Which is to say that I never left.
A lot has happened lately.
Braces getting fitted within 2 weeks. Teeth being removed to make my face look nicer, apparently. Apparently I have too many teeth. As do most of us.
Coincidence #1: Reading material on alternative health therapies in the hopes of being able to write an essay addressing the question of what to do if a patient with idiopathic symptoms insists on alternative med X,Y,Gamma + Desktop background disappeared somehow into black when it used to be that lovely picture Aereas drew of all of us.
So I wanted to write down a short draft of ideas (plot summary) here before trying to look for the picture again.
Coincidence #2: Found myself in the office/pharmacy/clinic of a traditional chinese doctor.
NOTE: A day has since passed because I'm slightly lazy but no-one's going to miss it, hmm?
I used to not really care. I mean - I thought she was a conventional doctor (read: mainstream?) but the space was really small. I just figured she was a mainstream doc in a herbalist's shop. So I thought I might do something like that (6 years ago).
But therein lies the first problem. It's a small office...thing. That doubles as a shop. So there's no sense of confidentiality. Any problem you have - everyone can hear. Which I took the liberty of doing because I respect her as someone who has been practicing for at least a few decades.
A case study I happened to be writing for practice:
"A 21 year old male presented with heightened irritability, nocturnal lows in libido
and general fatigue. He suspected low levels of circulating testosterone. The symptoms started two months ago, and have been constant. He did not notice any change in male pattern hair growth over the past two months. His fatigue is alleviated following intense physical exercise.There are no significant current medications or allergies. He lives with his boyfriend in an apartment in Homebush. His diet appears balanced. He has been smoking two cigarettes a day for the past two moths, and drinks heavily on occasion. He has used amyl nitrate and marijuana before."
A case study I managed to salvage from listening to a case yesterday:
"A middle aged male presented with flaking, inflamed skin lesions dispersed on the right side of his body. They varied in severity, size and shape but the most painful lesion was on his right index finger. The lesion was an elongated, oval shaped, purple-red plaque 3cm length by 2cm across. They were flaking, painful, and started last night (6th July). His blood pressure and pulse were taken. He has tried ______ (didn't catch the medication but I suspect it was an anti-histamine like Zyrtec or something similar. They don't put you on corticosteroids until it's the last resort. Steroids are baaaaaaaaad.) but they have been ineffective.
He likes to eat lamb and other meat. He was advised to abstain from the consumption of all meat and fruit, [well, it was more like an order], and instead put on a diet of ginger rice. When concerned about a general sense of fatigue, he was advised that abstaining from meat and fruit, and consuming ginger would help. He was also given a lump of ginger to consume."
On a guess, it's eczema and/or dermatitis, but it hasn't been ongoing (I think). If the medication is an antihistamine, then I would definitely say it's an allergic reaction to something.
I'm not sure why you would need to check BP and pulse every time. It just... doesn't make sense.
It is painful to note that there is a acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine fellowship and that their certificate of membership is almost identical to one of the ones you get for a bachelor of dental science. Mostly because it states something about high levels of clinical practice.
....
Disregarding the issue of confidentiality...
Performing tests without consent (BP and pulse), without even performing them properly (she wrapped the cuff around a jacket around his arm) can't be right.
Palpation without informed and verbal consent. (It was implicit, I suppose.)
Not undergoing a full or even focused history, and then prescribing medicine.
If I did all those things, I'd probably be deregistered :l
At the very least sued.
And then there's the issue of the ginger. I'll skip the next case summary but basically, a male presents with occasional bouts of vertigo which so far has been idiopathic. His blood pressure and pulse are taken, and then he as advised to precisely the same diet as the man before (with the skin lesions) with minor tweaks being the addition of tofu, and more ginger raw instead of ginger rice.
“All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes a thing poison.” - Paracelus
It's kinda odd to think that a substance that is perfectly safe has any use at all.
For example - paracetamol (ie; panadol) can cause severe liver damage if taken in extreme quantities (ie; more than recommended daily/time dosage). Even antibiotics which naturally have an affinity for disrupting bacterial RNA can bind and disrupt human RNA if the dosage is high enough.
But ginger? Nah, it's fine - it's totally safe and appears to be:
1) Anti-inflammatory
2) Boosts the immune system
3) Good for counter-acting vertigo
4) Plus much much more.
No side effects.
Lastly, of major concern is the advice to stop eating meat and fruit when presenting with general fatigue. Meat is one of the few easy sources of Vit B12, cobalamin, a deficiency in which will result in megablastic anaemia. (Basically less red blood cells, but they're bigger to try and compensate). Obviously, this is going to lead to even more fatigue. I have a friend who currently has to undergo a course of B12 injections simply because he's a vegetarian.
(Maybe he'll be less lazy now. Lol.)
Did you guys know Jim Carrey is anti-vaccination? I didn't know until yesterday. It was pretty astounding, and shocking.
Conversation with a friend I sometimes slightly resent because I'm not really in-step with their attitude most of the time:
Me: Hey, did you guys know that Jim Carrey is anti-vaccination
Him: What, really? Wtf. So vaccination causes autism and all that?
Me: Yeah. Well, yes, that Carrey's anti-vaccination, but not that vaccines actually cause autism.
Him: ... You must be really dumb to believe that kind of stuff.
That's where I have to draw a line between what I would call "willfully ignorant" and simply "uneducated". I don't think anyone is "dumb", it's just a matter of what they know, how they know it, and why they think it's true. In this case, I suppose my friend is referring to those willfully ignorant, but it seems to me that he might as well be talking about both, and it's an unfair generalization.
After looking in "The Complete Guide to Homeopathy" by Doctor Andrew Locke and Doctor Nicola Geddes (both actual MDs and not PhDs, mind you), I was pretty astounded by the lack of references and appendices to the book. Sure, it's targeted at the general public, but so is "Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All" by Paul A. Offit, M.D., and his book at least has some referencing, even if it is threadbare.
Anyway, that's enough for now, probably.
Yes, I'm dead, hi nice to see you for so long.
