This is a thread about diseases, medicines, treatments, medical insurances, hospital policies, and everything else interesting about human body here.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is NOT a place for medical diagnosis and advice. For those, please consult certified medical professionals of appropriate fields.
Edited by dRoy on Feb 20th 2020 at 2:33:51 AM
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Ah, so medical professionals do tend to write badly.
Thank you electronization, indeed.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
It's because they write instead of print.
antic disposition
^^^"Pharmacists were invented to decipher doctors' handwriting." 
My personal theory is that it's beccause doctors have difficulty spelling words like "sulphamethoxazole" and "semimembranosis" on the fly, so they squiggle their words and hope the other person can guess.
"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
It's an old saw, isn't it? You have a cryptic, handwritten scrawl from a bygone age you can't make out? Find a pharmacist: they'll set you going in the right direction. 
I've got a funny picture somewhere, labeled "Font for Doctors". Every letter is an indistinguishable squiggle.
Zzzzzzzzzz
Happy New Year!
![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
I know that is in jest but it could easily pass for some of the scripts I've seen.
edited 15th Dec '12 7:21:27 PM by joeyjojo
hashtagsarestupid
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Damn, THAT bad?
Yup, that's the one
Until further notice
As much as I like to make jokes about terrible handwriting, it definitely used to lead to many, many medical errors - and still does. Imagine mixing up "hydroxyzine"
and "hydroxyurea", for example. (The former's an antihistamine, the latter's used to treat blood disorders and malignancies, and can cause bone marrow suppression.)
Or, on a lighter note, administering medication PR instead of PO.
edited 17th Dec '12 4:10:32 AM by Pyrite
Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
@Pyrite - Wow, that sounds problematic.
By the way, can adneraline have addicting quality?
edited 16th Dec '12 2:03:08 PM by dRoy
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
I guess yes, but that's diffuse memory from PubMed searches. From what I can tell, it's sometimes confusing due to endorphins being present along with it.
Also, in the US it's called Ephedrine.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Until further notice
Nah, that's something different - ephedrine is an amphetamine. Your US name for adrenaline would be "epinephrine". As for the addictive qualities of adrenaline... well, that's something I'm not very familiar with, since the only thing it's ever given for these days is in cardiac arrest, treatment of anaphylactic reactions (severe allergies), and the occasional need to constrict blood vessels (e.g. reducing post-surgical bleeding in some rare cases).
edited 17th Dec '12 4:16:45 AM by Pyrite
Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.
Adrenalin is not recommended as a long-term drug. Well, not unless you really like anxiety, depression, blood pressure and cardiac-related issues.
As for addictive... yes-no. Natural addiction to adrenalin-producing activities is partly down to the host of other endorphins it facilitates the release of, rather than itself. <shrugs>
By itself, it mimics an anxiety attack.
Until further notice
You want to know what being a literal "adrenaline junkie" would feel like, go read up on phaeochromocytomas. Not fun.
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Wait, adrenaline as drugs? That is a thing?
I was more talking about adrenaline producing activities, like intense exercises. I shortly took up judo and wrestling, and I have to say, the feeling of rush was borderline addictive.
When do you actually inject adrenaline?
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
Serious allergic reactions?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Giant alien spiders are no joke.
I've been redirected here to ask my Random Medical-Related Question.
A character who hasn't eaten in days gets stabbed in the abdomen area with a sword, but the sword isn't removed. Most likely at the same time there are incendiary bombs raining from the sky. Assume that external circumstances is making the guy very, very, very lucky.
What kind of medical help does he needs, what are the risks, and how can they remove the sword?
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond
Happy New Year!
he dies instantly then
I would not hurry with removing the sword, at least not until I am sure they won't bleed to death.
I would be concerned about infection, esp. if they are malnourished.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Until further notice
Well, let's see. If you got lucky and it didn't injure any major vessels (likely death by haemorrhage) or solid organs (possibly also causing death by haemorrhage), you've probably got to deal with a perforated bowel - which, short of emergency surgery, will probably progress to peritonitis (and a painful death from infection), assuming the person in question doesn't die from blood loss from the bowel injury. And if it goes all the way through and injures the spine, good luck to you.
Help needed depends on the type of injury, but we're talking about major surgery anyway, which may not be available in the specific time period or setting if said person got run through with a sword.
So yeah. This guy needs a priest, not a doctor.
edited 16th Jan '13 5:33:19 AM by Pyrite
Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.
Yup: job for a cleric.
Until further notice
I hear Cure Critical Wounds has some proven survival benefit, according to the latest meta-analyses.
Seriously, though? This guy will need major surgery - usually an exploratory laparotomy to start, which may later involve repairing, resecting or removing various organs depending on the degree of damage. It gets more complicated if you're talking about vascular surgery if the great vessels are involved, since the patient might well bleed out within minutes. The surgeons will probably need to clamp them while repairing, and provide blood pressure support (strong inotropes) during the operation. And you'll need about 3-5L of blood on standby to make up for the losses.
edited 16th Jan '13 7:09:38 AM by Pyrite
Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.
The Mod with the Migraine
I'm curious about this from Mass Effect: obviously, all life on earth is based on levo-DNA, as opposed to dextro. I understand the physical structure is slightly different down to the amino acids, which fold in a different direction. But what would the actual effect be, for a human, of eating food made from dextro-amino substances? I recall another sci-fi book I read where the aliens from another planet had sent a small group to infiltrate Earth, and they did so by mixing dextro plants into pre-packaged diet food**. But the ME-verse has stated that consuming food of the opposite amino folding is poisonous if not outright fatal**.
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
I worked in a Pharmacy briefly. All I can say is... thank God for electronic prescription orders. You can actually read the dosages, let alone the name.
edited 15th Dec '12 10:01:36 AM by Euodiachloris