Part 3:
Symptoms/Signs/Symptomatic/Asymptomatic. The doctor is the better judge.
As we dwell
upon the intimacy between Mind and Medicine, the medical terms often heard by
the patients and their accompanist’s ease the understanding of what’s going on
around. One need not be a mute spectator. Gone are the days when only Magnesia
mixture and Tincture of Iodine ruled the dispensary.
Continuing
on, the other terms which often bombard our membranes are:
Symptom/Sign
When we
visit the doctor/Pharmacy we invariably encounter questions such as
What is
the problem? Since when this occurred? How did it happen? Had it happened
earlier? Did you observe anything else? And so on…
The
doctor goes on asking as he/she observes our eyes, throat, pulse, B.P., and
moves his stethoscope on the chest and the back.
For a
moment, we feel as if we are in front of our teacher who is taking an oral
test. We slowly recollect one by one and narrate factors: started with a
running nose, accompanied by sneezing, blab la and the doctor intervenes to
ask, “Did you get body pain, cough…..”
The
doctor cross verifies with logical questions to know our problem. He continues
till he can come to a conclusion.
Running
nose, sneezing, body ache, tiredness, loss of taste, variations in pulse rate,
B.P. disposition of inner tongue and change in body temperature are some of
the terms labelled as Symptoms/Signs.
To keep
it simple, they are the broad spectrum of indicators that help the doctor
decide the mode of treatment.
Based
on the study of innumerable patient’s history, each pattern of
illness/disease/health problem is correlated with specific types of symptoms/Signs.
We can
only draw a thin line between the terms SYMPTOM and SIGN. Anything which the
patient feels or experiences but the doctor or nurse cannot see may be called a
Symptom. For example headache, back pain, abdominal pain……
Complaints
which can be seen by both the patient and the doctor/nurses may be labelled as
Signs. For example, redness in the eyes, cuts, rashes, swelling……
Hence, in nutshell, what
patients report to the doctor are called symptoms and what doctors observe are
called signs.
However,
we should be careful. Swelling could be a sign, a symptom or both. If it is
noticed by the patient only, it’s a symptom. When noticed by a nurse, doctor or even
others could be a sign. When both the patient and the doctor observe, it
becomes a sign as well as a symptom.
Remember,
pulse is not seen, B.P. is not seen but can be measured. Headache, body pain
are neither seen nor measured. We can only narrate to the doctor to take a
call.
Irrespective
of who notices, signs and symptoms are prior indicators of abnormality. A few
signs and symptoms get resolved without treatment, while others need follow-up
by Health Practitioners.
Is it
not funny that many times the person’s accompanying the patient out of either
enthusiasm or anxiety, add symptoms and the clever doctor smiles and conceals
his anguish. No doctor would like to lose a patient.
A word
of Caution: When visiting a doctor/Pharmacy be clear and be open about the Symptoms and Signs. Be specific with your
answer. If you have not observed or noticed tell frankly. The doctor knows what
to do. He is the better judge.
Symptomatic/Asymptomatic
At this
juncture, when we are going through a period of COVID 19 Pandemic, the above
terms are very important. They are like alarms. We often hear the terms
Symptomatic and Asymptomatic. To put it simply, it is like we set the alarm to
wake up at a certain time. The mobile alarm tune wakes us up. Symptomatic
alarm. We have set the alarm. The mobile is either in mute mode or switched
off. The alarm is going on in the mobile but we cannot hear it or notice it. An
Asymptomatic alarm. Symptoms/Signs are observed or not, one may be COVID
positive.
There
are my dear friends, many diseases/illnesses prevailing inside without
symptoms/signs in the earlier stages.
More in
next parts……..
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