banana bags

What is a banana bag? It isn't this. It's a mixture of vitamins, minerals and other things that get put in an IV bag and given to alcoholics in hospitals. It is yellow and thus called a banana bag. It is mostly vitamin B because alcohol in excess robs the body of B vitamins and alcoholics can get some bad stuff like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (also called wet brain Korsakoff psychosis, alcoholic encephalopathy, Wernicke's disease, and encephalopathy - alcoholic) is a manifestation of thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. It mainly causes vision changes, dizziness and impaired memory.

I was thinking of these because I was at a meeting where they were discussing standardizing what is in them. Of course, being a pediatric nurse, we don't use them much so my mind wandered elsewhere during the discussion. I realized that I had first learned about them by watching ER. I guess this show taught me most of what I know about adult medicine because I have never ever worked with adults. I have always felt that it was better to have a kid puke on you than some alcoholic with a GI bleed.

I did remember that when my mom was in the hospital sometime before she had her first stroke (the one that did not kill her), I asked her crappy doctor to give her a banana bag. It is funny he didn't give her one like the one in the picture - he pretty much almost killed her - after pretty much killing my dad. Anyway, I told the doc that my mom was a very heavy drinker and drank a lot every day. So they started the infusion. My mom told me that she had an IV bag of some yellow stuff hanging and it was making her feel pretty good.

I kinda feel some guilt about it now for some reason. Even though my mom quit drinking and even though she is now dead. It somehow seemed wrong to tell that doctor "My mom is an alcoholic, hang a banana bag" when I only learned about it on ER.

Sorry ma.