Monday, May 11, 2009

Shouldn't have had that V8



People overdose on lots of things. Sometimes it's intentional (either they want to die or just get someone's attention) or unintentional. Most of the intentional ones get to see the psychiatrist; some of the accidental ones do too. When this happens, they get cleared in the medicine ER then sent to the psych ER. What follows is an actual report from the nurse in the medicine ER on a patient coming for a psych eval.

46-year-old homeless white female, found down in the field with unidentified male. The female responded to Narcan (a drug that blocks the action of opiates), but the male did not and coded in the ER and died. EMS reported finding heroin paraphernalia on the scene. They were also drinking beer mixed with tomato juice.

It's that last vital piece of information that threw me for a loop. I guess they thought that the tomato juice played a factor in the overdose. Or maybe that the tomatoes were tainted with Salmonella and he died of acute sepsis.

Either way, kids, the next time you see that commercial, just remember: V8 kills.
-Psych Doc

7 comments:

TDB said...

Knew there was a reason I can't stand the stuff... V8 fusion is not so bad though. So was the V8 to make the beer taste better, or was the beer to make the V8 taste better, that is the real question...

Pink said...

I've transcribed a few cases of overdose on V8. That shit is LOADED with potassium. Most of the cases I have seen are ARF patients, tho.

Anonymous said...

He should get a psych consult just for mixing the 2 that sounds disgusting

Bubba said...

I knew I was right, eating vegetable with your meal is not good.

Anonymous said...

My mom used to make a V8 "soup" for us when we were sick. Thin it out with a little bit of milk, add some butter, and crumble in a few crackers.

Hm...maybe V8 with vodka?

Ninja Pharmer said...

It's a Montana, Minnesota and North/South Dakota thing. They call it 'red beer', and it's traditionally tomato juice that's in the brew. It threw me for a loop when I first lived up there, I wondered what in the hell inspired people to mix the two.

I've tasted it, and it's not very good, btw.

Anonymous said...

Hyperkalemia + Hypernatremia.

Lovely!