Her family got to spend a few more days with her once she was moved out of intensive care. She passed away at the hospital.

It is helping people in cases like this that makes us feel good about being an EMT-B. "

Just because nothing happened in that one instance, does that mean patients should be deprived of ALS assessments and interventions?

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It is helping people in cases like this that makes us feel good about being an EMT-B. "

How did you help her?

Anybody could have driven her to the hospital to die. It doesn't take half an EMT to do that.

Not criticising you. Just pointing out how EMS providers -- especially basics -- have a real tendency to overstate their importance.

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It doesn't. We are both licensed. We share on-call time. As I stated a few minutes ago we live in a small town of 1300 people and to get an ALS unit out here is a 45 min wait and Air flight (in good weather) is 30 min ETA. ETA for us to get to the hospital 8 - 10 min. Don't think that they would want to wait, would you?! :?

We are not first responders out here. We had to go to classes just like everyone else to learn what we do out here and we have to continue our education every couple of months depending on if the training is variances, hazmat, new equipment, etc. I stated earlier, we all are doing our best out there in a prehospital situation. Do you paramedics get the same bashing from doctors as I see here?!

Thank goodness that the paramedics, Air flight and Doctors out here are grateful for people like us and tell us so all of the time. I am a bookkeeper for 2 newspapers and my husband is an Architect and this is a way to give back to our community.

I didn't say nothing happened. In the operating room with the best doctors, something could happen even with the best equipment possible. That's life. :roll:

Thank you.

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