Extra Dry or Up With a Twist? A Take on The ‘Migraine Cocktail’

You’re seeing a patient in the community emergency department with a primary headache disorder. Based on your history & physical examination skills, you have considered and ruled out all dangerous secondary headache causes such as intracranial hemorrhage, sentinel bleed, meningoencephalitis, abscess, tumor, temporal arteritis, hypertensive encephalopathy, acute angle closure glaucoma, etc. With many classes of treatments available, providers have typically used some form of a ‘migraine cocktail’ including IV prochlorperazine, IV ketorolac, IV diphenhydramine, IV dexamethasone, and/or IV normal saline…

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Non-Accidental Trauma

A hypothetical 7 month-old infant presents to the emergency department for mild respiratory distress. There is no recent illness or symptoms to explain the infant’s tachypnea and mild hypoxia. There is no visible bruising on exam. The parent states that the infant is starting to pull to stand but does not yet cruise. They have had several falls onto their tile kitchen floor. The CXR (below) is read by the radiologist left posterior rib fractures in ribs 4-8…

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