Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Think what patient's think

So many things have been happening for the past 2 days.On Monday, we witnessed the launching of 'Minggu Kesihatan Angkatan Tentera' bersempena dengan ulang tahun Kor Kesihatan Angkatan Tentera Malaysia yang ke ...... .Ntah, saya pun tak tahu.Will post the video perbarisan once I copied it from a friend of mine.

Did you know that stroke or 'angin ahmar' is believed to be associated w
ith serangan syaitan?That's what some of the Malays thought.I've heard this notion before but had never ever thought that I would come across a patient who believe this so soon.One of my assigned patient suffers from right sided limb weakness associated with facial assymmetry 4 hours prior to admission.He was admitted 4 days ago.He is a known case of uncontrolled hypertension as a result of non compliant to medication.His systolic BP upon admission was unrecordable,while his diastolic blood pressure was 150 mmHg.Thats super duper high.We would grade his hypertension as 'Stage III Hypertensive emergency' under the new CPG guideline.Anyway,during history taking that patient started to tell his own version regarding the 'pathophysiolgy' of stroke.According to him, he believed that a devil would penetrate his body through the heart before being disseminated throughout the body.The most vulnerable part of the body will eventually manifest as limb weakness.He believes that stroke is curable especially when treated by powerful shamans or 'bomohs'.He even suggested me to learn from a few bomohs and that he could recommend me to them if I am interested.
Its interesting to think what patient's think sometimes.
Scary.

Pic1: Pic was taken today.This is a tophi at the right elbow.This patient is having chronic tophaceous gout

Pic2: This pic was taken yesterday.The chest x-ray shows 'Boot-shaped' heart.This patient has ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

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