Unlucky as I am, I was just discharged from a government hospital today. During the period, I witnessed first hand the lack of knowledge in the medical profession these days. Doctors today graduate young, most of them lacking vital experience to even handle serious cases.
A fellow patient who is of age. staying in the same row as me has a swollen stomach. Everytime anyone touches it, he complains of severe pain. This afternoon, the staff pushed him dowm for an ultrasound. When they pushed him back up, he started having difficulties and even with the group of drs and nurses around, they weren't able to save the man. When his family asked what went wrong, the staff just said he started having difficulty and attempts to save him failed.
Just a thought to share, I suspect he may have blocked heart arteries. As blood can't flow through, this puts pressure on the blood vessels causing vascular issues-swelling of the veins. This can cause severe pain and was also perhaps the reason why his stomach was so bloated up. How do I know about this? Well someone I know faced a similar situation. The doctor said he need to have bypass to unblock his arteries and reduce the pressure in his veins as soon as possible or he may die if his blood vessels/vein explodes.
I, on the other hand, was in the hospital for IVIG treatment. Everyday, I've housemen and even more experienced doctors asking me if there's anything new. I had minor chest pains since the 1st day but did not complain as it was considered minor to me. The pain got worst on the 2nd day but I was still able to lie down during the drip. By the 3rd day, I couldn't even lie down as the pain in my chest was just so excrutiating. It hurts when I inhaled and even at the end of my esophagus-in my throat. If I lie down the pain shoots up to my head too. I was told by the doctors this is gastric. I told them gastric pain isn't like this. When a specialist camt to see me today, he also said I had Gastroesophogeal Reflux Disease (commonly known as Acid Reflux). I told him the pain I'm feeling isn't like Acid Reflux but the response I was given was 'then what do you think it is' and I was prescribed Omeprazole (commonly used for ulcers, gastric and GERD).
When I got home, I decided to read up on IVIG Therapy out of curiosity. The 1st site I found proved my point-Adverse effects are reported to occur in about 15% of patients receiving it. Among the effects listed which I suffered from were chest pain. headaches, and shortness of breath (since I've difficulty even breathing). These effects are not all bad. It is a normal immune mechanism involved in healing. The aggreagation of immunoglobulin in IVIG triggers this response. I'm just shocked that none of the doctors knew about this.
I'm not out to point out who's right and who's wrong but I just wish doctors would humble themselves and discuss things with patients. Communication is a 2 way process. Knowledge is also a continuous process and being a doctor requires the candidate to be able to balance it all. I know it takes years of hard work just to graduate in this line but as new advances keep emerging in this field, complacency gets a person no where.
Perhaps it's just due to my interest in Medicine and Health-realated issues that I read up on these things alot. In the past, during my college days, I constantly attended health seminars/talks on various topics held at hospitals. One of the Health talks I attented 4 years ago was on GERD.
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