The Addict

Oh yes the craziness of the patients on my ward just went on and on.

The Scouse Addict
A recovering heroin addict on methadone who was in hospital for stomach pains - which roughly translated to she wanted a safe place to stay with warmth and 3 square meals a day. Actually on the food front we would be served 3 courses for all meals and she would always go for 2nds and large portions.

She was actually one of of the friendliest people on the ward.   She was talkative,  actually at times a bit too much and one of the few people that said hello to everybody and I mean everybody.

Being on methadone also meant that she knew her way around a drug cabinet and her rights and entitlements.  She would automatically wake up when it was time for drugs and at times chase the nurses for them.  Yes when this was in the middle of the night it was not conducive to those of us who actually wanted to sleep at night in order to get the well and get the hell out of there (me).

The other thing was that she drank so much tea.  Day, and night "can I have a cup of tea please nurse" " can I have some hot water please" as she even had her own ready supply of tea bags, milk and sugar.  Supposedly tea helps methadone get into the system quicker apparently.

She also had some kind of behavioural problems - once a thought was planted in her head she would just go on and on and on.  Oh my god believe having someone asked repeatedly for drugs or tea did get kind of annoying and at times I did scream in my head.