Other medicines
OK, today is Friday, and this one even better, as it starts a long weekend. I man naw go back a work ’till Tuesday! 
Why? Monday is Independence Day….but it nuh end dehso. Next week Friday is also a holiday….Emancipation Day! So we have a three day work week ahead, with two long weekends, back to back! Sound good, nuh true?
So, now that I have managed to frig up your Friday vibe, by making all those of you who don’t have long weekends coming up jealous, let me add fuel to fire and say TGIF! I’m basically waiting for another twenty minutes to arrive, as at 0800 hours, my name is off the rota. Trus me, yesterday was a rough one, but me still deh bout, so respec due to the Almighty for giving me the strength and stamina to carry on. There are times when things get a bit stressful, man get frus out and feel like seh, away wid dis to rahtid. Anyway, this is not the topic of the post, so let me get to the task at hand.
The title is ‘other medicines’. I have said it before, a doctor cannot effectively practice if he/she is unaware of the cultural beliefs of the people they are doctoring. The bush doc plays a big part here in our country. Skin diesase is by no means left out of the domain of the obeah man, bush doctor or herbalist. Basically, a lot of medicine is all about belief…similar to the faith those of us who are believers have in a Supreme Being. If a patient does not have faith in a doctor or their prescription, it may well not work….hell they may not even fill the damn thing much less use it.
Recently, one of our HIV positive patients who has Psoriasis claimed that a ‘bleach bath’ cured his Psoriasis. Indeed, we were a bit taken aback, as he did look good compared to his previous clinic. (Dr. D suddenly wondered if he should run go buy shares in CLOROX to rass! 
) The effects of the bleach were not long lasting, however! Anybody who finds a ‘cure’ for Psoriasis, a sit well pretty, u zimi.
This week, we admitted a man who has a lymphoma, he was not using his required medications, claiming that he had no money to buy them, BUT, he was anointing himself in Olive Oil and taking a wealth of Herbalife products, which are not cheap by any means! 
Last week, another patient asked me if he could drink Noni juice for his eczema. My reply was sure, but make sure to continue what we have prescribed as well, as they did not teach me about the positive effects of Noni juice in medical school.
Don’t feel that I am cussing these people, they believe in these alternatives to western medicine. Particularly when they have a condition that we don’t offer a cure for….they get desperate, they want to use something ‘natural’ that is not going to ‘poison’ their system. They want to suck garlic for their ‘pressure’…it is cheaper than the pill and free from side effects…..naw cause man fe lose him nature (ability to get a good erection)…..dem sorta suppem. Like I say, do what you want to do. But, when you stop taking what we western medics (who know nutten) have prescribed, and you turn to the ‘natural’ stuff that can’t harm you because its natural (yeah, right), and eventually, you tek down bad…..why are you bathering to run come to hospital for us to bail you out? Go to you herbalist and mek dem treat you!
Look on this Gleaner article…….she want breadfruit leaves fe gie her auntie for her high blood pressure. My advice? If you want to give you auntie breadfruit leaf tea to control her pressure, fine, just mek sure that the pill that doc give her swallow every day also. Me done argument.
Is Friday, man in good spirits and looking forward to later…plus the gods were nice enuff to provide me with a ’smalls’ to put into the bank from de likkle private work! So, I can buy two VX later…..anybody want one? Mad Bull , Angry Dawg? Onoo don’t hesitate to answer quickly you nuh, the offer is not a long standing one. Have a good one my crew…I sure plan to! 
July 30th, 2004 at 2:41 pm Oh now…. this is where me and de Doc may fall out!!!! I am disappointed that so many practicioners of “western” medicine place so little emphasis on other forms of medicine (or totally discredit them). Many of the problems that we see now are a result of Drs overmedicating - half of the bugs out there are immune to the drugs and so much of the good bugs in our system have been killed, causing a proliferation of the bad ones. Take Candida albicans for instance - a yeast that is good in its own way and occurs naturally - but if you have had lots of antibiotics in your life - you may have a overgrowth. Now yeast is one of the things they use to make beer - an overgrowth causes symptoms similiar to to much beer in your system. Now I said hogwash!….then had a fungal nail thing (related to damage incurred during a skiing accident) - and went on some meds. Only then did I realize that symptoms such as lethargy, fatigue, depression, headaches, gastro stuff all went away!!! WOW! Since then I have tried a number of holistic remedies - reflexology, acupuncture, chiropractor, aromatherapy….I draw the line at herbal remedies, not because I feel that they don’t work, but because I feel the doses are not as consistent as synthetic drugs (for example the same mango tree will produce mangoes that taste different depening on climate, etc. - the same with concentration of medicinal qualities). I also feel that everything you put in your body is medication - i.e. a substance that is introduced into your system that has to be processed and eliminated - which work out your liver - and face it - all our parts have a specific working time. Our livers have to work hard enough to process alcohol and toxins in food, much less meds (natural or otherwise…) Wow, this is long… but to wrap up - a lot of the synthetic drugs you prescribe have natural substitutes - salicylic acid is used in a number of preps - to peel skin - why not use perfectly good Chlorox???
