MEDICO

Ok, seriously, this isn’t my call (mathematico-logics, I mean). My call is medicine. But then, my curiosity has been fueled by the peculiar date of birth of my friend. He was born on the 29 th of February, 1988, and so i'd try. Permit me to state the Naegele’s rule which is the standard way of calculating the due date for a pregnancy. The rule estimates the expected date of delivery(EDD) from the first day of the last menstrual period by adding one year, subtracting three months (or adding nine months), and adding seven days to the first day of a woman’s last menstrual period(LMP). Example: I am presenting a 26 year old Turkish woman, who is a banker whose last menstrual period (LMP) begun on the 16 th March, 2013(16/03/2013). What is her expected delivery date (EDD)? LMP=16/03/2013          +1 year= 16/03/2014           -3 months/+9 months= 16/12/2014     ...

Still in the spirit of medical ethics: Can I play a part in the death of someone else (Euthanasia: the practice of killing individuals with presently incurable diseases, thus assisting the death of such an individual)? Am I being merciful, or am I doing him/her a favor? On the other hand, am I simply taking a life that I cannot give? I’d rather go with what a Dr. said: “If a person wants to truly die, he/she can kill himself”. Why should I soil my hands by engaging in murder, when suicide is an available option? I tell you, if that person chickens out of taking his own life, then I have no right to assist. In fact, it simply means he/she sincerely doesn’t want to die. And by the way, who says an incurable disease like cancer/ HIV will not get permanent cures in the nearest future? Afterall, malaria was an incurable disease at some point too!

In the spirit of medical ethics, quackery is the promotion of unproven or fraudulent medical practices and a quack is a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications that he/she doesn’t possess. Quackery’s salient feature is aggressive promotion of a quirky cause. Therefore, quackery while plying any trade, especially the medical profession, can be the result of a quirky state of mind. The established normal procedure is to make a clinical assessment (which is comprised of a comprehensive history and physical examination) with the view of establishing a clinical diagnosis; so as to provide a remedy; after investigations have been done for the confirmation of clinical diagnosis. Development of a management plan for an unexamined patient is quite quirky. In the same vein, treatment without having a clinical diagnostic base is quacky. In determining whether a person is committing quackery, the central question is what is accept...

Some individuals with the S gene (i.e. sickle cell trait) are protected by this gene somewhat, while others with this same gene are maximally at risk of crises! Why is this? This is just because of the secrets of dominance and recessiveness of this gene. i.e. individuals with AS(normal gene + sickle cell gene) genotype have lesser risk of coming down with malaria, while those with the SS genotype (2 sickle cell genes) are relatively exposed to sickling of their red blood cells and many other diseases associated with their typical crises. Moderation is the ability to conform to a particular range of normalcy, without being overtly excessive. Obsessiveness, on the other hand is a reference to a state of addiction to the premiering of a cause or inability to constrain one’s self from doing something one is passionate about. Obsessiveness could result in crisis, as much as the over-expression of the S gene could result in the much known sickle-cell crisis.

A beloved preacher once made a statement. He said “Many people have asked and they have received. But they have stopped there. Only few go on to seek and find”. The visual sense serves for light to the individual. Without adequate functioning of this sensitive organ, there is groping. We are but blind folks. However, what a man has not sought, it is assumed that he hasn’t seen. We ought to act on what we see if it happens to be rightly desirous to us. Therefore, seeing is not complete without seeking. Seeking what we see implements the achievement of the desires of our hearts through our visual senses. Happy seeking!

Tremor, an involuntary, rhythmic, oscillatory movement of a body part, is the most common movement disorder encountered in clinical practice. Rest tremors occur in a body part that is relaxed and completely supported against gravity. Action tremors occur with voluntary contraction of a muscle and can be further subdivided into postural, isometric, and kinetic tremors. While Parkinsonism is associated with tremor at rest, lesions in the cerebellum is associated with intention (action) tremor. Most tremors are action tremors. Fear is a common emotion. It could stir you to action (action-laced fear), and as well, stir you away from action (action-less fear). It could also make you immobile, stationary and perpetually without risk (restful fear). So is fear still relatively good, since it can stir one to action? Well, I don’t think so. This is because, though fear could be an emotion, it is also a pathological spirit (2 Tim 1:7). Therefore, both fear and tremors signify an underly...

A typical medical practitioner knows all about this process of clerking, this is basically the first thing he does when attending to a patient i.e. he clerks. Clinically, clerking involves: 1.       History Taking- involves taking demographic data, noting the main presenting problems, past medical history, history of main presenting complaint, family history, occupational history, drug history, alcohol history e.t.c. Basically, it helps in determination of symptoms. 2.       Physical Examination- is useful in the elicitation of signs of the disease in question. 3.       Provisional and differential diagnosis: the clinical history and physical examination conducted will help the clinician arrive at provisional diagnosis, from which he arrives at a differential diagnosis. 4.       Management Plan- involves investigative procedures (e.g. haematological investigations) as well as...