Thursday, February 04, 2010

When Doctors Play Sherlock Holmes

"Could you tell me which medications you're taking?"

"Um, I'm not sure doctor, but I brought all of them with me."

"Great! Can I see the bottles?"

"Um. Here they are:"

"Thanks," (said without blinking an eye), "Now, what do you take these for?...."



Anonymous said...

What?! Who emptied my medicine cabinet into a sandwich bag?

I just give my doctor a typed list - much easier for both of us.

keith said...


Is that a root berr barrel candy at the bottom of the bag?

Ed said...

Indeed, the stripey brown one is eye-catching. I think a podcasting Dr. taught me to keep a current list in my wallet, and this post has prompted me to print a new copy, my old one's getting a bit tattered-looking.

ShrinkingDoc said...


It's one step above, "You know, the red one and the little yellow one," I guess.

I had someone come straight to urgent care from the airport from their flight back from Vietnam with a baggie of pills like that that they'd received there for their fever. I'm pretty sure one of them was probably ciprofloxacin.

The patient had a petechial rash and platelets of 9,000. From their disease process or one of the dozen or so pills from Vietnam?

Turned out to be Dengue Fever. They never did figure out in the hospital what any of the rest of those medications were.