Excited And Excited : Excited Delirium Syndrome

Drink spiking has become somewhat a recurring problem within our society today. The incidence of drink spiking can lead to serious repercussions and ruin the lives of both the victim and bystander. Drink spiking occurs when a person deliberately adds alcohol or drugs to a drink without the consent of the drinker. This means that the individual could become incapacitated unexpectedly. Drinks are spiked for a number of reasons including amusement or to facilitate sexual assault, rape and theft. The side affects include feeling drunk or drowsy, mental confusion, hallucination, memory loss, nausea or vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness and a severe hangover when you have had little or no alcohol to drink (H.Grimly, 2005). It should be a major priority to prevent this occurrence for the benefit of our current and future generations. Drink spiking can happen anywhere, at any time.

The patient is a 72-year-old female who arrived to the emergency department in cardiac arrest. Emergency medical services reports the patient was last seen eating breakfast at her nursing home and was found an hour later face down and unresponsive. After it was determined the patient was in asystole, an intravenous catheter was started and two rounds of Epinephrine was administered. Upon arrival to the emergency department the patient had pulseless electrical activity with sinus tachycardia on the monitor. Airway management was in process with a bag valve mask on 100% oxygen and chest compressions in progress. After intubation and stabilization the

Delirium is a state where patient is confused and there is a rapid change in brain function that occur in physical or mental illness. It is temporary and when treated reverses the confusion.

Severe dissociative symptoms (ex. observing themselves from outside of their body), Uncontrollable and intense anger rages,

A patient who becomes unresponsive may be experiencing arrhythmia. If a patient has fainted and there is no response immediately notify the physician also provide oxygen. loosen any tight clothing, cover the patient with a blanket for warmth. Once the emergency passes,obtain a set of vital signs and document all activities in the patient's medical

The patient admitted to drinking “a shot of vodka” approximately 10 minutes prior to syncopal episode. The patient fell upon standing and hit the back of her head on the floor. Patient’s significant other who witnessed the syncopal event reported that loss of consciousness (LOC) lasted about 2 minutes. EMS was consequently called. According to EMS, the patient was still on the floor, alert and oriented only to self upon their arrival. She was lethargic. The patient did not remember passing out. She was subsequently transported to the Emergency department. Patient did improve remarkably on the way to the hospital.

Signs of this form of abuse include a deterioration of the person’s medical condition, hypothermia, unhygienic and hazardous environment, unexplained weight loss and withdrawal.

Postoperative delirium (POD) is a pervasive complication in elderly surgical patients that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Depending on

results in unconsciousness to the patient and with next thirty minutes the patient leads to

Brathen, G., Ben-Menachem, E., Brodtkorb, E., Galvin, R., Garcia-Monco, J., Halasz, P., ... Blackwell, W. (2010, September 6). Alcohol-related seizures

“Drink spiking occurs when a person deliberately adds alcohol or another drug to a drink without the knowledge of the person who will be drinking it. This means the person could become intoxicated unexpectedly. Drinks are spiked for a number of reasons. These include amusement or to facilitate sexual assault, rape or theft”(Lievore). The couple was facing an eviction from their landlord regarding loud noises and chaos caused on a weekend night. The couple had no idea about the scene they caused and woke up to a complete blur. “I had bruises and cuts on my body. Everything was upside down, clothes were outside of cupboards, pictures had been thrown on the floor.” The fiancé who experienced identical memory gaps, was asked by his landlord to leave the apartment because of what he feared to assume was a domestic violence case. “Sexual assault is also commonly linked with drink spiking. Estimates suggest that one-third of drink spiking incidents are associated with a sexual attack”(Lievore). This couple was at a local bar on the Gold Coast called Waxy’s. They believed that their drinks were spiked and took tests to find out for sure. The blood tests confirmed that they had been drugged and showed that they both tested positive to methamphetamine and tranquillizer benzodiazepines. The landlord then let the couple stay trusting that something like this would not happen again. Chances are the couple was drugged to either sexually assault the female, or to violently assault the male. Crime is evidently a problem on the Gold Coast. “About a week before this incident the Gold Coast paramedics were called to a large spate of drug overdoses and incidents involving 21 people who had taken synthetic hallucinogen called N-Bomb” (Womens weekly). The Gold Coast most categorically faces a problem with crime. “Schoolies” was approaching,

27: Alcohol-induced blackouts are the result of alcohol’s effect on which part of the brain:

Without early intervention on average 360,000 people out of the hospital succumb to cardiac arrest. “ Cardiac arrest and sudden death account for 60 percent of all deaths from coronary artery disease”,(Bledsoe, Porter, & Cherry, 2011,2007,2004, p. 1229)There are several causes of sudden cardiac arrest. Most are caused by ventricular fibrillation. “During ventricular fibrillation, the ventricles do not beat normally. Instead they quiver rapidly and irregularly.” When this occurs, the heart pumps very little and blood does not get circulated throughout the body. “ Most of the cases found with sudden cardiac death are related to undetected cardiovascular disease.("Sudden Cardiac Death," 2015, para. 2)Sudden cardiac arrest are immediate and drastic that includes sudden collapse, no pulse, not breathing, and loss of consciousness. “Four rhythms produce pulseless cardiac arrest: ventricular fibrillation, rapid ventricular tachycardia, pulseless electrical activity and asystole.”("Circulation ," 2005, p. IV-58)Other signs and symptoms that could occur prior to sudden cardiac arrest, include fatigue,

It is necessary to know about the variation of effects of hypoxia if any on the persons depending on their age and sex. As the effects of hypoxia may or may not present for a long-time, it is necessary to conduct tests on the pilots regarding hypoxia for each flight or in some airlines, they test pilots for the effects of hypoxia before each flight (Sharma L: 2007) so that necessary medication could be given. However, according to Good W.A (1991, 104) the performance of the pilots might be degraded with ‘both prescribed and over the counter medications as well as by the medical conditions for which they are taken’ (Good W.A; 1991, 104). Normally, the medicines of hypoxia are sedative, tranquilizer or antihistamine. These medicines make a pilot ‘much more susceptible to hypoxia’ (Good W.A; 1991, 104) and hence it is necessary for the pilots to minimize the use of over the counter medicines. In addition to the above precautions alcohol can impair the pilot even many hours after its consumption and digestion due to hangover. The impairment of pilot may cause flight accidents and some of the major accidents give ground to the argument that hypoxia may be the reason for the inability that caused

seems the same. That only when you are drugged is that you get in this state