5 ms·

I'm sorry, but the writer wrote a piece about how his sickness doesn't have a name, how he is REALLY REALLY sick, to the extent of going to the hospital 3 days

by NhanH 12y ago

I'm sorry, but the writer wrote a piece about how his sickness doesn't have a name, how he is REALLY REALLY sick, to the extent of going to the hospital 3 days a week. And your first comment is to essentially try to diagnose his problem as something (seemingly) relatively simple? Really? Edit: It's extremely unlikely that with his state, he hasn't known of everything we could have suggested. And since someone is saying that I'm appealing to authority, I'm not. I didn't mean to say that the doctor knew best, but rather him, the writer, have done his research and knew about his condition. And as for whether the comment I'm replying to is "helping". That's the point I'm trying to make. He's helping the same way as the writer's roommate is "helping". The point I was trying to make is that, half of the post was about how hard it is for people outside himself to know about his condition. And to my interpretation, it's better to just take his words. With that in mind, it feels incredibly ironic that the first comment in the topic is essentially someone trying to guess what's the issue. And no, I'm also not trying to help, because that's also the point: he doesn't need my help, there is nothing I, an internet stranger could have helped. And from the tone of the post, I wasn't aware that he was looking for information, merely expressing his frustration. I'm sharing my sympathy with him, and if we meet one day, I've love to buy him a beer. As of now, I'd just take his words, and shudder when realizing there are many type of odd disorder out there. I realized the tone wasn't necessary, and I apologize for that.

