# Any weird psych patients?



## aewin90 (Sep 19, 2010)

Once was in an alcoholic/frequent flier patient's room to take vitals/record fluid intake.  They informed me he could be a real loony but I just tried to behave normally.  I picked up a cup to see how much he drank and he started screaming-- swearing at me, asking me what kind of person touches other people's drinks, the works.  

I walked out feeling like I was made of jell-o and asked the nurse if he had issues with people touching other people's drinks.  :wacko:

I had another CNA cover that patient the rest of his stay... 

And then there was the 80-yo lady in the nursing home that attempted to jump me, but that's another story.


----------



## LucidResq (Sep 19, 2010)

Believe me, that's nothing. 

The thing that always strikes me is how REAL these situations are to these patients, and how awful it must be to genuinely live in fear of other people constantly. It seems to me that's the most common thread amongst psych patients... fear/paranoia. Must be awful.


----------



## aewin90 (Sep 19, 2010)

LucidResq said:


> Believe me, that's nothing.


It was plenty for my first week on the job.  :lol:



> The thing that always strikes me is how REAL these situations are to these patients, and how awful it must be to genuinely live in fear of other people constantly. It seems to me that's the most common thread amongst psych patients... fear/paranoia. Must be awful.


I know.  I could never imagine feeling like that all the time...


----------



## Shishkabob (Sep 19, 2010)

Take your pick from my last 2;


Had one that disagreed with our destination city so much, that she hit me and kicked my partner... she lost the ensuing wrestling match against 11 people.  I didn't even say WHY we were headed there, just said the name of the city.   "But I don't WANT to go to Denton!" was what she said just before she swung at me.



Had one absolutely convinced that I was both a cop and that I had put a tracker in her nose (I hadn't been near her nose at all up to that point) and that cars were telling me where she was at all times.



Those are just the last 2 I've had...


----------



## JPINFV (Sep 19, 2010)

Linuss said:


> Had one that disagreed with our destination city so much, that she hit me and kicked my partner... she lost the ensuing wrestling match against 11 people.  I didn't even say WHY we were headed there, just said the name of the city.   "But I don't WANT to go to Denton!" was what she said just before she swung at me.



Just curious, was there any specific reason you were going to that hospital? I've had a patient once request to go to a different hospital with psych resources and the only reason the assisted living facility (the patient was at an assisted living facility and decided to go voluntarily instead of waiting for police to actually fill out the hold. Patient definitely suffering acute psychatric issues, was refusing transport, but not particularly a danger as of yet, so it was low priority for the PD ) wanted him to go to that specific hospital was that it was closest. The alternative was 5 minutes further up the road.


----------



## Shishkabob (Sep 19, 2010)

The sending facility, whilst a level 1 trauma, tends to just 'stabilize' psychiatric emergencies then send them out to long term psych hospitals, which is what this was.   Though they typically send to another hospital in Dallas, so I don't know why this one was to be sent 45 minutes north.


The patient had an OPC, which is all I needed to make her go where the doc wanted her to go.  (Aside from her not being AO)



Until, that is, and injury happened.... h34r:


----------



## JPINFV (Sep 20, 2010)

Ah, inter-hospital instead of a scene call... gotcha. That's a different situation all together.


----------



## slb862 (Sep 20, 2010)

*weird psych pt.*

:wacko: Had an elderly Pt (89)., that we had to physically remove from the bathroom, stark butt naked, tell me and my partner, (he had one arm and I had the other), that she was going to sh*t on us, then she let a really big, wet, fart out.  Both of us jumped as far away from her as we could without letting go.  YIKES!!!


----------



## LondonMedic (Sep 20, 2010)

My favourite psych patient was a paranoid scizophrenic who was being followed everywhere by Special Branch who were watching his every move.

