Too many doctors and too many medicines spoil the broth

After more than a week of being under the weather, I’m back at work, just about catching up. The past week has been a nightmare for me.

It all started with some pain in the wrist. I shrugged it off assuming it is a computer-related repetitive stress injury. It slowly ran up the length of my left hand, to the shoulders and then to my right hand. My dad cautioned me to go visit a doc. The pain was very different; it was only at the joints. So it suddenly hit me that it could be chikungunya. I called up my friend who is doing her house surgency and asked her about the symptoms of chikungunya. She told me that the symptoms are even more severe than what I was experiencing. She asked me to take Combiflam and also get some other “unnameable” tests done (just to bug me). Oh ya, she also told me I was immuno-compromised!

Like all friends are, I decided it would be better to go to her mom, who is also a doctor. Aunty told me that I have viral fever and that it is in the air. I was glad, glad that it wasn’t chikungunya. She told me to take two days of rest and drink lots of fluids and also prescribed three tablets. I was in no mood to take off from work and decided that I did not require any rest. I popped the pills and went to bed.

The next morning wasn’t very good. I could barely move my fingers. The pain had only gotten worse. I struggled to get ready and finally decided I won’t be able to make it to work. I dreaded the long commute. I decided it would be better to stay home and submit my stories from there. A quick text message to my bosses later, I was back in bed. After I woke, realised even my father has some joint pain. It only got worse for the both of us. While the upper part of my body was hurting, it was the lower half for my dad. The next day, after consulting my cousins, who are both doctors, we decided to go get a blood test done for dengue fever and chikungunya.

At the lab, the person in-charge told us to first consult the doctor and then get the required tests done. So we met the consulting physician there. He also told us it is something in the air. I was asked to get a Platelets test done while my dad was asked to get a serum, creatinine and platelets test done. He said there was no need to get the “expensive” dengue fever and chikungunya tests done as the treatment would still be the same. He also prescribed some medicine for the two of us and asked us to give him a call after we get the test results. We did our tests and got the results later that night. Now, I was on to a new set of medicines. All the tests we did were negative. My dad heaved a huge sigh of relief.

By the time this happened, I was experiencing some pain in my mouth. I knew for sure that it was that darned wisdom tooth, at it, again. This time I called m friend who is doing his dentistry and asked him for some pain reliever. I just couldn’t bear the joint pain and the tooth pain. He told me to take a tablet called Imol but also told me to visit a dentist to get it examined. I dread dentists. I told him, No. All I wanted was something to take away the pain. He scoffed at me, told me I owe him 800 bucks consultation fee, and hung up.

I was contemplating on whether to take the tooth tablet. I took one. It didn’t help. The next day my sister arrived in Bangalore to take care of dad and me. Dad’s condition was even worse by now. He found it really difficult to get up from his bed in the morning. I found it painful to fold my hands.

By the time my sister got to Bangalore, my joint pain seemed to have reduced quite a bit, but my mouth was only getting worse. I felt awful. She told me I can’t avoid the dentist any longer and assured me of dragging me to the dentist the next day. I was going to take my third day of leave. My doctor friend and another friend came home to see me. My doctor friend, of course, had a ball of a time, examining my mouth and told me it was, indeed, my wisdom tooth that was bugging me. She told me take Rantac along with the medicines prescribed by the doctor and suggested some anesthetic cream to apply near my tooth for some pain relief. She told me to take two Calpols a day instead of three which the doctor had prescribed as it was for fever. Took her word for that. I also had a blister near my lip. It was only getting and bigger and nastier-looking.

I could barely eat by now. It hurt so much while chewing. I finally went to the dentist. The diagnosis? Mouth ulcers. My mouth was full of ulcers. The pain had nothing to do with the teeth. My wisdom tooth was growing, but not where my doctor friend told me it was! The dentist said it could be due to antibiotics. He told me to stop taking Calpol. He prescribed some gel and mouthwash for me. He told me to not eat anything hot, spicy or any non-vegetarian food. He also told me to take a de-worming tablet.

I was glad there wasn’t going to be any tooth extraction. I though mouth ulcers were better. But the days ahead proved me wrong. The pain got really bad over the next three days. I was eating curd rice. Sorry. Swallowing curd rice. This was the nightmare. I was crying in pain. I couldn’t sit still. The gel and the mouthwash did not seem to be working. Cousins and aunts who my sister was catching up with suggested home remedies. So the next day I had lunch that consisted of dal and a type of green leafy vegetable, which was supposed to be help reduce the ulcers. The meal by itself was heaven, a welcome change from the curd rice. But I ate for lunch and dinner on two consecutive days. I was really going bonkers. The pain didn’t reduce. The de-worming tablet had led to, to put it nicely, lose motion.

My sister finally suggested we go to our family physician. We o to him less often these days only because of the distance we have to travel, not fun when you are sick. I half-heartedly relented. I was tired of doctors. I just wanted to come back to normal again.

We went to the doctor. I was quite glad to see him because he is a real sweetheart. He is this fair-skinned man, old and balding, but real cute and sweet. Never prescribes any strong medication and always thinks before prescribing anything. He said it was inflammation of the gums and ulcers. He said most often it is difficult to determine the cause of ulcers. He said Calpol could not be the reason for the ulcers (which is what the dentist had said). He said it could be because of Oflaxin, an antibiotic I was taking. He also said it could not be due to improper food intake (which was what my father and sister and the rest of the world was scolding me for). He did his usual rubbing-of-the-forehead while writing the prescription. Thought for quite sometime before writing down the medicine. He prescribed two tablets, and two gels. One gel to be applied before food, to make it easier for me to eat. And one gel after food. He told us to buy the medicine from the chemist next door and show them to him to check if they were right. We walked between the doctor’s the chemist thrice just to make sure the medicine was right because he wanted to check if the composition was just right. Some medicines had a new composition with the old name. So he checked on all this and then we went home.

By now, I just prayed for all this to help. I was too exhausted to do anything. The pain was just excruciating. And by now, I had taken six days off from work. I was beginning to get really worked up. I spent the next two days, hoping and praying to recover soon. I wanted to get back to work as soon as possible. The pain just didn’t seem to be subsiding. As the weekend was just a day away, I hoped I’ll be at least a little better for the new week, to resume work.

By now, I had visited four doctors, including a dentist. And consulted two cousins who are doctors and a dentist friend and a doctor friend. I felt like I had created a record of sorts. I vowed never to go to so many doctors ever again. My family physician would have the first and last word. I would go to him even if I was dying or in labour.

So many doctors, different medicines, my body went through this whole metamorphosis internally. Like one of my bosses asked, “Have they taken you for a chemistry lab?”

And chemists are no better. I dealt with so many different chemists in the past week. Just yesterday a chemist tried to give me a tablet which was not what I wanted. She read the prescription and insisted it was the one she had. She had got the spelling wrong. And I knew that I had to take one which had folic acid and Vitamin B12 in it. I knew this because I had bought it a few days back from a different chemist. And here she was, insisting she was giving me the right tablet and that she was reading the prescription properly. She kept saying that the letter ‘y’ was the letter ‘i’. This can prove fatal.

All I am trying to say is that please do not go to many different doctors. Stick to one, preferably someone you have always been going to. Always check the medicines you are buying at the chemist. Ask for a bill, as it will help if there is any discrepancy.