sillysaurus3 12y ago
In the book "What do you care what other people think?" there's a story where Feynman had a good idea that his wife might be suffering from tuberculosis, but he restrained himself from saying anything because the symptoms were so simple and obvious that he figured the doctors had already ruled out tuberculosis as a possibility. His wife died sometime later because she was diagnosed and treated for it too late. I don't think relying on professionals to be perfect is a good idea.
- hga 12y ago
  That doesn't match my memory of the book, nor Wikipedia's short mention that when they married they knew she had it and the prognosis wasn't great. More significantly, she died in 1945, when the first drug that could touch tuberculosis was still in the very early experimental stage.
  - sillysaurus3 12y ago
    I remember it vividly. The story was about a doctor running up to another doctor, in front of Feynman's wife and her family, and was excited to the point of being rude, asking things like "Did you check for X?!" where X was a symptom of tuberculosis that Feynman had also noticed. The doctor was admonished for his behavior and for "making the patient feel uncomfortable" and was brushed off, even though he was on the right track and would have diagnosed the tuberculosis sooner. Feynman could have stepped in and said "Well, actually, I also noticed X," but the social pressures of the situation persuaded him to stay quiet, which turned out to be regrettable. It probably isn't in Wikipedia because it isn't in Surely You're Joking, which is freely available online, whereas you have to buy the other book which has this story. But the story is definitely in there. EDIT: Here's the story: http://pastebin.com/NeP4Ka70 http://pastebin.com/NeP4Ka70 Some summary: ... As soon as I hear about [the disease] I go down to the library at Princeton and look up lymphatic diseases, and find “Swelling of the Lymphatic Glands. (1) Tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands. This is very easy to diagnose…”—so I figure this isn’t what Arlene has, because the doctors are having trouble trying to figure it out. ... The county hospital gave Arlene all sorts of tests and X-ray treatments for this “Hodgkin’s disease—?” and there were special meetings to discuss this peculiar case. I remember waiting for her outside, in the hall. When the meeting was over, the nurse wheeled her out in a wheelchair. All of a sudden a little guy comes running out of the meeting room and catches up with us. “Tell me,” he says, out of breath, “do you spit up blood? Have you ever coughed up blood?” The nurse says, “Go away! Go away! What kind of thing is that to ask of a patient!”—and brushes him away. Then she turned to us and said, “That man is a doctor from the neighborhood who comes to the meetings and is always making trouble. That’s not the kind of thing to ask of a patient!” I didn’t catch on. The doctor was checking a certain possibility, and if I had been smart, I would have asked him what it was. ... [A long time passes, and Arlene's condition worsens. The doctors finally perform a biopsy to figure out what's wrong.] ... When I got to Arlene's house, she showed me the report. It said, “Biopsy shows tuberculosis of the lymphatic gland.” That really got me. I mean, that was the first goddamn thing on the list! I passed it by, because the book said it was easy to diagnose, and because the doctors were having so much trouble trying to figure out what it was. I assumed they had checked the obvious case. And it was the obvious case: the man who had come running out of the meeting room asking “Do you spit up blood?” had the right idea. He knew what it probably was! I felt like a jerk, because I had passed over the obvious possibility by using circumstantial evidence—which isn’t any good—and by assuming the doctors were more intelligent than they were. Otherwise, I would have suggested it right off, and perhaps the doctor would have diagnosed Arlene’s disease way back then as “tuberculosis of the lymphatic gland—?” I was a dope. I’ve learned, since then.
freehunter 12y ago
Doctors miss things occasionally. Sometimes they might not have the full picture. If he's going to the hospital three days a week and they don't know what's wrong with him and haven't published his case in a journal, it sounds like they're doing treatment for what would otherwise kill him rather than diagnosis on the root cause of the illness. Very much a lack of detail, though.
rqebmm 12y ago
Stop it. He asked a fairly simple question, while you're jumping down his throat and appealing to authority. At least he's trying to help.
maerF0x0 12y ago
You're not sorry, and you're not helping at all. Your comment, as opposed to the one that is trying, is the one that ought to be disparaged.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Madmallard 12y ago
Doctor's pretty much dismiss flouroquinolones as potential causes for these kinds of problems, which is part of why I asked. I also asked because I've been suffering similar symptoms, and have been in the ER multiple times in the last couple weeks. The only thing I could possibly think of that spurred this on was getting a nosocomial infection 3 months ago and taking Ciprofloxacin for it. I had bad tendon pain and nerve pain while on the drug but it sorta went away after a week. 2 1/2 months later, it's back full force and I'm getting very physically weak.
- NhanH 12y ago
  I apologize for the tone of my first comment. I didn't mean to direct that personally to you, just as a frustration to the common reaction of "helping". As to the question you made, the writer said that he has been sick for not a few weeks or month, but a decade. And when I first read your comment, it's practically saying to me "Are you taking steroids while being sick in the last 10 years?" - again, probably not a charitable reading of the comment as I could have made. I'm sorry to hear about your condition.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
kansface 12y ago
> He's helping the same way as the writer's roommate is "helping". Madmallard suggested a possible cause that matches the symptoms and also points out that doctors tend to ignore it. The roommate more or less suggested OP try not being sick.

by NhanH 12y ago

sillysaurus3 12y ago

In the book "What do you care what other people think?" there's a story where Feynman had a good idea that his wife might be suffering from tuberculosis, but he restrained himself from saying anything because the symptoms were so simple and obvious that he figured the doctors had already ruled out tuberculosis as a possibility. His wife died sometime later because she was diagnosed and treated for it too late. I don't think relying on professionals to be perfect is a good idea.

