- Joined
- Dec 13, 2022
Do we have any doctors or nurses from Canada and ideally his specific province? My thought is that someone who presents to the ER in acute benzo withdrawal would be found an open bed somewhere, maybe somewhere shitty and distant but especially if he said the magic words of "I think I'm going to kill myself," right?
I'm not a doctor or nurse nor (thank god) a canadian but at least in the states you can't tell a person who is feasibly in mortal danger "good luck to you we'll give you a call"
Of all of his ridiculous claims ("I'm a woman," "I'm not a racist "), going to rehab doesn't really measure up.
....Fuck I'm being autistic, who cares
I'm not from Canada and I'm not a doctor or nurse. I'm from the UK, where I imagine the system is at least somewhat similar, and I know how drug treatment systems work here.
If he presented at an ER and was actively having seizures, he'd probably be prescribed enough librium (drug of choice for benzo withdrawal) to stop him from fitting, and then he'd be referred to outpatient treatment for an assessment.
Chances are, he'd be offered an outpatient detox, using librium. It might take a couple of weeks before he got access -- it would depend on whereabouts in the country he is, and what the waiting lists there are like. He'd be monitored at home by a nurse to make sure he really wasn't at serious risk. If he was felt to be at risk from serious seizures (most people generally aren't -- most people have gotten dependent on prescribed benzos so they aren't on the sort of heroic doses that you can't manage in the community) -- but if he was at risk, they might well decide he needs an in-patient detox, but he'd almost certainly have to wait for that.
He might be kept on a low maintenance dose of librium or valium while he was waiting. It might take weeks, it might take months. It really depends on the waiting lists in the part of the country he's living in. But most of the people who are felt to need in-patient detoxes tend to be those with 'complex needs' -- ie, multiple addictions and co-morbidities. So, drinking AND benzos AND opiates. Often with psychiatric issues on top.
Being a troon might shoot him up the waiting list because people who work in drug treatment are nauseatingly stupid and are always all over supporting whatever the current thing happens to be.
ER rooms tend to not be very sympathetic to such people. I once interviewed a recovering alcoholic who told me about being in the throes of alcohol-induced neurapathy -- so much so that he couldn't walk, and I believe it did permanent damage. He presented at an ER and they just turned him away. They're faced with a constant flood of drunken wasters and they get really fucking tired of seeing them.
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