Wednesday, January 14, 2009

NORMAL???

Don't people have an inkling anymore of what can be vaguely considered as normal and what definitely raises an eyebrow (at the very least)!

i mean of course not everyone is expected to know exactly what's wrong or right with themselves or someone else, most if not all of the time, but surely there are instances when you just know something must be wrong.... RIGHT???

yesterday, i had a young girl whom i saw in the accident and emergency department after being referred by my dear wife after she saw the patient in the clinic.

When i saw her, she was pale as a ghost!

and after talking to her just a minute or so longer, it came to my attention that for the past 5 months or so she had been having her period for 2-3 weeks straight each month! The most recent being for the ENTIRE month of December right into January! Everyday requiring 2-3 pads which were fully soaked with blood clots!!

Let me repeat myself.

She had been having her period for EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR MORE THAN 1 MONTH!!!

Now, i could deal with the whole fact that she wasn't so sure herself whether it was normal or something to be worried about cos' young girls often have very irregular and abnormal patterns with regards to their menstruation (still it should have raised suspicion).

BUT,

What i couldn't deal with was that her mother (who obviously have been having her periods for far longer than her daughter and should by now have an idea of what's normal) when made aware of the condition of her daughter and her prolonged and heavy menses, actually didn't think much of it (i.e. to her mom.. it was nothing to be worried about.. i.e. it's NORMAL).

NORMAL???!!
NORMAL??!!

Hello?
Anybody home?

Okay fine, i'm a doctor and i know definitely it's ABNORMAL but hey, wouldn't you be worried at least slightly when you're bleeding from an orifice for 2 whole weeks???

Her haemoglobin level was only 6g/dl which was less than half the normal.

*Sigh*

i don't get it.
i just don't get it.

2 comments:

nana said...

HAHAHAhahahahah!!! you can't imagine how much entertainment your posts are!!

btw, so for some reason menstrual cycles for women are easily influenced by each other. (i'm only telling you this cuz you're a doctor and wouldn't squirm). in uni, 9 of us girls shared a dorm suite, and ALL of us skipped our nov and dec periods, except for this ONE girl who bled straight for the two months (she then found out she had a cyst in her ovary). but at that time it was just funny cuz she was essentially bleeding for all of us!

Dr V said...

hehe... interesting ;)
But i think i've heard of such a 'phenomenon' happening every now and then.

Will look it up and see what i can find ;)

p/s: it's good to have people 'get' my posts ;)