You Did What To Yourself?!

[blas]

I'm not in the medical field, but I figured this would be a good one to share with others.

Have any of you ever had to deal with something awful someone did to themselves, for whatever reason?

My former coworker, Mo (well, I still work with her once in a while) did a real doozy a couple of years ago.

Warning, this is a tad gross.

She came home from camping and found a woodtick on her tummy, up higher towards where the ribcage starts.

She yanked on it, but what ended up happening is that the head was still attached to her skin.

She got paranoid and grabbed a pair of tweezers.

And went all SAW on herself.

She jabbed and dug and jabbed and dug until she had taken all kinds of small chunks out of her skin and still couldn't get the head of the tick.

She ended up giving up and going to the ER (she did it in all in the first place to avoid the doctor, who knows how she was planning on fixing herself up afterwards) and the whole staff pretty much let her know that wasn't the smartest thing to do. They did end up getting the head, but she needed stitches because of all the cutting she'd done.

[Sapphire Silk]

Ouch Talk about some whitecoat syndrome. I can't imagine being so scared of the doctor that I'd do something like that to myself.

If the head stays in you can get an infection, and still might get something like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Lyme disease.

I have seen all kinds of things people have done to themelves.

Like the diabetic who went walking across a parking lot in California . . . in summer. Blistered the skin off his feet.

Like the guy who stiched his own laceration . . . with fishing line.

Like the gal who fell into a campfire . . . who then put butter on the burns.

And don't get me started on the drunks and the druggies with what they do to themselves.

[Teskeria]

When I was a kid (in the 60's) you were actually told to put butter on burns. not the really nasty burns, but small ones. Of course most of us know better now, but that old remedy is still out there.

[bainsidhe]

A bit off tangent, but I went to the vet to pick up some kitty food (kitty is on a special diet). A man had brought his cat to emergency to get stitched up. After he had tried to stitch it himself. Now maybe this is pretty common and maybe I'm just really squeamish, but I had to give my own kitty lots of hugs and kisses when I got home.

[blas]

I don't think she did it out of fear or anxiety of doctors (although Mo is a know it all and of course she "knows" better than doctors lol).

Our insurance is not the best, and she didn't want to pay for an ER visit. We pay $100 copay for ER visits, and that doesn't count what else we pay for (regarding surgeries or anything else that might result from the ER visit) since we have to pay a certain percentage out of pocket and meet our awful deductable.

That still doesn't excuse what she did, it just explains it. I myself have never needed to go to the ER (KNOCK WOOD) but I make good use of urgent care (which is only $30 copay) since a lot of people sometimes go to ER for reasons that urgent care would be better suited for.

I didn't post about this when it happened, as this was before Sickbay, but Mo also was experiencing chest pain for several days, refused to go to the doctor, her boss forced her to go to the ER and drove her there himself, to where she found out she had pretty bad blockage and WOULD have had a heart attack had she not seen the doctor at all. Of course, when she was back to work, she was complaining about how she once again had to pay for an ER visit and a certain amount of the surgery from the stints they put in.

[Andara Bledin]

Our insurance is not the best, and she didn't want to pay for an ER visit. We pay $100 copay for ER visits, and that doesn't count what else we pay for (regarding surgeries or anything else that might result from the ER visit) since we have to pay a certain percentage out of pocket and meet our awful deductable.

The insurance my company provides is pretty impressive for a small place. We have a $30 copay for regular visits and the ER visit is free, if you get admitted. If you're not admitted, which means you didn't need the ER, then you get hit with a $100 copay, as discouragement for people tying up the ER for frivolous reasons.

I've never had a tick in me, but I know better than to try to yank one of those bastards out.

^-.-^

[Sapphire Silk]

Our insurance is not the best, and she didn't want to pay for an ER visit. We pay $100 copay for ER visits, and that doesn't count what else we pay for (regarding surgeries or anything else that might result from the ER visit) since we have to pay a certain percentage out of pocket and meet our awful deductable.

That still doesn't excuse what she did, it just explains it. I myself have never needed to go to the ER (KNOCK WOOD) but I make good use of urgent care (which is only $30 copay) since a lot of people sometimes go to ER for reasons that urgent care would be better suited for.

I didn't post about this when it happened, as this was before Sickbay, but Mo also was experiencing chest pain for several days, refused to go to the doctor, her boss forced her to go to the ER and drove her there himself, to where she found out she had pretty bad blockage and WOULD have had a heart attack had she not seen the doctor at all. Of course, when she was back to work, she was complaining about how she once again had to pay for an ER visit and a certain amount of the surgery from the stints they put in.

An urgent care would have sent her to the ER anyway. And I can appreciate the reluctance to pay high co-pays. Mine was $200 when I sprained my ankle last month.

