Drained

[JGallagher]

I am wondering. Do other people besides my self feel like that are physically drained of strenght after a MVA call? Reason that I ask this is cause I had a good night sleep and had a call this morning. Nothing big, more or less clean up afterwards. Its just that when I got there they were still hauling the guy out. I mean I have seen worse but my opnion is that the seeing him is what did it. I have no ill affects of being there as I stated I have seen worse. Is it just me?


For the record all the victim had was a small cut on his fore head and leg pain.

[iamvff]

I am wondering. Do other people besides my self feel like that are physically drained of strenght after a MVA call? Reason that I ask this is cause I had a good night sleep and had a call this morning. Nothing big, more or less clean up afterwards. Its just that when I got there they were still hauling the guy out. I mean I have seen worse but my opnion is that the seeing him is what did it. I have no ill affects of being there as I stated I have seen worse. Is it just me?


For the record all the victim had was a small cut on his fore head and leg pain.

Different things effect people in different ways. the fact that you are still thinking about it, probably goes to show that it is bothering you somewhat. The most inmportant thing is to talk to your fellow members that were at the scene and see what their feelings are. Maybe they would like to chat to! In the macho world that firefighting is supposed to be, it is amazing how many tough guys hold things in, when they would really love to talk about it. As I have offered to others...PM me if you want to shoot the crap, I always have the time!

be safe
iamvff

[Red_Devil]

Its probably from the adrenalin dump you get when your pager goes off, If you think its from seeing a guy with a scratch on his head and leg pain then why the heck are you like after a fatality?

[JGallagher]

Its probably from the adrenalin dump you get when your pager goes off, If you think its from seeing a guy with a scratch on his head and leg pain then why the heck are you like after a fatality?


I saw a near fatality and felt nothing. I just feel tired. That is all.

[Red_Devil]

Hmm could be that flu thats been going around

[DFCSmash]

JG, some of it may well be coming down from the adrenalin rush. Some of it will have to do, strangley as it may seem, with your "help" gland. That's what I call it when, there you are, enroute to help and when you get there, your services aren't required. You didn't get a chance to work the adrenaline, and endrophins (sp?) and all those other good things out of your system through physical work, so they leave your system differently. Then you end up with a let down that is deeper than if you had worked at the scene. It's knd of a mini-bout of depression. Hence the down feeling. Far from scientific, but I know what you mean. Take a brisk walk around the block, or some type of vigorous physical activity like shovelling snow (I know, Wrong thread) or similar for about 15 minutes or so. Should help your physical feeling. Just talking it out with members from your dept will help too. I'll make the same offer as iamvff. PM me if you want to.

[bestcoast]

I usually get this feeling in my stomach that after every MVA I go to my insurance premium's are going up.....sick feeling really......BC.....

[FFWannabe]

JG, some of it may well be coming down from the adrenalin rush. Some of it will have to do, strangley as it may seem, with your "help" gland. That's what I call it when, there you are, enroute to help and when you get there, your services aren't required. You didn't get a chance to work the adrenaline, and endrophins (sp?) and all those other good things out of your system through physical work, so they leave your system differently. Then you end up with a let down that is deeper than if you had worked at the scene. It's knd of a mini-bout of depression. Hence the down feeling. Far from scientific, but I know what you mean. Take a brisk walk around the block, or some type of vigorous physical activity like shovelling snow (I know, Wrong thread) or similar for about 15 minutes or so. Should help your physical feeling. Just talking it out with members from your dept will help too. I'll make the same offer as iamvff. PM me if you want to.

Yup.. what he said! You could also compare it to the down after a sugar rush... the sugar being the adrenalin.. once the insulin rushes in to counter act the sugar you come crashing down... That's the way I would look at it... I know after writing my first CPS/OSFF test I was completely drained... 6 hours of sitting on my ass and I was tired as hell. Same idea.
Hope you're feeling better soon... maybe a good hard workout will help... it's my cure for everything! lol!

