St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-05-25
FIeeING TO THE DOCTOR.

4 Common Trick Among Patients Dis.
csased BY . Medical M~~-
Zone meets with many odd freaks Of
human nature in my profession" said
. physician recently. perhaps the
most common is the weakness of lying
to the doctor. When . person goes to
BILE thing is obviously to help him to
Judge of the case by giving all details
as to pains and other symptoms with
rs much accuracy as possible. That
anybody should try to deceive the ply.
sician to whom he or she Is applying
for advice seems the height of absurdi-
ty. Yet l do assure you that It is done
SO constantly that we have always to
be on our guard. Woman are much
more given to that sort of folly than
men are. have . lady on my list Of
patients who is truthful enough,
doubt not. in al other affairs, but she
does not hesitate to mislead me rs fan
as she can by false statements respect
ing her own maladies. though she is
extremely anxious to get we'll. l con.
fess it is = psychological puzzle.
"Besides the people who deliberate
ly and willfully tell lies to the doctor,
there are others who are mislead to IN
astonishing extent by their own
imagination. l will cite . case in
point Only yesterday lady came tc
see me professionally for the first time.
She told me that her vision was very
bad. Her eyes locked all right, and
tried her sight by means Of . card
with printed letters of various sizes.
From across the room she was unable
to read even the biggest of the letters
put pair of glasses in front Of her
eyes. and she at once exclaimed:
"'Oh, doctor! That is wonderful ]
can see ever SO much better now.'
I'm fact, she swaS able to read all Of
the letters. down to the very smallest,
exhibiting y power of vision quite ur
to the normal.
"'rhis is certainly very surprising,
madman.' said. The spcctacles which
have helped your sight so much are
nothing moro or less than common win.
dow glass;
Naturally, she was very. much as
tonished, and would not believe me 1t
first But I convinced her 1T length
that her trouble was entirely imsgi.
nary, and she went away in . decided
ly pleased state of mind.
"It does not always do, however. to
be SO frank with victims of such hal.
lucinations. This morning lady who
is . regular patient Of mine called
upon me. She was, rs usual. in = state
of intense nervous excitement. Anoth.
er new symptom had appeared in her
case. She was convinced that some
thing was the matter with her brain.
because her head was tender on
one side. BY chance happened
to notice that her hair was n.
ranged in . way different from her
customary fashion, and doubtless that
was the reason for the soreness. Most
women have noticed that to part the
hair in fresh place is apt to make the
scalp sore for time. 1t is simply be-
cause the hairs are turned in . new
direction.
II said nothing about that 10 my
patient, save to suggest that she would
wear her hair in the old fashion. ]
gave her . prescription Of something
harmless. Nothing more was needed,
because the woman is in first-rate
health. and there is nothing ut all the
matter with her physically. But il
would never do for me to tell her that
her maladies are purely imaginary.
II did SO she would not believe me,
and she would seek another physician.
''ln cases like this the conscientious
practitioner finds nothing bet-
ter to do than to humor the patient
"