HYPOCHONDRIAC – LIFE FROM A RABBIT HOLE

HYPOCHONDRIAC – LIFE FROM A RABBIT HOLE

The dictionary definition of hypochondria is a mental disorder in which one is so much indulgent about one’s health that he starts to have whims that him or her is diseased. Every second of the passing day he keeps observing about his phantom symptoms and tries to diagnose himself with any fatal malady. Wikipedia have made their job easy and increased their agony. The present moments of their life are lost and every second the fear that something evil may befall linger in their mind. The life become as if living in a rabbit hole!

Many self manuals states that our power of thoughts can make things really happen whatever it maybe the universe will definitely bring it to us so it totally depends upon us what we really ask for. Even most of the Hindus believe that one moment in the whole day goddess Saraswati sits on our tongue and at that moment whatever we utter comes true and elders advice us to always say good and positive things.

IMMUNITY

“Doc! You don’t know how it feels like what I am going through each and every day of life. I am almost forty years old and entered the menopausal age, the age where my all hormones will give me final adieu and exposing me to various diseases. God save me!” Well these are the words of the woman with creased forehead and the fretting habit.

Well she is whole medical encyclopaedia, as for every symptom as small as a little sneeze to a stomach-ache there were always a differential diagnosis. When she came to me she brought four bags full of recent medical reports dating back few months which included fifty laboratory reports of complete blood count, same number reports of blood glucose count, approximately the same number of urine analysis and at least ten ultra-sonographic reports as I remember accurately. This happened to be all normal.

I looked at her three times with almost three weird expressions before uttering a word and when I was about to utter I was stopped and then suddenly it started the flood of lamentation and brooding. She pleaded for help which wasn’t requiring at all but she kept asking and asking until I declared all well with her. she have already shunted many doctors who declared her well and couldn’t state out even a single anomaly in her but she came to me from a very strong recommendation, hence couldn’t defer my words of wisdom.

She listened for a while, but the expression of dissatisfaction could be deciphered from her face. At the end she asked me to at least write her few test to clear away her doubts. I looked her in eyes and gave a again weird smile and said politely that she needs no further scanning of her body as she was in her perfect health. She argued that now she was but since the menopause was near she could have many diseases in future. She asked for prophylactic treatment.

My explanation was same and this time it happened to be the last straw in doctor patient relationship. She went away, never to return to me again, till off recently.

MY PERFECT PROPHLIXIES

Until recently I caught her in the market. She was the same and nothing was there to forget about her. I was curious to know which doctor was treating her so I made my advances towards her to ignite the conversation. I was a bit dicey whether she would recognize me or not, but she is blessed with the marvelous memory.

Apart from all the things that I came to know about her the most important was that she actually found herself a suitable and well qualified doctor to treat her. six months back she got her uterus removed because it showed the signs of little seedling fibroid s which were asymptomatic and her PAP’S SMEAR report was also normal, ruling out any chances of malignancy, but she got it removed.

Couple of weeks before she suffered from the discomfort at the right side of her shoulder, the pain radiated from right side of upper abdomen. There was doubt of gall bladder stone. USG confirmed one small minute stone which won’t have disturbed her if left untouched but she was schedule for surgery next week.

I tried not to give expressions but to listen to her. I only asked her the name of her treating doctor, but the total unexpected answer let me realized my mistake of not treating her, as she was really really sick.

“Doc! Don’t mind. I need to fight to survive and if you people are not capable of taking decision, I need to take them for myself and I did exactly what I need to do. I can’t womb any disease inside my body and given an option I opted to get it out. I am my own treating doctor.”

I left a hypochondriac person unattended and now she is mutilating her body. How much I feel to reverse the things, I know, but its beyond my control now.

PHRENOLOGY OF HYPOCHONDRIAC

High raised eyebrows

Small eyes

Thin tapering chin

Deeply furrowed forehead

MORAL

“Row, row, row,

Your boat, gently down the stream.

Merely, merely, merely, merely,

Life is just a dream.”

WHY SHOULD WE KEEP NAVRATRAS ?

  WHY SHOULD WE KEEP NAVRATRAS ?

Twice in the years come the eight or nine days of navratras in which the different advents of goddess Durga is worshiped. Once they appear in, March or April and again in October or November depending on the dates of Hindu calendar.