July 30th, 2004 at 4:15 pm Very true, Princess P, I had a series of UTI’s a over the last year and a half, last one being six months ago. I got checkups with a gp and three specialists, who recommended all kinds of condescending advise that I learned from my Mom when I was six. I finally found out from my crazy little client who’se a nurse about the Candida right after a doc gave me antibiotics to take every day, indefinitely. I skipped the anti-biotics, cut out sugar and starch from my diet, and within a few weeks, viola, problem solved. Boucoups (lots) of respect to you, Doc, I know Med school is exhaustive! It seems to me, though that it’s never a bad idea to explore all your holistic options before going on heavy meds. As long as you’re not letting things get out of hand in the process. Also, antibiotics are incredibly over used, and I worry about all the resistant super-bugs we must be breeding with that!
July 30th, 2004 at 4:17 pm I guess I considered boucoups an okie colloquialism, as my mom used to pronounce it very hick- “BOOO-Kooo respect!” ;0)
July 30th, 2004 at 5:58 pm I think I’ll stay on the fence for this one since I neither like prescribed medication nor the holistic approach. I believe that we are, in some cases, too quick to seek medication for minor ailments. In some cases today, our bodies cannot even fight the common cold because we have become so accustomed to the multi-symptom medications. On the other hand I saw my next door neighbour turn green while taking some herbal tablet to “cleanse her system”. I told her it wasn’t working
July 30th, 2004 at 6:53 pm Psoriasis….that;s what i might have. so lemme try some clorox
July 30th, 2004 at 7:39 pm I will respond to all you holistic junkies at another time…it is Friday nite and I’m going to present a lot of toxic liquid crap to my liver to detoxify tonight!
July 30th, 2004 at 8:47 pm I like your response, Doc. It made me laugh. Anyways, cheers, rude bwoy! (* clink *)
July 30th, 2004 at 9:46 pm I’m with Scratchie. Common sense and moderation. My sister-in-law was into the “yeast connection”, the vitamin thing, fasting, all of it. Now her liver is about shot. She is having serious ill health because at one point she was taking around 30-40 vitamins a day. “Toxins” is a big catch word these days. If you have that many damn toxins in your body you have other problems. The body has the ability to filter toxins in many different ways, the Almighty saw to that. I hear Dr. D as not so much anti-alternative so much as being frustrated with the retards who refuse any treatment, do their own thing (because of course they know it all), and then come back to be fixed when they fall apart. You gotta admit, that would get real old real quick!
July 31st, 2004 at 2:28 am Good post, Doc. Although doctors sometimes make drastic mistakes (they are human), I still agree with you on one thing. The rash of people seeking natural cures is unnatural considering the intensity of science and research that goes on in order to find bona fide medical cures. Part of the problem is too many people believe what they read without critically thinking about the source of the info.
July 31st, 2004 at 11:26 am I am in agreement with Scratchie and Roberta. People need to use their common sense when putting natural stuff in their bodies. Being a Jcan, I still will boil some ginger tea if my stomach feel upset or drink a little lime leaf tea now and then. My grandmother is maroon and uses tons of teas for different ailments and trust me some of them work. But the first thing she takes in the morning is her blood pressure pills and at 94 years old, I think her actions speaks to fact that moderation, common sense, and balnce is key. The people I have a problem with are the ones that take the vitamins and herbal supplement pills and are willing to tell you how great they are. My question to these people is that in the USA, herbal supplements and vitamins are not regulated and so these companies do not have to provide any proof to support the claims they make. They do not even have to contain the ingredients that they claim they have. The only major thing they have to comply with is to proove that their manufacturing process is a clean one and that they do not run a sweat shop. Here is a link to an independent company that does testing on someof these “natural” products. http://www.consumerlabs.com. You maybe surprised to see some of their findings.
July 31st, 2004 at 12:03 pm Yes Trish, I agree with you. Scratchie and Roberta reflect my stand here and so do you. I drink ginger/mint tea as well. Its all about common sense and striking a balance. You summed it up nicely. Takes a doc to help out another sometimes.
July 31st, 2004 at 6:20 pm BTW,I would like a V/X too
July 31st, 2004 at 7:39 pm Drop een any time for that Trish, never out of stock inna dem corners.
July 31st, 2004 at 9:51 pm Wait, Trish is a member of the V/X Crew! Wikid! Welcome, oh Freshman Trish!
August 1st, 2004 at 6:55 pm Thanks for the welcome…To be honest I am more of a white rum girl but recently have come to appreciate the red rum…