People must be bored today, because out of three jobs, two were to drug related cases.

The first was to a GP surgery, where a man with no shoes (just socks) had walked in and thrown himself on the floor. When I got there he wasn't making any sense at all, but when asked if he had taken an illegal drug, he answered me "Yes".

It is here I feel duty bound to inform you of an occupational hazard of the job - you may have heard about the health effects of shift work (gawd knows I've made enough of it so far on this very blog), you've heard about ambulance crews being assaulted, spat at and driven off the road. Without wanting to diminish the seriousness of these problems, there is one hazard that you are never prepared for...

...halitosis.

When I first walked in the room I thought that he had left a brown, sticky 'present' for me in his trousers, it was only when I got closer to examine and talk to him that I realised that the smell was his breath. He smelt as if he had been chewing on excrement.

I can still taste that smell, even a couple of hours after the job.

It also didn't help that I had to wait 35 minutes for the ambulance, not their fault, just that it has been rather busy today. Luckily the patient was stable, and content to lay there, groan and chase imaginary butterflies. My professional opinion was that he had taken either Ketamine, or GHB and was just starting to come round.

Although I did wonder why his trousers were around his ankles when he entered the GP surgery...

The next job was a drug related patient as well. One of our regulars who decided to smoke some heroin "...and something else" before going to pick up her Methadone. She had collapsed in the chemist shop, but by the time the ambulance and I got there (only five minutes) she had made a full recovery.

Patient was taken off to hospital for a check-up.

I wonder - does Methadone actually work? I hear a rumour (I must put it on Heardsaid at some point) that more people die on Methadone than they do on Heroin.

Something to look up when I get home.