Of course everyone dismissed this as a paranoid delusion, until it turned out that he was ex-MI6 and special branch _were_ following him everywhere. :lol:




He was certainly more fun than the man who jacked himself off at night whilst fantasising about strangling me with his special blue tie. :unsure:

And the guy who wanted to tell me what raping a 14 year-old was like. :

Or the bloke who saw nothing wrong with walking around the supermarket groping old women. :wacko:


----------



## aewin90 (Sep 20, 2010)

slb862 said:


> :wacko: Had an elderly Pt (89)., that we had to physically remove from the bathroom, stark butt naked, tell me and my partner, (he had one arm and I had the other), that she was going to sh*t on us, then she let a really big, wet, fart out.  Both of us jumped as far away from her as we could without letting go.  YIKES!!!



I had a patient threaten to do that.  And then they gave it a shot.  Except was all mucus.  Had a fissured hemorrhoid if I recall correctly...


----------



## Sassafras (Sep 20, 2010)

I love the psych transports, but my last job was all psychiatric patients, so I feel at home LOL.  I remember though my very first ride along we picked up a drunk who also was prescribed seizure meds.  She flipped out, peed herself, swore we were the russians coming to imprison her.  Kept asking "why do you keep coming here?  We leave your country alone, why can't you leave us alone?  I don't wanna be a commie!"  Pin point pupils, and lots of fear.  Why do you want my SSN?  I don't have to give that to you!  "Well, you don't but I can't bill your insurance w/o it"  still refused, but that's o.k. because she was medicaid and on getting her card we had all the info we needed.  Luckily she gave us that LOL.  Poor woman flipped out when she arrived at her buddie's house who died the week before.  She forgot about the death and spiraled when she realized he wasn't coming back again.


----------



## katgrl2003 (Sep 20, 2010)

Had one a few days ago. Luckily she was with it enough to realize she needed treatment, she was just mad at the voices in her head. I was sitting on the bench seat, and she kept giving the cpr seat dirty looks. She finally looked over at the seat again, flipped it off, and said, "Shut the f*** up, or I'll really f*** you up!"  Then she looked over at me and apologized for her language, but the voices were making her mad.

The most interesting one I can remember was a 92 year old dementia patient, known for being combative. He fell out of bed and was complaining of neck pain, so he was backboarded. He really didn't like that. On the way to the hospital, he got an arm free, ripped off the c-collar, and threw it at me. Partner pulled over, got him secured again, but in the process he proceeded to sucker punch me. He didn't get free the rest of the trip.


----------



## Martyn (Oct 3, 2010)

Whilst on a ride with a Lakeland, Florida ambulance crew we got toned out for the second psych of the day. On arrival there were Lakeland police everywhere as well as FD on scene. PT was sitting on the curb wearing boxer shorts and a vest and I noticed a fresh bandage around his right elbow. Apparently PT was sat on his front porch and when a car came down the road opposite his house, when it stopped to turn he ran into the road and started punching the windows out. When he had finished with this car he ran down the road and started attacking the cars on the local dealers lot. Still don't know why but the medic asked if he had neck and/or back pain. Of course PT says yes. While FD holds C spine the EMT goes and gets a collar and LSB. So theres me, the EMT and the FD strapping him on the LSB and he fakes a seizure (decorticate), man this dude has muscles on his muscles so we all jump back and it only lasts 2-3 seconds. We carry on strapping him and as we finish he throws another 2-3 second wobbly only THIS time he actually breaks a strap (thorax). Any hows we get him in the truck and I am at the PT's head, a female officer is to my left, a male officer at his feet and medic in the middle. All of a sudden he is struggling to get up. Bear in mind we have a broken strap. I am pushing down on his right lower arm, the female officer the same on his left, the medic is holding the middle region down and the male officer literally jumps and sits on his lower legs. As the male officer did this he lost his balance, turned to hold onto something and accidently brushed PT's genital area. PT shouts out 'You just touched my cock!' PD says sorry it was an accident. Meanwhile bandage comes of PT's elbow, he hits arm on side splitting wound open and I get blood all up my arm. He calms down and we are still holding him but only lightly. Female officer is stroking his head as the drugs to calm him down take effect and PT looks at her and says 'You're an angel, I want to f*** you with my big black c***', this made me laugh, she continued stroking his head looked at him and said 'Sorry dear, you're not my type. Anyway, to cut short, he was Baker Acted at the local hospital.


