I think even more of us would say that having a stroke is also pretty serious.
So you definitely don't want to do BOTH at the same time.
Of course, someone had to actually study this. So they did.
In a landmark piece of research, it was discovered that people who have a stroke AND go through alcohol withdrawal during their admission have more complications, poorer outcomes, and tend to be in the hospital longer than stroke patients who don't withdraw and see pink elephants.
Really.
This creates an all new research path: think of other conditions that are worsened by alcohol withdrawal. It's just like Mad Libs! Write a series of articles where you fill in the blank:
“Alcohol withdrawal is associated with worsened outcomes in _______.”
If you play your cards right, this kind of research could get you an academic appointment! Let me throw out some suggestions, and you guys can take it from there:
"heart attacks"
"life"
"karaoke"
Have fun! And keep me in mind when you become chairman!
Thank you, SMOD!
12 comments:
I agree that the outcome of this research was pretty obvious from the start. However, my daughter is a teacher, is seriously considering undertaking a Ph D and choosing a topic for her dissertation is proving to be a huge problem. We may well see some more bizarre reports due to the number of people completing postgraduate education.
Honestly, I wonder if the point of the research is to bring awareness to the issue. In my hometown extremely rural hospital there are a staggering amount of cases where one of the good old boys staggers in after a heart attack, stroke, etc, and suffers terrible complications because the doctors (never locals) fail to recognize that the good old boy has had a 12 pack a day habit for the last 40-60 years.
My uncle died in absolute agony from the flu. After he was hospitalized, he went cold turkey by necessity, and he lived less than a week. He never received any treatment for his 24 pack a day habit that he had been working on for the last 65 years. The family didn't even think about it until after he was gone.
More importantly, what were the people who came up with this taking? We all want some.
Beer pong
I seem to recall having to come up with alcohol drip rates for patients that came in with heart attacks, and the surgeon didn't want to add withdrawals to the issues he had to contend while the patient was under the knife.
Thanks for the suggestions Doc! My advisor is getting after me to choose a dissertation topic. Only 2 more years until I have to start work on it.
Working with toxic workmates is definitely made worse by alcohol withdrawal! This recovering alcoholic can attest to that. Physically, mentally, emotionally, it's so hard.
Sky diving lessons . . .and that's Ms. Chairman to you :)
Would be even more interesting if it were Diet coke withdrawal eh doc?
Nurse daughter tells of beer service for patients doing the DT dance. I did not believe, thought she was pulling my leg. She says a lot of them request PBR and get pissed when told Bud Lite. Cans not tap and only one. Can anyone verify?
I have limited experience. Although I recently drank my first beer in 5 years, a Harpoon IPA, and as I drank in its startling beauty I thought omg this could become a problem.
Just about everything except bladder evacuation, I expect.
I saw a patient almost die from complications of alcohol withdrawal, or rather the fact that the alcohol withdrawal masked the fact that he was also having a hypoglycemic incident secondary to an insulin overdose. I had to step in on that one and literally shoo his team out: there was no level of impaired consciousness they wouldn't attribute to 'he's just an alcoholic coming down'. Stat labs, some D50 IV, and a little conference in the staff room, and both the patient and the staff started to come around.
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