Sue :)

[LTPVFD]

I have had differing emotions depending on the part I played, and the patient contact I had.

One night I went to a single vehicle rollover. Driver and one passenger ejected, third passenger still in vehicle. Driver was thrown quite a distance, and was D.O.I. (dead on impact). Passengers survived. Dealt with that one okay as essentially the driver was the author of his own demise.

On another night we were paged out to a head on MVA. Upon arrival, driver and front seat passenger were D.O.A. As we were removing the injured passengers from the back seat, we found a 3rd victim, almost submarined under the back seat. Young girl - also D.O.A.

Driver of the offending vehicle was pissed, swerved over the centre line, and hit a car load of kids head on. He had some major injuries, including losing an eye, but he lived another day.

This was a major physical and emotional drain, and took some time to recover from.

One last example - we were paged out to another head on about 18 months ago. Vehicle from the US going the wrong way down a four lane divided highway - southbound in the northbound lane. Speeds at least 100 kmh. Came up a hill and around a bend, and hit a pickup truck head on. He was a scoop and run, and was crashing
as we were cutting him out of the vehicle.

The driver of the pickup truck was transported, but only survived a few days. The real drain of this one, was that the driver of the pickup weighed over 450 lbs - big chore getting him disentangled from his rolled pickup truck, and loaded into the ambulance. We actually had to lay him on the floor of the ambulance, he wouldn't fit on a cot. My apologies for the black humour.

As several have stated, our colleagues are our support people.
Talk them them - share what you feel, As an adult, it is okay to shed some tears. Make use of services such as Critical Incident Stress Debriefers if you feel the need. They are all there to help. If you don't have a local CISD team, other agencies such as the RCMP have access to them for you.

Sorry for running on so long, but using the examples was the best way to explain how I felt.

Stay safe !!


LTPVFD

[Michael13]

3 weeks ago we were issued police note books and after everycall we all sit down together and write down what we did and talk about it. We get in trouble if we leave the hall now without a quick note taking and to make sure we are alright. Mind you the only calls we have had since we got the books have been nothings, but its good practice. When out next MVC or fatality comes, we know theres a system and 20 guys back at the hall to comfort each other. Because like I mentioned in a previous post tonight, its not a wise thing to take home or to work the next day and tell people that might not be prepared for graffic or horror. When you can talk to the same guys that were at the call it helps big time. I think everyone at hall's too have that close group of friends that you party with etc too, and when you 're sitting around the fire on a hot summer night having a beer, its good to bring up that call we did 5 months ago back in the winter. Just watch what you say in front of others.

[dentedhead]

3 weeks ago we were issued police note books and after everycall we all sit down together and write down what we did and talk about it. We get in trouble if we leave the hall now without a quick note taking and to make sure we are alright. Mind you the only calls we have had since we got the books have been nothings, but its good practice. When out next MVC or fatality comes, we know theres a system and 20 guys back at the hall to comfort each other. Because like I mentioned in a previous post tonight, its not a wise thing to take home or to work the next day and tell people that might not be prepared for graffic or horror. When you can talk to the same guys that were at the call it helps big time. I think everyone at hall's too have that close group of friends that you party with etc too, and when you 're sitting around the fire on a hot summer night having a beer, its good to bring up that call we did 5 months ago back in the winter. Just watch what you say in front of others.

Michael this great that you guys debrief after a call it should be done more often.You have to also remember that some people have different triggers than others.Some might get defensive in a group setting so its always good to have one on one discussions too.

If I may make a suggestion about the notebooks.These should be done alone and not as a group effort you might have seen a specific important detail but through group dynamics its easy to dismiss it because"no one else saw it".These books should only pertain what you saw,did or heard. When we learned note taking in college it was suggested that they be written subjectivley and in the third person.I have been completly destroyed (only once boy did I learn the hard way)and praised by lawyers both crown and defence at criminal and inquest proceedings on my notetaking/documentation.It can portray you as credible or unfortunatlty a not so credible witness based on your documentation.

Dentedhead