----------



## JPINFV (Oct 3, 2010)

Martyn said:


> Female officer is stroking his head as the drugs to calm him down take effect and PT looks at her and says 'You're an angel, I want to f*** you with my big black c***', this made me laugh, she continued stroking his head looked at him and said 'Sorry dear, you're not my type. Anyway, to cut short, he was Baker Acted at the local hospital.



So basically it was the opposite of this case...


----------



## johnrsemt (Oct 3, 2010)

Katgrl;   you didn't mention that your medic was driving while you were getting beat up in the back


----------



## emt_irl (Oct 3, 2010)

aa while back i had a girl in after taking some sort of hallucinogenic argued with me that she wouldnt answer a word until i kicked the girl wearing silver out of the room(pointing at the sink) i was stuck for words and said "em maybe both of us should leave the room, i dont think shes able to"

then of course im always called a gard(cop) by our drunken customers as all they see is the high viz jacket and dont care whats written on it or its colour.

another favorite one was a guy who argued with our ambulance and kept punching it as it annoying him/ trash talking him. that was an interesting transport i tell you!


----------



## curt (Oct 10, 2010)

Interfacility transport on an elderly alz pt from the hospital floor to a nursing facility. When we arrived, we knew we were in for it because the nurses started yelling "Oh thank GOD, EMS is here!" when they saw us. So, upon taking the report, we learn that she's advanced alzheimers, has a history of hitting, biting, and spitting, and being generally coocoo for cocoa puffs. The nurses thank us for coming for her and wish us good luck as they hand us the packet.

 We walk in, introduce ourselves, and find our pt laying on the bed mumbling incoherently about "the weathertub" (weather tub), and one stressed out family around her. We load her onto the stretcher, take her out to the truck pretty much without event, and begin transport. As soon as the doors shut, she begins to strip, just like any good psych pt instinctively knows to. I tell her that she doesn't need to do that, to keep her clothes on, and to just relax. Of course, this helps nothing, so I grab a sheet and cover her up with it and then fix the abdomen buckle, which she's worked down to her knees, and the chest buckle, which she's worked up to her neck. As soon as I do these things, she looks at me like I'd just slapped her and continues mumbling about the weathertub as if she's rationalizing the insult out. After a bit, of her continuing to attempt to strip and me continuing to cover her back up, she turns her attentions to the wall of shelves and sliding-glass cabinets where our pt care items are stored and attempts to open one of the cabinets with her frail old hands for a few minutes before exclaiming that she couldn't get the cabinet to open, and me returning fire with a relieved "Ohyesss, that's quite alright ma'am." 

 She then proceeds on to classic Alzheimers and begins yelling for people that aren't in the truck, and gives up when she doesn't get an answer. After a few rounds of that, she cycles back to trying to strip down. Finally, after 30 long minutes of this, we arrive at our destination, fix her up and cover her back up, bring her inside, and are forced to deal with her continued efforts to strip while we ask the nurses to point us to where she's supposed to go. Of course, because we're asking some nursing facility staff to help or do work, it's like asking cattle to do dishes- they just stare at you and continue to absent-mindedly chew on whatever is set before them. This continues for a minute before I ask "Please?" in a "NOW, PLEASE?!" tone. We're then led to her room, lower her down even to the bed, undo the straps, the whole 9 yards. Then, as we go to do our sheet draw, I take my place at her right shoulder and fail to notice that she's reached across with her left hand and grabbed hold of the rail of our stretcher. We initiate the draw and find that she's stopped in mid-draw with a deathgrip on our stretcher while she's proclaiming "No! NO!" Fortunately, we're able to, only temporarily of course, safely let her lay on the edge of both beds because we can get the two close enough together. Everyone piled on that hand to get it loose, and while that's going on, I hear "NNNNNGGGHH" and look up to see her moving her head towards my hand, still hanging onto the draw sheet. I have a flashback to every Resident Evil game I've ever played and quickly snatched my hand away from her (an acceptable alternative to shooting her in the head, imo). We get her hand loose and get her the rest of the way drawn over into her bed, and she settles down. 

