r/emergencymedicine • u/Asleep-Palpitation43 Nurse Practiciner • Feb 02 '25

Advice Allergy Olympics

Is it wrong that if I see a patient has more than 10 allergies I IMMEDIATELY assume she's (bc it's always a she) a psych case?

In 24 years I've never been wrong.

You'll never read this in a textbook but add it to your practice today and thank me later👍

496 Upvotes

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38

u/pushdose Nurse Practitioner Feb 02 '25

This is my crown jewel of allergy lists. Expand image for full effect.

10

u/Francisco_Goya Feb 02 '25

How is such a person even still alive? Odds are something would have killed them by now in normal life or during an emergency. A well meaning paramedic or one errant carrot hell bent on maximum destruction and it’s, “good night, Irene.” Luckiest and bravest person alive. Wow.

15

u/pushdose Nurse Practitioner Feb 02 '25

They’re either the luckiest person alive or, now bear with me, they are 100%, absolutely, positively, full of shit.

6

u/Francisco_Goya Feb 02 '25

Hopefully they are not allergic to shit. At least not in the high doses you’re describing.

2

u/1000thusername Feb 02 '25

Haha As a layperson working in an adjacent industry and who finds this sub fascinating, I was starting to think to myself “…. So you just show up for the tests and the saline, then?” because is there anything beyond these that a hospital can actually do amid this laundry list of “don’ts”?

7

u/pushdose Nurse Practitioner Feb 02 '25

These same people usually come with a second list of things they want. Either written or verbal demands, they are very picky and manipulative. It’s a chore.

1

u/Asleep-Palpitation43 Nurse Practiciner Feb 03 '25

That's the word. A chore. You're making life-altering decisions all day for normies while a nurse continuously contacts you, seemingly attempting to reinvent American healthcare to conform to the standards of "20 allergy lady"