There’s this guy whose been a frequent flier due to sepsis from infected IV sites from drug use.   He has 8mg po prn dose of Dilaudid ordered.  Which, of course, he starts asking for 2 hours before the next available dose.  Not surprisingly, his blood pressure and heart rate have been trending downward.

Debbie, my former preceptor, came in one morning to find his pressure in the 80s.  And he was on the call light for more.  She went into his room and told him, “You’re going to die if you keep this up.  One day you are not going to wake up.”  She explained that his blood pressure and heart rate were very low and that she would not be bringing him more Dilaudid.

Later the aide came in to tell Debbie that the man had asked her if salt raises blood pressure.  She told him it did. So he ate all the salt on his tray and was on the call light for more.