 As I'm getting my paperwork signed, I hear her talking, and she suddenly starts talking with a little clearer and more pronounced voice. She looks past me and at the wall and says "You see that there?" and nods her head at the wall. "You see that? That's what they gon' do to that weathertub. They gon' drain that weathertub. Come on, come get in the weathertub!" She exclaims as she starts to kick her sheets off and sit up. Family gets hold of her and lays her back down. They then proceed to lecture her as everyone else in the room stops to watch. This is the most serious this old woman has been the entire time, and a degree of sobriety stains her pale, wrinkled face as her eyes sink a little and her mind seems to gain a little ground on reality. There's a long, quiet pause, and then she looks at her daughter and asks "Well, where can I get a washrag?" 

 Daughter asks "What do you need a washrag for?"

 The old woman responds "So I can do the dishes."

 Everyone seems to chuckle about it, but it's also a little sad. Gotta enjoy the little things, though. I wish the family well and leave with my paperwork and my sanity intact.


----------



## Sumredhead86 (Nov 9, 2010)

I had one tell me about bringing religion and canned tuna to the state of MA. One told me that the gov asked him to crash into an asteroid. One lady thought i was her mom ( who am I to argue?) One lady groped my male partner on her 60th wedding anniversary!


----------



## Emtpbill (Nov 9, 2010)

Had a 16 yof last night, freaking out cause parents wouldn't let her go away with boyfriend for weekend. Locked herself in room. When cops finally got her handcuffed she was still freaking out.  Gave 2 of Ativan, when that didn't calm her , went to give another 2 of Ativan.  Just as I am getting ready to give it IM in her left arm, she looks at me and yells " go ahead, stick it in me daddy, I like that , stick it harder. ".  Thank goodness there were 2 other females in the back o the truck with me, one being a cop.


----------



## Martyn (Nov 9, 2010)

Emtpbill said:


> Had a 16 yof last night, freaking out cause parents wouldn't let her go away with boyfriend for weekend. Locked herself in room. When cops finally got her handcuffed she was still freaking out.  Gave 2 of Ativan, when that didn't calm her , went to give another 2 of Ativan.  Just as I am getting ready to give it IM in her left arm, she looks at me and yells " go ahead, stick it in me daddy, I like that , stick it harder. ".  Thank goodness there were 2 other females in the back o the truck with me, one being a cop.



:blush:


----------



## MrBrown (Nov 9, 2010)

Brown recalls this one very strange psych case who had an orange jumpsuit and a cat in the hat hat ....


----------



## EMSrush (Nov 9, 2010)

slb862 said:


> :wacko: Had an elderly Pt (89)., that we had to physically remove from the bathroom, stark butt naked, tell me and my partner, (he had one arm and I had the other), that she was going to sh*t on us, then she let a really big, wet, fart out.  Both of us jumped as far away from her as we could without letting go.  YIKES!!!



OMG I'm rolling, laughing.... I can just picture it! :lol:


----------



## WVEmt (Nov 10, 2010)

Heard this one from County PD. 60 something y/o female walking down the road naked playing a banjo. Only in West Virginia


----------



## RUGBY66X (Nov 10, 2010)

I had 3 last week in the ER the first one was schizophrenic and had recently stopped talking,eating, etc and was there so the doctor could have him admitted and when i tried to take his temp he damn near bit the thermometer in half.

later in the night i had a guy who grabbed my hand while i was trying to do something but cant recall what and i swore he was going to bite me because he pulled it to his mouth so fast that i didnt have time to react and luckily he just licked the back of my hand but thankfully i had a glove on and his care giver told me that was his way of saying hi and he likes me.

the last lady was around 90 something and was a sundowner and when i tried to get blood draw from her she started going off in what sounded like a combination of three languages and fighting against me. so myself along with a few others restrained her and while we were doing this she was trying to spit on one of the nurses (failed because of her lack of teath) while yelling "policia" at the top of her lungs and the entire ED stopped to watch. then when i finally stick the needle in she starts saying something about el diablo so im still not sure if she was calling me the devil or trying to put a curse on me. it was sad for the lady i never like to restrain elderly patients who earlier in the day were as sweet as can be but the things she was yelling were quite entertaining.


