Monday, June 21, 2010

Addiction, life and "cut,copy,paste"

Addiction is a very serious problem in our society. and i don't just mean addiction to smoking, or alcohol!.... addiction to video games, to TV serials(god save those miserable people!), to high calorie foods and addiction to exploit others, are even more worse.
The worst part of addiction is denial. "i am not addicted to cigarettes man! i just smoke for fun"... yeah,yeah... I've heard that a thousand times from people whom i later meet in the lung cancer ward!
"I am not addicted to TV.... i just happen to watch those serials to pass my spare time" said a lady, who was brought to the hospital with severe chest pain. Diagnosis: Myocardial infarction.... in common and more interesting filmy terminology... a heart attack. What precipitated the heart attack??? "Pratyush was killed by the heartless Anamika who laced his coffee with poison, so she could elope with the twisted Ranjan..."
Before you guys try to break your computer screen, Pratyush,Anamika and Ranjan are the names of characters from a prime time daily serial.
I feel sad listening to such stories from my colleagues in the hospital. i did not believe stuff like that until eleven yrs ago when one day, i saw my grandparents weeping inconsolably after Nandamuri Raja was killed in telugu daily serial "ruthuraagaalu".
The poor guy Raja died a week later with a heart attack (this time in real life) and there was a second episode of my grand parents' crying !!!.
In the following week, i took a decision to ban all TV serials in our house. the ban is still in effect.... although my grand parents passed away ten years ago( may their souls rest in peace).
I know I wandered off the track while telling you about addiction... but what is the fun of saying something that has nothing interesting.
I can hear you shouting "You might as well "cut, copy and paste" what research has to say about addiction, instead of blogging without direction!"
I can hear my own reply echoing.."Hello!!! isn't the blog is titled A ROAMING DOCTOR'S ROAMING THOUGHTS!!!"

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Depression is more dangerous than HIV!!!

Statistics show that 15.1% of south Indian urban population suffers from Depression and about 12.4% of them have suicidal tendencies!!! The prevalence of HIV in adults in south India is a meager 0.34% as compared to Depression.
HIV is a infectious disease, and i strongly believe it will be controlled in near future like all other infectious diseases.
Depression is a part and parcel of one's reactions to the way life goes about. There is really nothing we can do to decrease the prevalence of Depression in people.
But Depression is completely curable if you have a good friend who can listen to you.
We, Human beings, are a group of highly vulnerable emotionally weak species.We expect life to be good at all times, so much so, that we sometimes cannot accept failures. Hippocrates first described depression around 400 BC.
The famous actor and comedian Tony Hancock committed suicide in 1968 and wrote in his suicide note that "Things just seemed to go too wrong too many times".
You could say that's the way things are, or that we all feel the same at some point of time. And that is exactly my point! We all suffer from Depression. Each and everyone of us.
And it is one thing you could help your loved ones out of.All you need is to listen. DON'T talk to them, just listen. People love it when they get a good listener. Most problems seem to vanish in thin air when you have somebody to listen to you.
The reason why most couples live happily together because they listen to each other. They don't just hear, or obey..... they listen.
Falling in love is the best cure for Depression :)
Ironically, falling out of love is the cause of major depressive disorders.
I was in and out of love a couple of times, and had to deal with a lot of depression myself. Depression led me into the dark corners of alcohol and tobacco abuse. And coming out of alcohol and Nicotine abuse was a great challenge. It took a great deal of effort to tell myself that Depression, sadness, dejection are fleeting..... life is permanent.
Momentary Happiness is far more achievable goal than with simple joys of life. Feeling the rain in your face, running with bare feet on soil, and meeting friends are some simple things that could make you Hugely happy.
Try it. IT WORKS.
And for the record, i did get out of alcohol and tobacco dependence, in case anyone of you shows my mom this blog :)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Inspiration can take you a long way!!!

I attended a class on stigma and discrimination on People Living with HIV/AIDS today.
The speaker, Mr. Rama Pandian, had come from Chennai. He is the founder of a NGO that helps People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHAs) in TamilNadu. It helps them get better access to govt. services, provides training to PLHAs to get livelihood, provides counseling for HIV infected people and a lot of other stuff too.
The Speaker was a source of great inspiration for me. He is leading a healthy life though being diagnosed with HIV in 1992. He shared with us his problems after being diagnosed, how he had problems with trying to disclose the news to his family, how, because of misconceptions about the disease, he lost his job... so on and so forth.
But what made me sit up was how he came to terms with his illness and LIVED productively. Most PLHAs i see in my practice or those i come across in my life have a bigger problem than HIV. they have to deal with a hugely-underestimated amount of depression.
Psychological issues can kill you! HIV will NOT. after the advent of newer drugs, and better political and medical committment, HIV life expectency is returning to near normal.

Mr. Rama Pandian thought me a very important thing.
TO BE DYING IS SURELY A PROBLEM, BUT TO HAVE TO BE LIVING WITH THE IDEA THAT WE WILL DIE IS WORSE.

Kudos Sir.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Ants in my pants...

I did come across the idiom "ants in my pants" once before, not that i took note of it mentally.
It has been one week i shifted to Vellore to join IDTRC (Infectious Diseases Research and Training Centre) in the renowned Christian Medical College, Vellore, as a junior research officer. The Stipend was nominal, at least for me, as i was earning almost up to three times back home in Hyderabad. But the prospect of learning from the best medical college in India is far more tempting than financial worries.
CMC officially didn't provide accommodation, but our boss was generous to let us use his guest house for a nominal pay of maintenance. I really didn't have any expectations about the place...... i have stayed in more dingy places that would have scared the hell out of Saddam Hussein! But the place was a beauty....
It was a big bungalow near Katpadi and my room was an 10 * 15 feet! had a good attached bathroom and was more than happy to arrange all my stuff in a plush rosewood dressing table cum wardrobe.
I spent most of the night trying to sleep. In addition to the factor that it was a new place,thanks to face book and HBO, i had screwed up my sleeping habits back home.I woke up late in the morning and rushed to the office in a set of brand new clothes from my wardrobe.I was feeling very uncomfortable, but attributed it to my "rushed up" bath. This discomfort was pretty bad a little later after i reached the office. As I was trying to figure out what was wrong, one of my senior colleagues, who stayed in the same bungalow on the first floor, said "Hey Abhishek! hope you had good sleep.I forgot to tell you,if you are using the rosewood wardrobe from in the master bedroom, just check your clothes before you wear them. There are lots of ants in the house."