The religious reason to keep navratras is that since goddess Durga is known as one of the wish granting goddess, therefore remembering her in the pious days and following austere of fasting would definitely land us with perks.

Medical reasons

Eight days of no cereal diet detoxifies the body.

Navratras are the holy palliation for diabetic patient. Insulin resistance come down in navratras hence they bare treatment for diabetes mellitus {DM}.

Low carbohydrate diet would reduce the dependence on DM drugs by 40% and omitting carbohydrates {mainly potatoes} will reduce it till 60%.

The people suffering from high cholesterol and high triglyceride should also fast as it helps in reduction of alarming values. Your lipid profile report is going to be awesome after you fast.

Instruction

For DM – don’t take heavy meals at night as it can cause hyperglycemias {increase blood level of sugar}.

Avoid Trans fats.

Avoid hydregonoid oil.

Instead of using kuttu flour use samvek rice.

Limit the uptake of potatoes.

Increase dairy products and milk.

three murders in a day

           THREE MURDERS IN A DAY

Many people have phobia, some fear darkness, some fear crowds, elevators, dogs, water, etc, etc. few can trace back to the cause of phobia and have a very interesting stories to tell, that how they landed up in this situation. I bring forward one of such story of a man, writing it in the first hand, as he told me.

THE FIRST KILL

I was five when this thing happened to me. I was very cool kid and had nothing to worry about in the whole world and suddenly one day my life turned upside down in those summer days when I went to my native village to stay with my grand parents.

It was good sunny day. I woke up early, went to the fields and enjoyed running there and after my lunch again went to roam around. Being there was heaven on earth as there was no one to stop me doing whatever I wanted to do and there was no one pushing me for studies. When I returned that evening, I was still not in any mood to give up the fun so I took my hard leather ball and started to throw it on the wall and catch it over and over again. I must have done it hundred times and my hands were feeling the fatigue from it but my mind was not willing to give it away and hence I continued. Finally I thought that this would be my final throw. There was the watch hanging on the same wall on which I was bouncing the ball. As soon as the ball left my hand, simultaneously a lizard came out from behind the watch.

My eyes widened up and my mouth dropped, I ran towards the ball to interrupt its projectile motion, but it was too late for me to intervene as the ball landed on the exact spot where the innocent lizard was and in one stroke it fell down lifeless on the ground.

Oh! My god, I killed a lizard. There came a shriek out of my mouth and my granny came running to me thinking I was hurt but when she came to know the whole thing she pushed me out of the house and asked me to go and take the bath at the well. She didn’t even allowed me to pick my belongings, she just pushed me out and send a servant with me with my clothes.

THE SECOND KILL

When I reached the well, I asked the servant to leave my clothes at the foothold near the well and then to leave me alone to have my chastising bath. I sat there pulling the water out of the well and pouring it on me. I was five then, it took me half hour to take the chastising bath along with the chanting of manta that my granny told me, to nullify the sinister act of killing a living being. I did it and I did it with all my heart.

But, as soon as I was through it and removed the wooden plank on which I was sitting, there lay one more dead lizard. I killed another lizard with my weight this time.

I was knocked and shocked. Well, this time I knew a drill, what to be done after killing a lizard. But before that I dig a mud grave for the dead lizard and lay her there with all respect and chanting few mantras to give peace to the departing soul. Now it was time to take bath again along with fifty one times chanting chastising mantra that mean another half an hour.

THE THIRD AND THE FINAL KILL

After one hour when I returned home, it was dark outside. I had already killed two lizards and I was sad. But my mood was changed as soon as I saw my grandpa walking inside the house. He brought me sweets. I jumped in happiness. Seeing his affection and to impress him more, I volunteered to pick his bag and kept in the closet. I just threw the bag inside the dark closet, didn’t even wait to on the lights as the delicious sweets were waiting for me on the dining table.

Next day too I voluntarily brought the bag from the closet when my grandpa was about to leave to go to his workplace. It was not dark inside as the sun rays were pouring in from the small windowS on the wall. I picked the bag and carried to the owner, but there was something strange hanging at the bottom of the bag. I thought it to be the dust and tried to wipe it off but the strange jelly like thing stick to my hand.

When I saw it, I was petrified. A mangled body of, once very healthy lizard was sticking my hand.

I just had my breakfast and seeing the dead body in the morning made me puke out in the closet.

