The curse of relieving pain

A 39-year-old woman with a history of chronic back pain due to spinal haemangiomas, multiple malignancies and depression was brought by Emergency medical servicesS to the emergency centre (EC) after being found unresponsive on the bathroom floor. The patient had an exacerbation of her back pain the previous day for which she admitted to taking double her usual dose of oxycodone, in addition to alprazolam, lorazepam, diphenhydramine and a glass of wine. She reported that she lost consciousness and was down for over 8 hours. In the EC, she complained of right forearm pain which was accompanied by mild diffuse soft-tissue swelling and decreased sensation in the right hand. Radial pulse was intact. Creatine kinase was found to be at 4663 U/L. The patient was found to have acute compartment syndrome and underwent emergent forearm fasciotomy. She eventually regained full function of the right arm.

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