----------



## Sumredhead86 (Nov 12, 2010)

Had an old lady grab me by the middle of the bra through my shirt as the nurse and I were trying to change her. Damn good grip for an old lady! I couldn't let go of her cause I was the only one holding her... She didn't let go either! :blush:


----------



## Akulahawk (Nov 12, 2010)

I'm sure she's long gone by now... but I once had a little old lady with a good case of dementia. She lived in Los Gatos. The problem was that if you told her that she lives in Los Gatos, she doesn't live there. You _had_ to tell her that you were taking her home to "Los Gaddis". She'd lived there pretty much her whole life. Pronunciation made a HUGE difference. Tell her one way and she'd fight you tooth & nail. The other way... calm & cooperative as can be. To this day, I suspect that I'm one of a very few people that managed to get full sets of vitals _without _having to fight her.

She was rarely all that coherent, but... pleasant once you figured out how to talk to her.


----------



## lightsandsirens5 (Nov 12, 2010)

WVEmt said:


> Heard this one from County PD. 60 something y/o female walking down the road naked playing a banjo. Only in West Virginia



Lol. I know an Escondido PD officer who was sent to an incident once where a naked guy was standing in the middle of a busy divided city street, pointing a TV remote at passing vehicles. When my friend asked him what he was doing, he said that he was purifying them, whereupon he turned and pointed the remote at my friend and informed him that he needed to be purified as well. Needless to say it became a 5150.


----------



## RatMed (Nov 23, 2010)

Call to a psychatric patient in the middle of the night. Guy in his 50s sits on a bed looking scared like hell. He tells us: 'guys, sorry to bother you at night but something strange happens to me: I can see people in this room. I woke up, lit the lamp and saw them standing there. I know they are my imagination but they seem as real to me as you are. They are still here, right behind you'. 'Are they doing anything?' we asked. 'No, they just stand there and stare at me'. On the way to hospital he started to freak out real bad. No previous history of mental problems, no drugs, no alcohol. Pretty creepy.


----------



## RNL (Nov 23, 2010)

RatMed said:


> Call to a psychatric patient in the middle of the night. Guy in his 50s sits on a bed looking scared like hell. He tells us: 'guys, sorry to bother you at night but something strange happens to me: I can see people in this room. I woke up, lit the lamp and saw them standing there. I know they are my imagination but they seem as real to me as you are. They are still here, right behind you'. 'Are they doing anything?' we asked. 'No, they just stand there and stare at me'. On the way to hospital he started to freak out real bad. No previous history of mental problems, no drugs, no alcohol. Pretty creepy.



Maybe they were there...

I had a call few years ago to a 54yrs old male with "severe arrythmia and chest pain". 4:27 AM, January, freaky cold, streets covered with ice, so we are snailnig 40km/h  with sirens on (good age, good time of the day for a heart attack) and when we finally reached the destination it turned out, that the elvator was out of order- 9th floor this time. So we climbed with all the equipment thinking how will we transport the guy down in case of confirmed myocardial infarction...When we entered the pt room I knew, that something strange is going to happen. He was lying in bad in quite comfortable position, with 3 fingers of his left hand on his right wrist:

- What's the problem, sir?
- I've been checking my pulse since midnight, all the time, and there is something wrong...
- What bothers you?
- I HAVE NO PULSE!

- So what have you done, when you realized, that you have no pulse?- I asked
- What?! CPR ofcourse!!!

Guy was performing something which looked like a chest compressions on his own chest...


