It’s 4am in the emergency department, and you’ve finally reached a lull in the onslaught of patients after having finally successfully bailed out the flood from the afternoon. An individual very familiar to you and the rest of the department pops up on the board. Despite the risk of crashing your computer due to the enormous size of this patient’s chart, you assign yourself and take the plunge. Chief complaint: Sickle cell pain.

You approach the patient, who tells you her pain is mostly in her back and legs. No, she hasn’t been short of breath, and no, she hasn’t had a fever. She answers your questions patiently but eventually cuts to the chase, “Can I have my dose of 6mg Dilaudid and 50 mg of Benadryl?”

We’re all aware of opioid epidemic that’s currently raging, presumably as a result of patient satisfaction metrics and the medical community’s heavy-handed prescribing over the past few decades. While this is a problem for the treatment of acute and chronic conditions across the board, the nature and course of sickle cell disease predisposes these patients to dependence and makes it complicated to address responsibly. We all know to start with NSAIDS, but for patients who have been prescribed opioids from a young age, this sometimes doesn’t cut the mustard.

Is there another way? Sickle Cell Specifics But what about the abuse potential? Get ‘em while they’re young Wrap Up

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kkelson

Kyle Kelson, Downstate/Kings County Emergency Medicine resident. @kelsonmd

kkelson

Kyle Kelson, Downstate/Kings County Emergency Medicine resident.

@kelsonmd

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