But when you need the ER you need it. Chest pain is not something to screw around with. It's a lot cheaper to take care of your heart before you have a heart attack, than after. And I wouldn't want to live with the after effects of one. When I went to my ortho back in February because of my knees, he noticed I had edema (swelling) in my lower calves. I hadn't noticed it, but I also knew my blood pressure had been fluctuating a LOT for the previous six months. So I went straight from the ortho to my regular doc and got started on blood pressure medications.

The insurance my company provides is pretty impressive for a small place. We have a $30 copay for regular visits and the ER visit is free, if you get admitted. If you're not admitted, which means you didn't need the ER, then you get hit with a $100 copay, as discouragement for people tying up the ER for frivolous reasons.

The point of the high ER copays is to encourage people NOT to use the ER for frivolous things . . . like colds.

But if you use an ER and are not admitted that does NOT mean you didn't need to be there. Lots of true emergencies are treated on an outpatient basis: fractures and lacerations for example. Miscarriages. Gastroenteritis. All kinds of things.

I did hate paying that $200. But I was concerned about a fracture. In hind sight I wish I'd waited for an urgent care to open.

[Tsiyeria]

I've never had a tick in me, but I know better than to try to yank one of those bastards out.

^-.-^

Doesn't pouring vinegar over an attached tick make it let go? I've never had to try it, but it's a pretty widespread home remedy round these parts.

[Sapphire Silk]

Doesn't pouring vinegar over an attached tick make it let go? I've never had to try it, but it's a pretty widespread home remedy round these parts.

It's better to use a pair of tweezers and GENTLY pull so you don't separate the head.

I've used vaseline with mixed results. Tweezers have never failed me.

[Sliceanddice]

The point of the high ER copays is to encourage people NOT to use the ER for frivolous things . . . like colds.

But if you use an ER and are not admitted that does NOT mean you didn't need to be there. Lots of true emergencies are treated on an outpatient basis: fractures and lacerations for example. Miscarriages. Gastroenteritis. All kinds of things.

I did hate paying that $200. But I was concerned about a fracture. In hind sight I wish I'd waited for an urgent care to open.

Or my leg infection a year and a half ago, It could have cause blood clots cause how badly it made my leg swell and I needed to be in the ER.

[LillFilly]

My boyfriend's mom told me yesterday that one of her 4-year old nieces had her first x-rays at the dentist and they showed...a ring with a butterfly shape on it stuck in her nose! Apparently, she'd shoved the jewelery up there at least 2-years ago, because when they performed surgery to remove it, skin was starting to grow over it.

[Nyoibo]

I had a,,, something under the skin around the bottom my right pec, apparently oil and dirt can collect and form these little rocks (at least that's what the Dr told me) I cut it out with a knife myself, had no ill effects. I've cut several things out of or off my body without problem, the trick is caring for it afterwards so it doesn't get infected.

[Tsiyeria]

I had a,,, something under the skin around the bottom my right pec, apparently oil and dirt can collect and form these little rocks (at least that's what the Dr told me) I cut it out with a knife myself, had no ill effects. I've cut several things out of or off my body without problem, the trick is caring for it afterwards so it doesn't get infected.

Also not mutilating yourself trying to get at the thing and missing.

[blas]

Fortunately, I haven't had a tick on myself for years.......but that's what being an "indoor prissy girl" gets me.

The dog gets so many ticks, it's unreal. It's extremely hard to not sever the head and leave it in there, those things burrow like nuts.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

I had a,,, something under the skin around the bottom my right pec, apparently oil and dirt can collect and form these little rocks (at least that's what the Dr told me) I cut it out with a knife myself, had no ill effects. I've cut several things out of or off my body without problem, the trick is caring for it afterwards so it doesn't get infected.

(If you are particularly squeamish you may want to skip my post)

Agreed. My mum had an insect bite on her face when we were on holiday, between her eyebrow and the very top of her nose, and it swelled up something rotten. It never really went away and one day she got sick of it- she sterilised her nail scissors, cleaned the skin and then very, very gently slit the lump down the middle slightly with the blade of the scissors. She said that it wasn't very bloody and that when she squeezed it, something that was apparently like a "small ball of putty" popped out (I'm not the expert, but maybe some form of natural collagen/cartilige/scar tissue that formed underneath?). It was not unlike popping a white-head apparently. Well once she had removed it and cleaned it up, she used Dettol on it, and there is barely a mark where it used to be now. My mum is a clean freak and worships Dettol and does apply it to wounds...I even did so (on her suggestion) when I had an ingrown cuticle that started to get a bit pussey and it cleaned it right up! Not necessarily recommended for all things, but I suppose if you're careful and clean enough there are certain things you can do for yourself. My fiance has also preferred to remove his own ingrown toenails with a knife...I on the other hand prefer to coax them to grow upwards by pushing on them gently in the bath and using the "band-aid method" if they started to pinch