Santhosh's ramblings

I had a call today from a friend of mine - patient with 9 months history of head ache and vomiting presenting with "meningism". (Clinical Signs of Meningitis). CSF (Fluid surrounding the brain) studies normal. the consultant was not sure what he was dealing with. to add to this, the patient was HIV positive.... Diagnostic dilemma's are not unusual in Medicine. Dilemma occurs when clinical signs point to one diagnosis but investigations do not support the same. With a pre-existing illness some of the dilemma are more complex. you need second opinion from more experienced clinicians to sort out dilemma like these! And that was the expectation from me - but at the end of the consult all I could give was a few differential diagnosis - could be 1 - Crypto 2 TBM 3 Toxo 4 Lymphoma etc.....A final diagnosis could only be possible by identifying the "fungus" or Bacteria" - the root cause....for which the patient had to be referred else where....for a closer scru

Why is it that  some of your "not so acceptable" traits are observed by you in your children....is there a selective transmission of your "bad genes"? And one feels it is much worse than what you have even!...."accentuation".... At the same time one observes some "transference" of "good" characteristics too....but generally it is much "pronounced than what you have or had....Is there a selective "accentuation" or "mutation" to "dominance" of good genes..? With genetic manipulation possible now, could these change in the future - custom made gene selection - made to order genes - book it in advance...! But the "accentuation" of  bad in your children is more of a perception - perception from  a mindset -  the feeling that "we were and our age people are better than the current generation"...and so the bad is "accentuated" or "pronounced".....a "Better th

Read through the bible, the prayers and the cries of God’s men and God’s messengers – one thing stands out – they were “bipolar” - not that they had a “Psychiatric illness” but their mind and emotions would oscillate between “ecstasy” in the goodness and greatness of God on one hand at the same time cry out in despair and desperation due to various issues which were affecting their heart and mind… Jeremiah – one who was called and kept to bring Gods word to Israel in the book of Jeremiah 20 – says -   “God, you deceived me….your word brought be insult and reproach all day long….cursed be the day I was born….cursed be the man who brought by father the news of my birth…..why did I ever come out of the womb – as to end my days in shame…..the phase of depression……even to the point of giving up on life or cursing his own existence… Sandwiched between these cries of desperation and confusion in the same chapter you also see – Sing to the Lord, give praise to the Lord, for he rescues the li

In Medicine - low Na is known as "Hyponatremia". There are three kinds of "Hyponatremia" - Hypovolemic, Euvolemic and Hypervolemic. In simple English - one where the body loses salt and wanter, one where body salt is normal, but there is a problem in distribution of salt due to hormonal issues and in the third situation, body water is more so that there is a relative reduction in salt. Let me take this one by one - Hypovolemic - where the body water and salt, both are reduced because of an inadequate intake or disproportionate loss like during diarrhea or excessive sweating.... A Depleted state.... Inadequate intake of "Salt" or "Kingdom values" due to a "Depleted state" of spirituality is not uncommon in our lives - in some seasons specially! How one need to guard oneself, not to be depleted...! Hypervolemic - where there is more water - and so the salt gets diluted in the increased volume and there is a relative Na loss - a

Dissociation is defined as "partial or complete disruption of the normal integration of a person’s conscious or psychological functioning". This is one common understanding of the word dissociation. But in other situations in Medicine, the same word takes similar but lightly different meanings  One such situation is - "Albuminocytological dissociation" - where you expect for certain number of cells in the fluid surrounding spinal cord or brain (CSF) you  a certain level of Albumin - and if you do have no or few cells but increased levels of Albumin than what is expected for the number of cells - you label this as "Albuminocytological dissociation". One of the causes of this is - Block in the spinal canal and thus the fluid flow due to tumors....If you have such a situation - you need further investigation - scanning to delineate the tumor and surgical removal of the tumor... In life also we do see "Dissociation's" - the "Being-Doin

How significant is inner brokenness in the life of a person who is called to lead..lead any thing - be it be a small group, an institution or a large organization.....Even leading a family.... If leading is fruit bearing - facilitating fruits being produced in others lives - pruning is key - which means - pain and brokenness is inevitable....? If leading is fruit bearing - facilitating fruits being produced in others lives - abiding is also equally important...? Pruned and cut branches but dependent branches....wounded and broken individuals, who are dependent on the source....?

A National Christian Bio-Ethics workshop is going on in Delhi. Senior professionals from Christian organizations are taking part in the same. Ethical issues like Abortion, Stem Cell research, Euthanasia etc are being discussed.... Bu the challenging question is - when one is faced daily with patients' family requesting us to take decisions based on "economy", "livelihood," "cost effectiveness," "value of non productive life," and many other social and cultural issues - what frame work can one use..... Biblical frame work - yes - but how does one in the "5 minutes left to take a decision" use these frame work...with those who have no idea of these frame work.... When basic amenities of life - Livelihood, food to eat, housing etc are the more stressing challenges of life....ethics of value of life...?