switchboard

I've never heard of this. I'm in Canada. A friend's husband (50'ish) is currently in the hospital for heart valve repair surgery. He's not an "alcoholic" (or at least wasn't labelled as one) but does drink beer on a regular basis. So, they have given him beer right there at his hospital bed .. doctor's orders. The cans of beer even have "prescription" label stickers on them.

Apparently it is so his body stays as it was - used to beer every day. They didn't want to have any chance of withdrawal happening, even if it was unlikely, so they "prescribe" beer.

I know this isn't a helpful post in any way - lol - I just thought that it was interesting enough to post about.

DayTrader

Heh..... I thought it was funny.


......only in Canada..........you Canucks are nuts!

SamanthaIam

wow, no, that's new to me, too. Never heard of such a thing.

Speaking of weirdness in hospitals, tho...

this one time, I was suicidal with a blood alcohol level over .40... yeah, seriously effed up, man. The police took me to the ER. There, I was shoved into a booth and ignored. After several hours, still being suicidal, I called the local suicide prevention hotline.

They said, "Go to the ER."

I said, "I'm IN the ER right now!"

Silence. Finally the volunteer said she had no idea what to do, since they are only trained to tell people to go to the ER.

I sat in the effing booth for hours, no one helped me, no one talked to me. When I tried to walk out, the cop blocked me and said it is against the law to kill yourself.

16 hours later, some lame-o "psychologist" talked to me for less than 5 minutes, and signed some paper to release me.

To this day, I will never, ever call the hospital or the police for help. Those assholes froze me out. That is why I detoxed through hell without their "help" -- and why I am here today without their ********.

DrivenHeart85

So do they prescribe cigarettes to smokers too? Yikes.

babycat

If they were worried about withdrawals, why not just give him something for that?

wow04

I am in the States and they gave my cousin alcohol right after his back surgery. I questioned why they didn't give him something for the withdrawals, but cousin tried to tell them he didn't have a drinking problem.

switchboard

Wow Samantha, what a twisted situation. Glad things ended up ok for you.

I also wondered why they didn't give my friend's husband something for possible withdrawal (besides cans of beer). I didn't ask though. I should have. I'm really curious!

RV GTO

That is bizarre. You would think they would have given him valium or some other benzo if they were worried about withdrawals. "Prescription labels" on the cans, wow, and I thought I've heard it all.

choublak

So where did the beer come from, the pharmacy?

I'm not even trying to be funny or anything.

switchboard

I assumed it came from the liquor store and they keep a "stash" at the hospital .. but that's just my own assumption. I really don't have a clue! (Maybe leftovers from the staff christmas party? lol .. poor attempt at humor .. heehee)

LifeRecovery

It is either kept in pharmacy or the kitchen. There are orders for it on a surprisingly regular basis. There are meds to help with withdrawals, but the withdrawals will still occur for some without the alcohol. It is treated like any other med would be, labeled, accounted for etc.

My most interesting experience with that was when I actually had a request from a patient for a certain "type" of alcohol. You also have to be careful how old the person who delivers it to the patient is.

I am not trying to condone the behavior but I think it is done sometimes when acute withdrawals symptoms risks are pretty high.

switchboard

Thanks, LifeRecovery ... I am still blown away that they do that, but it does make some sense... I guess it's one of those things that you don't really hear about.

LifeRecovery

Actually reading "Under the Influence" helped me to be more comfortable with the idea of this. Again not condoneing it but sometimes the acute symptoms outweight the long-term concerns.

I guess this even as close as the late 60s and early 70s was how people were treated in the hospitals if they had alcohol concerns.

For someone (me) on the Friends/Family side of things just the fact that it even exists helps me to understand how hard this addiction is for all involved. Uff da I can feel that last sentance in the pit of my stomach. As hard as it is to think of bringing beer to a hospitalized patient, withdrawals are also pretty hard to watch too.

Thanks for letting me share. Something really kind of settled for me about this.

Tres

I am in the health care field and have seen this several times in my career. The hospital where I work now does keep beer in the pharmacy. Leeches too..but thats not for addiction..lol..

wellnowwhat

My AH is avoiding some health care he needs because of his alcoholism. He is scared of the treatment and of the withdrawal during treatment. Maybe this information will help him get the health care he needs, regardless if he gets recovery.

switchboard

Leeches! I have heard of that of course, but am surprised they keep them on-hand! I'm learning all sorts of things today - lol.

switchboard

I hope so, wellnow ... I can totally understand his fear - I had the same concern when I had to be in the hospital ... But if you're going to detox anywhere, even without disclosing the severity of the situation to anyone (me - stupidly), the hospital is a good place to be doing it. Hope he talks to his doc about it, and sees to the health care he's been putting off.

wellnowwhat

Thanks Switch! Yeah, he's done the hospital detox once after trying at home. 48 hours later he was having hallucinations and seizures, fell, got a concussion, and had mini-strokes. They kept him two weeks. The first week he was tethered to bed and diapered and out of his mind. Slowly he started to become lucid the second week. Came home and picked up drinking again without missing a beat. Never went back to his doctor or for any follow up. Oh, (big sigh) well.

Getting him to a doctor is hard. But at least one fear can be tempered. It's hard to not want to get into his business and fix this!

Impurrfect

Yep, when I was a nurse we had beer and wine dispensed "as per orders" - kept it in the fridge with other medications. It wasn't often, also dispensed medications for withdrawal, but it all depended on the patient and the doctor. (((LifeRecovery))) - we had the leeches, too, but luckily they weren't in my area

It's not that I condone it, or agree with it. It's just something that happened and though it wasn't given often (maybe one or 2 drinks a night..small drinks), I think the doctors knew that the risks of withdrawals, in a patient that had NO intent of quitting drinking, outweighed the costs? We had to mark the bottles of wine, document exactly how many ounces were given. It was considered a "controlled substance".

Never thought of this until I read this post, but interesting.

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

Zebra1275

I've never heard of this, but it makes sense to me if the heart issue is life threatening and the doctor doesn't want to introduce another variable (alcohol withdrawal) for the patient to cope with. Once the heart issue is under control, then the alcohol withdrawal can be addressed.