A cautionary story

I just got home from a shift at work, and I experienced something that really hit home that I wanted to share with this community.

I work at a hospital, where im a lab tech. My section of the lab do analysis of a wide range of medication, but we also do analysis of drugs. So tonight I got called to the intensive care unit to take some blood samples. When I get to the patients room, I can feel the lingering sense of panic and urgency. There's 4 doctors talking about what steps to take, and three nurses all buzzing about doing their thing.

Ive seen this kind of thing several times before, its just part of the job. But one of the doctors starts asking me questions about how soon they can get test results for the drug screenings. I tell her thatsince tomorrow is friday, she wont have the full quantified measurements untill tuesday.

She tells her that's not good enough, he wont make it that long, that its no longer about saving his life, its about preserving his organs. His brain damage is too severe. So I get to the lab, and do some quick tests and find that its positive for Cocaine and opiates.

This evening really hit home with me, since I also frequent this subreddit and do the occasional order from DNMs myself.

Im not really sure if I have a morale for this story, or if im just venting after a long night.

oh right........ USE FUCKING TEST KITS


Comments


[45 Points] CocaineNose:

test kits are great, but I fail to see how they would've helped this individual out? You don't accidentally take this combination. It's usually willingly ie; speedball.


[12 Points] None:

Are you saying that guy didn't know he was ingesting a speedball because he didn't test it?.


[5 Points] Drussaxe:

River phoenix died of a speed ball.. RIP


[6 Points] The_Cold_Tugger:

I'm failing to understand what the central idea of this post is...


[3 Points] Theeconomist1:

Yeah I kind of had the same thought today. It was no where near as personal as it was in your situation but read an article about a young girl who had taken an MDMA pill and collapsed. This happened a bit ago. I guess she is recovering but cannot speak all that clearly and has other physical ailments. Not sure if she took something else thinking it was MDMA or what. But certainly a reminder that we often have a leap of faith when taking shit we order.


[3 Points] AnonyMe4Life:

I'm sorry to hear about your crappy night. Working at a hospital, I imagine you see the worst of what drug abuse can offer.

To me it sounds like judgment was the antagonist in this incident, rather than the purity of the substances. Either the individual chose to ignore the dangers of high dosing or mixing uppers/downers, or they were a rookie who wasn't educated/supervised properly in the use of strong stimulants and suppressants. I have no details, but it sounds like they did too much cocaine, couldn't sleep, and then dosed a sleeping aid in the same fashion.

I'm sorry again for your experience. Thank you for recommending the use of test kits to everybody, it is very nice to see that you care about the wellbeing of others!


[2 Points] Jackaroopz32:

Damn, that plucked a string in me that I hadn't known existed..


[2 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] footlockervip:

Not too sure what a test kit would do? I woudl test the cocaine and see its cocaine, then test the heroin adn see its heroin, then mix the two and inject it. Better advice is to moderate your doses.

Unless he had heroin in his cocaine? lol. Not a lot of cocaine dealers cut the coke with a more expensive drug.


[1 Points] octomarvel:

Ahhh speedballs. It's like walking through an invisible waterfall.

Also, kinda recommend the ghetto speedball, meth + Xanax.


[1 Points] Febbraio2468:

I'm not sure how reagent tests could help Brain Dead Fred there but anyway I sell a variety of reagent tests on Abraxas and Nucleus if you are interested.


[1 Points] noonehear:

How do you know he was hospitalized due to the cocaine and opiates and not some other condition. I've been hospitalized and they did I drug screening. I told them exactly what they found... THC and benzos.