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.