----------



## sop (Nov 24, 2010)

Older lady patient
When we came into the house she was laying on the couch, and her middle aged son told her, "The fire department is here." She replied, "Fire department!? There ain't no fire here!" Then her son said, "They are the medics her to take you to the hospital." She replied, "I ain't sick!"

If nothing was wrong with her, why did she call 911? :wacko:
She did not refuse transport after a sermon for her son though.


----------



## judoka5446 (Dec 3, 2010)

During my clinical internship I had a psych pt make a 4in x 4in pyramid out of a tuna sandwich and his own feces. His caretaker said he had been hiding his meds somewhere, but couldn't find them anywhere. We found approximately 30 pills caked into his pubic hair. Oh, and he had an affinity for four letter words. I can still smell it....


----------



## uhbt420 (Dec 3, 2010)

> During my clinical internship I had a psych pt make a 4in x 4in pyramid out of a tuna sandwich and his own feces. His caretaker said he had been hiding his meds somewhere, but couldn't find them anywhere. We found approximately 30 pills caked into his pubic hair. Oh, and he had an affinity for four letter words. I can still smell it....


oh man, that reminds me.

arrived at a snf for an ift.  elderly female pt who, for some unknown reason, had her bedpan on her bedside table.  she was eating her breakfast when we arrived.  when my partner started talking to her she took a butter knife, dipped it in the bedpan, smeared the feces on her toast, and took a bite.  my partner immediately lunged to the sink and vomited and i grabbed the bedpan and put it on the floor.  she got all angry and said "why are you moving my apple butter?"

i can still smell it on her breath... and i haven't eaten apple butter since...


----------



## Blessed187 (Dec 7, 2010)

I seen a lot when I was working for a private psych hospital here in Reno. Granted I was only the PBX operator but I was ALWAYS the first person everyone can into contact with when they walked in the door. 

There is a buzzer on the front entrence door that every had to push to get in, unless you worked there and had key. 

One night it was about 8pm I was getting ready to close up the front desk area, there was a homeless man that buzzed the door, I asked over the intercom how can I help you sir? He said "yeah I need to see a doctor!" I buzzed him in, he came up to the desk and said yes I need a doctor, I said no problem I'll get someone in A&R to help you. He said hurry I need help, while I got on the phone with a&r they man lifted up his shirt in front of me and when I seen I will never forget.....he had what looked like 3in cuts ALL over the front of his cheast they were bleeding pretty bad as well. 

I stopped talking to a&r and said Sir I am going to call an ambulance for you, you need to go to the hospital and get help right away, he said well I thought this was a hospital. I explained we were not a medical hospital and that I will be more then happy to get him someone who can help. 

He said no that's okay ill get there myself, he turned around and left. There was nothing I could do to stop him, I had no right to hold him. The beioch in assesment came out and said where did he go? I said he left when I offered to call an ambulance for him, she started to yell at me telling me I needed to stop him. I just looked at her and said how do you suggest I do that? He was bleeding very badley, I have no right to put my hands on him and you heard the conversation I had with him while I had you on the phone. 

She just walked back into the office. The next morning I got a call from my new boss who happen to be the head of A&R he was a new boss and didn't know his *** from a hole in the ground... Long story short I was fired for breaking EMTALA. 

To this day I get so pissed when I think of that situation.


----------



## lightsandsirens5 (Dec 7, 2010)

uhbt420 said:


> oh man, that reminds me.
> 
> arrived at a snf for an ift.  elderly female pt who, for some unknown reason, had her bedpan on her bedside table.  she was eating her breakfast when we arrived.  when my partner started talking to her she took a butter knife, dipped it in the bedpan, smeared the feces on her toast, and took a bite.  my partner immediately lunged to the sink and vomited and i grabbed the bedpan and put it on the floor.  she got all angry and said "why are you moving my apple butter?"
> 
> i can still smell it on her breath... and i haven't eaten apple butter since...



I just almost had to lunge for the sink.


----------

