DOSE: T+ 0:00	4 mg	IV	Ondansetron
T+ 0:00	4 mg	IV	Morphine
T+ 0:30	1 mg	IV	Hydromorphone

BODY WEIGHT:

230 lb

Superbowl Sunday started off as every other day; played with my kids, got a little shopping done with my wife, made preparations for the upcoming work week, and so on. Nothing whatsoever could prepare me for the night that I was about to have.

Kickoff came and went and we were all sitting around watching the game. I just downed a copious amount of hot wings with my oldest son and we were looking forward to an exciting game. That's where things took a turn for the worst.

I got up after the first quarter to use the restroom and before I could even get up the stairs, I was greeted by a sudden, intense pain in my lower back/right side. Thinking I may have stretched the wrong way getting out of my recliner, I did a few stretches trying to work it out. Big mistake. The pain began to radiate from my lower back to my entire right side, and the intensity increased tenfold from there.

In agony, I jumped in the shower and turned the heat up to the point that it was almost unbearable, but it didn't help whatsoever. I writhed and contorted in the tub for about 20 minutes, groaning uncontrollably, until my wife came to check on me. Being a healthcare professional, she already had a good idea what was happening. She called my mother over to watch our kids and off we went to our local ER, with me in tow feeling like I was about to die, or at the very least, pass out from the pain. I have dealt with varying levels of pain in my life, from minor to pretty severe, and I have always been able to deal with it. Even being stabbed and nicking a femoral artery, with the massive blood loss that ensues, was nothing compared to this. This was a pain that I didn't know was even possible.

The nurses wheeled me back immediately after arriving at the ER, seeing how much pain I was in. My wife gave them my medical history, which is next to nothing, and told them my symptoms. I was in too much pain to pay attention to anything they were asking me, much less answer their questions. She told the nurses she was almost 100% positive I was in the middle of passing a kidney stone, and she would end up being proven right.

I was immediately administered an IV and given Zofran (4 mg) and morphine (4 mg) along with the usual bag of fluids. The morphine did absolutely nothing to ease the pain. Didn't even make a dent in it. A few minutes passed and I was wheeled back to a room for a CT scan, still groaning the whole way. After doing the CT and getting wheeled back to my room, I was given 30 mg of Toradol in my IV. Like the morphine, it did nothing at all to ease the pain. I had to wait about 30 minutes for the test results to come back and before they would give me anything else for the pain. That ended up being a very long 30 minutes with the first two drugs not even taking the edge off.

The test results returned and they confirmed, without even having to use contrast, that I was passing a single kidney stone about 4 mm in diameter. They said it should pass naturally, but that the pain probably wouldn't subside until it had passed from my kidney to the bladder. It was then that they decided to give me 1 mg of Dilaudid while I waited it out, and that 1 mg was all I needed.

An immediate warm pressure built up in my shoulders, followed by what felt like every nerve and blood vessel in my body tightening for a few seconds, then followed once again by a five minutes or more of an intense rush/body high. I've never taken heroin, but from the reports I've read, I would describe the initial rush as similar to a heroin rush. Once the rush subsided, my whole body and mind became comfortably numb. The pain was gone, or if it wasn't gone, my brain simply forgot it was there. I watched the last 30 minutes of the Superbowl in relative calm. I did become fairly drowsy at the onset of the numbing phase, but fought it off so I could finish watching the game and chat with my wife. The drowsiness wore off and was replaced by a gentle tingling throughout my arms and legs and just an overall sense of calm.

After the game ended, the nurses returned and discharged me with a bunch of prescriptions for pain medicine, anti-inflammatory drugs, nausea medicine, and Flomax to hopefully help things pass a little easier. It was after midnight on a Sunday night, the weather was bad, and the closest pharmacy was about 30 miles away. Not wanting my wife to be alone, I decided to go with her to the pharmacy. That turned out to be the only regret I had about getting the Dilaudid. I don't get motion sickness, but having it in my system - coupled with the morphine and Toradol - took its toll on my stomach and I vomited pretty violently twice on the ride there and home. If it weren't for the ride, I don't think I would have felt nauseous at all, as the hour before sitting in the hospital produced no such effects.

All in all, Dilaudid is a very powerful drug with plenty of potential for medical uses, but also lots of potential for abuse. I haven't been a recreational drug user in over 10 years, but I could definitely see myself abusing Dilaudid if I still partook in that lifestyle and had access to it. I would highly recommend using it as prescribed to avoid the pitfalls of an opiate addiction.

Exp Year: 2015	ExpID: 105467
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 32
Published: Dec 11, 2015	Views: 10,224
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Hydromorphone (300) : Medical Use (47), Hospital (36)