Old wives tales!!
I have never sat down to critically analyse old wives tales especially those that relate to my practice as a doctor until an incident that occurred yesterday jolted me back to have a rethink.
As medical students we were told to critically analyse the responses of our patients, inquire into certain points of history deeper and we may just realise that the history given is not a true representation of the facts. Why? Cultural practices, taboos, faith based beliefs etc.
Yesterday i was on call and as is the practice was around in the emergency room following the arrival of victims of a road traffic accident, after attending to them, we had a brief respite so we decided to sit down. All of a sudden shouts of doctor, nurse come and help us rent the air, the nurse went out first and i followed soon after, apparently one of the women who had been seen earlier and told to wait outside while we were attending to the accident victims because of the constraints of space was having a seizure.
In this environment, people who have seizures are apparently about to be transported into eternal realms and this is particularly worse if the victim clenches his/her teeth. To prevent the spirit of the person from departing the world prematurely every attempt is made to ensure that the victim does not clench his teeth. So all sorts of implements ranging from spoons, to bits of wood, even fingers are put to good use. In addition water palmoil or any available liquid (for young children cows urine a specially prepared home made potion) is poured down the poor patients throat, worsening an already terrible situation.
To continue my tale, one of the children of the woman and her friend who followed her to the hospital not having any implements available decided to use what they had their fingers!
Horror of horrors by the time we got outside, the two poor girls were bleeding from cuts on their hands and shouting adding to the already confused situation on ground. Passers by added to the confusion by giving all sorts of information.
After attending to the woman having seizures we had a new problem on our hands, the girls had been told before that their mother was retroviral positive and that realisation had sunk in after the biting episode, their wails now intensified and nothing we said could calm them down it seemed, they obtained hospital cards and quick retroviral tests were carried out, i had to leave the ER then and i havent yet asked how it all went. So ill end my tale here.
This was my first case of seeing an old wives tale go awry, we used the oppurtunity to counsel those present what to do in case someone is convulsing but i fear that old age traditions die hard and it may take much more convincing for them to change, those who i hope definitely will change are the girls whose fingers were bitten. Once bitten twice shy they say!
As medical students we were told to critically analyse the responses of our patients, inquire into certain points of history deeper and we may just realise that the history given is not a true representation of the facts. Why? Cultural practices, taboos, faith based beliefs etc.
Yesterday i was on call and as is the practice was around in the emergency room following the arrival of victims of a road traffic accident, after attending to them, we had a brief respite so we decided to sit down. All of a sudden shouts of doctor, nurse come and help us rent the air, the nurse went out first and i followed soon after, apparently one of the women who had been seen earlier and told to wait outside while we were attending to the accident victims because of the constraints of space was having a seizure.
In this environment, people who have seizures are apparently about to be transported into eternal realms and this is particularly worse if the victim clenches his/her teeth. To prevent the spirit of the person from departing the world prematurely every attempt is made to ensure that the victim does not clench his teeth. So all sorts of implements ranging from spoons, to bits of wood, even fingers are put to good use. In addition water palmoil or any available liquid (for young children cows urine a specially prepared home made potion) is poured down the poor patients throat, worsening an already terrible situation.
To continue my tale, one of the children of the woman and her friend who followed her to the hospital not having any implements available decided to use what they had their fingers!
Horror of horrors by the time we got outside, the two poor girls were bleeding from cuts on their hands and shouting adding to the already confused situation on ground. Passers by added to the confusion by giving all sorts of information.
After attending to the woman having seizures we had a new problem on our hands, the girls had been told before that their mother was retroviral positive and that realisation had sunk in after the biting episode, their wails now intensified and nothing we said could calm them down it seemed, they obtained hospital cards and quick retroviral tests were carried out, i had to leave the ER then and i havent yet asked how it all went. So ill end my tale here.
This was my first case of seeing an old wives tale go awry, we used the oppurtunity to counsel those present what to do in case someone is convulsing but i fear that old age traditions die hard and it may take much more convincing for them to change, those who i hope definitely will change are the girls whose fingers were bitten. Once bitten twice shy they say!
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