anonymous

13th October 2018

THE PASSAGE OF THE DENTURES - 10

THE PASSAGE OF THE DENTURES - 10

DR H.L. CHULANI

Doctors have a moral code. Secrets which patients reveal during history taking or examination are not discussed with others. This is not strictly followed, though it is rare that a doctor would reveal confidential information unless compelled to. We discuss the case with our spouses and other doctors though the name is often not brought out. This case was brought to my attention when my wife learnt that I was writing this article.

A fat Sindhi lady came to my clinic saying she was having difficulty in her bowel movements. She volunteered she was dieting since a month (and did she need it!). In Dubai where she lived, she was advised to eat dried seeds of watermelon to curb her appetite. She followed the advice with an almost religious fervour. She consumed seeds by the hundreds every day. These seeds cannot be digested by the intestinal juices and pass unchanged in the stools. Since she had consumed so many, and combined with little of actual food, the stools hardened and she developed constipation. But her zeal to reduce her weight egged her on. When I examined her, I felt plenty of these seeds in the lower rectum but conta them due to the patient's severe discomfort. On the following day local anaesthesia I attempted to remove the seeds and what an hour of manual labour. Seeds by the thousands had to be removed and at the end of it, I was sweating due to the manual work involved and stillthe seeds kept coming. We washed out the rectum with copious amounts of water flushing out the seeds. She recovered from this ignoble episode and promised never to try such dubious slimming tips again.