UNDERSTANDING PSYCHIATRY AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE::WHEN YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!!
Hello Steemians.Sharing with you a story of hope,love,feelings and despair.Hope you enjoy it.
"I am with you.I'll help you get cured.I will try my best to save you",she said in a shivering voice not knowing what to say but with a direct look into his eyes so as to give him hope and a reason to smile.She had hardly known him for two hours.She knew nothing about him.But here she was.....promising him a new life.His eyes were driving her crazy.She could not stop looking at his eyes.She kept staring right at his eyes.She seemed to looked not into his eyes but through them deep inside his heart.This was a rare feeling as this is not the thing we feel for people we had met just 2 hours before.
He was actually a very handsome charismatic man with beautiful features that every girl would like to see in his perfect man.But those facial features didn't interest her.She wanted the thing that was not being shown.She wanted the deep inside thing.She wanted him to express everything what he had inside his heart to her.Because she could see the tiredness and despair in his handsome face and his beautiful eyes.She didn't want anything except making him feel good.She just sat beside him in a stool that was nearby and started her conversation with him.
"You are free to tell me everything.I promise I will not pretend to listen but I will actually be listening to you and try to understand as well.Now it is your chance.You haven't spoken a word since we met.I have been talking and you are so quiet.Please do speak."Then she stopped.
She waited for him to utter a word but he didn't.Then she again decided to take the initiative.
"How are you sir?"
"I am good",he replied.
"how do you feel?"
"I feel reptiles crawling inside my body".
"I am sorry sir.But I think i heard something.Could you please repeat?"
"I feel reptiles crawling inside my body".
(Now she was convinced she hadn't heard something wrong and he was actually saying that)
"Could you explain?"
Now he became more comfortable and started his story.
"Actually I have a big reptile inside my intestines for the past 9 months.It actually takes away everything i eat and it bites my intestines.It hurts a lot.It has even invaded my liver and now liver is not working.I have been trying a lot for the past few months but this thing doesn't seem to go away.I am so helpless."
"Would you mind telling me where this reptile came from?"
With a hesitant look towards his mother,he could not answer.
But she insisted,"Sir,I want to help you.Please tell me."
He said,"My brother gave this to me to eat .Actually he gave me its egg to eat.And i was very hungry at that time.And mom was still preparing the food.I could not resist hunger so i ate it up.The egg hatched a few days after and now it has grown to a big reptile.It grows by some 2 or 3 inches everyday.If it keeps growing at the same rate, I will die after a few months."
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Now she could realise something was wrong.So she looked towards the lady who was already breaking in tears and trying to console her she said,"Mam,I suppose he is your son.Tell me everything about him."
She could she that his mom wanted to cry the loudest possible.But she was a strong lady and she wouldn't.
"How long has he been suffering?",she asked.
"8-9 months."
"Sorry mam,but it can't be just 9 months.There is so much of pain and despair in his eyes.It could not be just 9 months old."
"Acutually,...... it has been 15 years."his mother spoke in a soft voice taking a deep breath.
"How old is he?"
"38"
"Where is his wife?"
"He is not married."
"But he is so handsome.Any girl would fall for her.Why didn't he marry?"
Her mother said,"Actually he was in a relationship with a girl.He loved her more than anything in the world.He even married her.But she just left her after one month of their courtship after she got all the property she needed."
"How was he as a child?"
"The best a mother could wish for."
"As in?"
"He was such a gentle child.He topped every class and he went to study science.It was while he was in his college that he fell in love with the girl and she just ruined him.He could not complete his studies."
As he heard his mother talking to her,he seemed to be interested in the converstion.Her mother clued her too ask the remaining questions to her son.
She continued,"Where did you do you schooling from?"
"Rajbiraj"
"Did you like going to school?"
"Yes.A lot"
"Did you go to college?"
"Of course.I was a good student and I studied biological sciences."
"Great."
"But i could not complete my graduation."
And he had eyes full of tears.Her mother could not see her son being so helpless so she walked away.
"So sir,did you do any job?"
"Yes.I worked in Delhi .But I left my job 12 years back."
"Could you please tell me about your job?"
"Yes.Sure.I was the marketing supervisor."
"What did you do?"
"I went door by door and sold towels,shirts,handkerchiefs and many more things."
She didn't expect a marketing supervisor to be doing that stuff.She became so much emotional and she felt much more attached to him.She looked at his mother.They seemed to come from a well educated family.
She asked her mother,"Mam,what do you do?"
"I was doing a government job and i retired 2 years back only.My husband is a well reputed politician.",she said.
She could feel the pain in the mother's voice.Of course!each parent in the world would like their sons and
daughters to be more successful than them.But this was not the case here and their son had to go door to door selling things while they were in such respected jobs."
"Sir,why did you leave the job?"
"Because my brother told me that he would look after me and I needn't do the job."
"Ok sir.I understood everything.",she said.
After a few minutes of silence,she added,"Sir,I am sure you will be fine.I will make sure that you get your happiness back.Please believe that the medicines you are being given will make you fine.The medicines will kill the reptile and you will be healthy and happy.Please don't worry."
He interrupted,"I have been taking medicines for five days now.The medicine is not working at all and the reptile is growing.I am going to die.I am sure I am going to die."
He was literally wet with sweat.His heart seemed to pop out of his mouth.His mouth was dry.He was trembling.
He caught hold of her hand all of a sudden and grabbed it tightly and said,"Doctor,i want to live.Please i want to live.I promise I will take all the medicines but you gotta promise that I will not die ."
She was cold.She could not speak and was lost.
After a while she heard a voice calling,"Doctor,the senior professor is calling.Hope you are finished with the history."
The time seemed to stop.She looked at her watch.It was already 10 a.m.She was supposed to finish her ward rounds by 9:30 and she was already late.She wished him a good day, smiled and went away.
He smiled back and her smile and few kind words made him feel much better and she could make a difference in his life.
Let me clear up something.This was areal story.I experienced it during my posting in the psychiatry ward.
Mr.Mishra was suffering from a strong disorder called the delusional disorders.He had somatic delusion.(strong unshakable belief that something is wrong with his body)There are other types of deusions as well.for example-delusion of grandiosity(person thinks he is superior to others ) or delusion of persecution (thinks people are trying to harm or kill him) or erotomanic delusion(some great person is in love with them) and many others.
Was Mr. Mishra different from other persons you met in your life?He had similar features to other humans.He was just suffering from a medical condition just like others suffer diabetes or hypertension.So why do we look at people with psychiatric disorders in a different way?They are no different.They could be the person next door that you never realised.They could be your family members .Or there is no guarantee that you are not going to suffer from one. Hard times in life if not dealt with care and patience can lead to these psychiatric conditions apart from many other causes.So kindly try to treat psychiatric illness just like other diseases and make a difference in someone's life with your kind and beautiful word.Believing that you are going to die is not easy.I could see the fear in his eyes so i decided to talk.And it was worthwhile.So talk ,smile and make a difference.
HAVE A GREAT TIME.
Please comment below,upvote and resteem and do let me know what do you think?
nice post
thnks