Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Educational Art From Family Doctor

In December 2008, I visited my family doctor. My family and I have been seeing him for over a decade now.

He's one of those doctors who takes great pride in what he does. He also likes to empower his patients with knowledge so that they may exercise greater personal responsibility about their health.

It is therefore normal for him to give little nuggets of information for his patients to take back and digest. Many of my family members or friends have had similar experiences with him.

During this visit, I inaccurately described my onset of sinus as a flu bug.

What ensued was something I least expected. He gave me an artistic lesson on the subtle differences between a flu, cold and sinus. Then, he kindly allowed me to take his art piece back royalty-free:




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Based on what I can recall, this is how we read my family doctor's illustration:

FLU

Usually caused by a virus. Symptoms may include fever; body ache muscle ache (BAMA); sore throat (itchy, scratchy, pokey); running nose; cough; and phlegm.

COLD

Usually caused by a virus. Slight fever or BAMA, but less likely. Other symptoms may include sore throat (itchy, scratchy, pokey); running nose; cough; and phlegm.

SINUS

Usually caused by an allergy, which may lead to an infection. No fever or BAMA. Symptoms may include sore throat and cough (dry and ticklish); running nose; and phlegm.

*****

But please do read what I have shared here with some caution. This may not apply to your individual circumstances. It is in your interest to seek independent medical advice.

Happiness,
Dharmendra Yadav

Please consider the environment. Do you really need to print this?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Respectfully, the correct medical term is "sinusitis"

"Sinus" is "any of the spaces inside the head that are connected to the back of the nose"