A 35-year-old male, a biotech engineer by profession, came to me with severe pain in the stomach.
Patient: Sir, there’s severe pain in my stomach and I feel constipated too. I’ve taken medicines from two or three doctors, but nothing seems to work.
I asked for all the details but couldn’t get any clue from the symptoms. Even after examining the stomach, it was soft!
I inquired if any tests have been done.
Patient: Yes sir, I’ve done them, but haven’t brought them here. They are at home. Everything was normal except for slightly low hemoglobin levels.
Me: Generally, males don’t seem to have low iron levels. This fact insisted me to think that definitely there should be some problem! I asked him to send me his reports on WhatsApp.
Upon seeing the reports, I was surprised; the hemoglobin level was only 8 gm/dl!!
Me: Hemoglobin levels can’t be this low in a young adult male; something might be wrong. We need to investigate further.
Other reports also turned out to be normal!
Patient: Sir, nothing is being derived from any of the reports and my symptoms are also not getting relieved. Can I have “Ulcer” problem?
Me: No, your symptoms don’t seem to be like “ulcer” pain.
Patient’s brother: Sir, I too had the same problem before 2 years, for which I got endoscopy done, which showed ulcers and they were treated after which I got relieved. Please do endoscopy for my brother too so that we can get a clear idea.
Me: But endoscopy will be of hardly any help in such symptoms.
Patient: But sir, I can’t bear this pain anymore.
Me: Do you have any other illness?
Patient: No.
Me: Are you taking any other medicines/powders?
Patient: Yes sir, I am taking a traditional (ayurvedic) remedy so that “son” is born, it’s a kind of powder.
Me: What do you mean?
Patient: I mean I have one daughter but I want a son so I am taking medications for that.
Me (smiling): Does such powder even exist?
Patient: Yes sir, a doctor gave it to me with a guarantee.
Me: Ha, ha, ha. This doctor is fraud.
Patient: He gave a money-back guarantee!
Well, you are a biotechnology engineer! You must be knowing it very well that there is always a 50-50% probability that we can have a son or daughter. So that doctor will get money from 50% of people and that too without doing anything!
How can educated people like you believe in this superstitious thing! This doctor is robbing you in the name of medicine and above all, it might be contaminated with heavy metals which probably is causing all the symptoms.
I got his blood tested for heavy metals and EUREKA!! It came out positive!
Final Diagnosis: Heavy metal (lead) toxicity due to ayurvedic medicines
Due to lead, the patient had inflammation in liver, kidneys, and memory-related problems. I treated the patient with a lead antidote and after 40 days, lead levels decreased, and all symptoms related to it reduced. Now he is completely healthy.
Lessons Learned:
- In India, there are many fake doctors practicing who exploit people and take advantage of our weaknesses. People tend to believe them and get betrayed by them. In a 2016 survey, it was found that in rural areas, 56% of doctors were fake.
- Many traditional medicines are contaminated with heavy metals. Such medicines should only be taken from a qualified ayurvedic doctor.
- It was a huge mistake on the patient’s side rather than the quack as he went to him with an unreasonable demand.
- We usually talk about gender equality in society and we might have made significant progress in it but still, we have a long way to go.