hga 12y ago
That doesn't match my memory of the book, nor Wikipedia's short mention that when they married they knew she had it and the prognosis wasn't great. More significantly, she died in 1945, when the first drug that could touch tuberculosis was still in the very early experimental stage.
- sillysaurus3 12y ago
  I remember it vividly. The story was about a doctor running up to another doctor, in front of Feynman's wife and her family, and was excited to the point of being rude, asking things like "Did you check for X?!" where X was a symptom of tuberculosis that Feynman had also noticed. The doctor was admonished for his behavior and for "making the patient feel uncomfortable" and was brushed off, even though he was on the right track and would have diagnosed the tuberculosis sooner. Feynman could have stepped in and said "Well, actually, I also noticed X," but the social pressures of the situation persuaded him to stay quiet, which turned out to be regrettable. It probably isn't in Wikipedia because it isn't in Surely You're Joking, which is freely available online, whereas you have to buy the other book which has this story. But the story is definitely in there. EDIT: Here's the story: http://pastebin.com/NeP4Ka70 http://pastebin.com/NeP4Ka70 Some summary: ... As soon as I hear about [the disease] I go down to the library at Princeton and look up lymphatic diseases, and find “Swelling of the Lymphatic Glands. (1) Tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands. This is very easy to diagnose…”—so I figure this isn’t what Arlene has, because the doctors are having trouble trying to figure it out. ... The county hospital gave Arlene all sorts of tests and X-ray treatments for this “Hodgkin’s disease—?” and there were special meetings to discuss this peculiar case. I remember waiting for her outside, in the hall. When the meeting was over, the nurse wheeled her out in a wheelchair. All of a sudden a little guy comes running out of the meeting room and catches up with us. “Tell me,” he says, out of breath, “do you spit up blood? Have you ever coughed up blood?” The nurse says, “Go away! Go away! What kind of thing is that to ask of a patient!”—and brushes him away. Then she turned to us and said, “That man is a doctor from the neighborhood who comes to the meetings and is always making trouble. That’s not the kind of thing to ask of a patient!” I didn’t catch on. The doctor was checking a certain possibility, and if I had been smart, I would have asked him what it was. ... [A long time passes, and Arlene's condition worsens. The doctors finally perform a biopsy to figure out what's wrong.] ... When I got to Arlene's house, she showed me the report. It said, “Biopsy shows tuberculosis of the lymphatic gland.” That really got me. I mean, that was the first goddamn thing on the list! I passed it by, because the book said it was easy to diagnose, and because the doctors were having so much trouble trying to figure out what it was. I assumed they had checked the obvious case. And it was the obvious case: the man who had come running out of the meeting room asking “Do you spit up blood?” had the right idea. He knew what it probably was! I felt like a jerk, because I had passed over the obvious possibility by using circumstantial evidence—which isn’t any good—and by assuming the doctors were more intelligent than they were. Otherwise, I would have suggested it right off, and perhaps the doctor would have diagnosed Arlene’s disease way back then as “tuberculosis of the lymphatic gland—?” I was a dope. I’ve learned, since then.

freehunter 12y ago

Doctors miss things occasionally. Sometimes they might not have the full picture. If he's going to the hospital three days a week and they don't know what's wrong with him and haven't published his case in a journal, it sounds like they're doing treatment for what would otherwise kill him rather than diagnosis on the root cause of the illness. Very much a lack of detail, though.

rqebmm 12y ago

Stop it. He asked a fairly simple question, while you're jumping down his throat and appealing to authority. At least he's trying to help.

maerF0x0 12y ago

You're not sorry, and you're not helping at all. Your comment, as opposed to the one that is trying, is the one that ought to be disparaged.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Madmallard 12y ago

Doctor's pretty much dismiss flouroquinolones as potential causes for these kinds of problems, which is part of why I asked. I also asked because I've been suffering similar symptoms, and have been in the ER multiple times in the last couple weeks. The only thing I could possibly think of that spurred this on was getting a nosocomial infection 3 months ago and taking Ciprofloxacin for it. I had bad tendon pain and nerve pain while on the drug but it sorta went away after a week. 2 1/2 months later, it's back full force and I'm getting very physically weak.

NhanH 12y ago
I apologize for the tone of my first comment. I didn't mean to direct that personally to you, just as a frustration to the common reaction of "helping". As to the question you made, the writer said that he has been sick for not a few weeks or month, but a decade. And when I first read your comment, it's practically saying to me "Are you taking steroids while being sick in the last 10 years?" - again, probably not a charitable reading of the comment as I could have made. I'm sorry to hear about your condition.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

kansface 12y ago

> He's helping the same way as the writer's roommate is "helping". Madmallard suggested a possible cause that matches the symptoms and also points out that doctors tend to ignore it. The roommate more or less suggested OP try not being sick.