|
|
Respecting Patients' Traditional Beliefs
Art Chen, MD
One of my Asian patients I had I discovered wasn't getting her medication. Although I had done everything to explain about hypertension and the medication that I had prescribed, my patient had been ignoring my advice and not taking the antihypertension medication I had prescribed. This had happened in spite of the fact that I had repeatedly assured her that if she ran into any problems with the medication, I would discontinue or change it. What I hadn't ascertained was that she was seeing a traditional practitioner.
For those of you familiar with the yin and the yang and Far Eastern traditional medicine theory, whether or not patients take the medication as prescribed often comes down to yin and yang, or hot and cold.
Hypertension is regarded as a hot disease and most Western medicines are regarded as hot medicines. According to Far Eastern principles and approaches, to restore balance, doctors must treat hot diseases with cold therapy.
When I took the time to further question her about other providers she was seeing, she volunteered that see was seeing a traditional healer. She had asked him about using a hot medicine for a hot disease, and he had advised against it. When I stepped back and assimilated this information, I recognized why the patient wasn't taking the medicine, and I adjusted my approach to the patient. What I shared with her was that the antihypertensive medication I had recommended for her (was) an excellent Western medication and was very effective in lowering blood pressure. I told her that I understood her concern about using a hot medicine, but that I had taken all effort to find the least hot medicine I could. This medicine was relatively much cooler than other antihypertensive medication. Explained in this way, the patient was relieved and from that point on took the medication. Fortunately, there were no major side effects. |
< prev | next >
|
|
