***CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PODCAST***
“I understand that the biggest fear you have about going through chemotherapy is losing your hair. I just want to tell you. You will be fine. Trust me.
I know it’s barbaric. Why don’t we have medicines to treat cancer that will not make you lose your hair in this day and age? Strange, right? But science has its limits. Work is being done on finding such drugs, but we are not there yet. If you Google “forced standing,” a black and white picture of a girl from a couple of hundred years ago pops up who is being forced to stand, by tying her neck and arms with ropes to the ceiling and walls. Her head is slightly slumped over to one side as if she does not want to stand. The caption will inform you that this is actually how clinical depression was treated at that time. Perhaps if someone is depressed and is lying in bed all day, forcing them to stand up would somehow cure depression. When we look at that picture today, it seems like a scene out of a horror movie. Whoever I have shown that picture to has gasped. But at that time, this treatment was likely endorsed by some, if not all, psychiatrist societies of the world. Human history, after all, has no deficit of theories and rituals that were popular at the time but later considered abhorrent.’
Farhan S. Imran is a hematology-oncology physician who blogs at Did I Ask?
He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, “To my patient who is going to lose her hair from chemotherapy.”
https://www.kevinmd.com/2021/11/to-my-patient-who-is-going-to-lose-her-hair-from-chemotherapy.html
Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode.
https://earnc.me/VgkoOC
Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. Welcome to The Podcast by KevinMD.
Rate and review the show so more audiences can find The Podcast by KevinMD.
https://www.kevinmdpodcast.com/rate/
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to get notified when a new episode comes out.
https://www.kevinmdpodcast.com/follow/
