Every once in a while we stay up later than we should. This time it was one in the morning and we were in the middle of another game of domino's. We then got toned out for an unresponsive person. We arrived on scene to be greeted by an 18 year old kid who drove up to visit his grandma. When he got there he found her on the floor of the bathroom unconscious. She was breathing alright and had a good pulse but that was about all. Her left pupil was blown, she was incontinent, and completely unresponsive. We checked her blood sugar, which was 148, and placed her on a backboard and in a cervical collar. We found out from the grandson that the patient has a history of strokes and high blood pressure. Everything pointed towards her having had another stroke. She also had a prescription for some narcotics. I started a line on her and then sent her on her way with MBA. Not much I could do.
Later on the medic from MBA was questioning why I didn't push Narcan (the "cure" for a narcotics overdose). Some medics like to push Narcan on unresponsive patients since there are no bad side effects to it. I only like to push medications that are clinically indicated (such as respiratory depression for Narcan) and I don't like to push meds just to see if it might help. There are all types of medics.
I recall you mentioned something about new stroke medications that could help if taken soon after the event. Would Narcan have a bad interaction with this or other stroke medications?
ReplyDeleteThe "new" medication that is on trial study in Los Angeles county is magnesium. Narcan does not interfere with that or any other medication given for strokes. It only blocks the narcotic receptor sites in the brain.
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