I killed three lizards in a day without any intention.

AFTER EFFECTS

The servant took the whole day to cleanse the closet room.

MY ACTION MADE ME BUG EYES CRAZY!

My granny this time brought the whole tumbler filled holy water of Ganges to bath me and after that holding my hand took me to the priest of the temple who with his peacock feather fan hit me many times on my head to nullify the effect of three lizard spirits and warned me to be careful of the lizards as their brethren will take revenge from me.

And since that day, I am thirty five now; all lizards are on vendetta against me. I have become a lizard magnet and as soon as they see me they lose their grip from the wall and directly fall on me as if punching me, sometimes they are already in my clothes and as soon as I wear it they start to tingle. One of the aggressive lizard who was on full blown vendetta even tried to commit suicide by falling into my hot bowl of sambhar. I saved her, but still my relationship with them is never ever going to improve, what ever I do.

And since then I do not enter my room or any place where I spot even one lizard on the wall, after all the only option I am left with is precaution.

PHRENOLOGY OF PHOBIA

High raised eyebrows

Small nose

Retracting chin

Protruding ears

MORAL

Mountain dew tag line says –

  darrr kea agee jeet hai...........

{There is victory as soon as we overcome our fear}

 

P I C A

                             P I C A

Pica means perverted craving abdomen. It is a symptom found generally in kids who are in their growing years and are in wanting of the nutrition and when it is not fulfilled by their so called balance diet, they start to have cravings for indigestible things like chalk, mud, lead, paper and what not, all classified under perverted cravings. Pica is also experienced in pregnant women and occasionally in some older people.

Here I am going to tell you the story of one of my Pica case.

THE SHINY CRIMSON BRICK

One summer evening, as soon as I entered the clinic, moderately build lady, in her early sixties sat on revolving patient stool, waiting for me with the very malleable expression on her face. I smiled back to her and then the series of conversation begin.

With embarrassment she told me that whenever she sees red brick she have an irresistible desire to eat it. And since there all lots of construction going around her house, the red brick is common sight. She scares that may be one day all her organs will turn into red brick. She pleaded me to help her.

I took her detail case, gave her the medicine as I always do with my all patients. Weeks after weeks she came for follow ups, she was improving. Her perverted abdomen was slowly and slowly coming under her control and finally it was reduced to minimal. She was my walking endorsement and brought me a big line of clientele, including her daughter – in – laws and sons and grand kids.

It was since last December she stopped coming to me. Well, I thought maybe she have recovered or partially recovered and is bored eating the medicines. Well there is only two things that doctor think when the patient stops coming to them is that either he is being cured or he have shunted to other of his brethren. We all need to move on whatever is the case scenario, but with enhanced experience.

STONIFICATION

Well I was right, that the lady have shunted to other mode of treatment, but not because that I was not able bring breakthrough in her case but because last December she was attacked by acute cold air which cause the hepatisation or in lay man language stonification of major part of her lungs to bringing the worst prognostic pneumonia along with pleurisy {filling of fluid in the covering of the lungs called pleura}.

She was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram hospital, her position shifting from ICU to ward and then back again to ICU.

How could the robust lady like her get pneumonia? Well it so happened, this winters were record breaking chilled up in Delhi. It was during the Christmas break that her sons and daughters – in – law went on a short excursion to Singapore and before leaving gave her all the instructions about how to manage behind them.

One very chilly night she called her son telling her she was feeling very cold. He asked her to on the heater and directed her how to switch it on. Apart from switching it on, she didn’t even cover her up properly in blankets. The heat blower was kept on the table in her room and an extra pair of blanket in the cupboard facing her bed. She was too lazy to protect herself from the heinous cold of that night, which landed her into irreparable condition.

Sometimes our perverted mind make us stop doing something which is but necessary and at the end we land up  in a situation paying a big price for that. So was the case with the brick eating lady. Finally one day her fear that her internal organs turning into red crimson brick came true and she died in the ICU of the renowned hospital, her last lung X- RAY showed the stage of red hepatisation in her lungs.  

PHRENOLOGY OF LAZINESS

Excessive chubby cheeks

Small eyes

Large and protruding lower lip with marked redness

Small upper lips {both lips compared are disproportionate}

MORAL                                    

Perverted cravings of any part of the body are to be controlled before it becomes too late.