This man comes into the pharmacy with a script for Tegretol. It was his first time. After a bit of counselling, I asked him what he is using it for - he then tells me his life story.
Him: "You know, I think I got it this time. I've been on heaps of meds for the past few years and none of them seemed to work. I searched online and all the symptoms match. Trigeminal Neuralgia. You know what that is??"
Me: "Yes i do. That's nerve pain. Did the doctor say you have that?"
Him: "Well i spoke to the doctor, I printed out all the information and I showed it to him. He thinks it also Trigeminal Neuralgia. So I'm pretty confident that it will work this time after all this research."
Me: "Oh so the doctor didn't really diagnose you with that, his just guessing because you told him so? Errzzz, i think if your GP is not sure, he should at least give you a referral to see a neurologist. At least they can give you a proper diagnosis."
Him: "Trust me I've seen all those specialists. And NONE of them knew what it was. Put me on all these different medicines and none of them work. But after my research, sometimes the internet has all the answers for you."
Me: "You can't always trust the information you find on the internet sir. I mean each person is different. A specialist will give you a proper diagnosis. You're just guessing here.....
Him: "Look you don't know what Trigeminal Neuralgia is!!! You obviously don't see people with that condition here."
Me: "Err actually I do. Nerve pain is a pretty common thing. I can tell you for sure you are not the only person, and usually its not that hard to diagnose. If your GP and specialist couldn't even diagnose nerve pain in the first place then that's pretty unusual. And also Tegretol is NOT the only medicine for nerve pain you know. You know that there are other medications right?"
Him: Oh what other medicines? Anything better than Tegretol?
Me: Possibly. But there's a few on the market. I'm not even sure that you have nerve pain. You and your doctor seems to be just guessing and just trying to see if Tegretol works. So I'm not gonna recommend you something for a condition that you don't even know you have.
Him: I do have trigeminal neuralgia!
Me: Ok if you think so. I guess all i can say is that its unfortunate that your doctor and specialist couldn't help you in the first place that you had to resort to the internet to do your own research.
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Poor guy. Wikipedia is his doctor. And honestly, I find it hard to believe that NO doctor diagnosed him with TN???? Its pretty common. And why would a GP write someone a script for Tegretol based on the papers the patient printed out from the internet? That's a bit unprofessional don't you think? To keep your patients happy? He should at least referred him to a specialist perhaps!
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