My First Patient

So, when I started this blog and decided to name it "Dr. Librarian," it was more in the spirit of all of the undiagnosed (a.k.a crazy) people that come my way. However, I have since realized that occasionally there are people who mistake me for a real doctor (and apparently the library for a drugstore, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Be it known now: I have absolutely no medical training and am not fit to diagnose anyone's ailments, growths, or whether or not you have appendicitis.

A woman came in the other day and ask if we had "milk thirst."

I had to make her repeat it a few times to even figure out what she was saying, but I decided asking a fourth time wasn't going to help. So, I said: "Milk thirst? Is that the title of a book?" Being a library, that seemed like a viable option.

Woman: "No. I thank it's some kinda drank."
Me: "A drink?" At this point I'm thinking...does this woman know she's in a library? I mean, we patrol drinks like they're arsenic around here, and she thinks we sell them? "Umm..."

Then my gracious coworker steps in (We'll call her Jennifer.)...

Jennifer: "It's a drink? Ok. Let me see." She proceeds to look on Google (our best friend) and types in "milk thirst." Nothing, of course, comes up. "Well, I don't see anything..."

Woman: "Lemme run out to my car. I got it written down."

She walks out the door and comes back a few minutes later. Jennifer is helping another patron, so I'm elected.

The woman shows me the small piece of paper with the words "milk thistle" and "silymarin" on it. With the help of Google (told you it was my best friend), I figured out that milk thistle does indeed exist. It's a plant related to the sunflower that's seeds can be used for medicinal purposes. Silymarin is the active ingredient in the seeds that can be bought in supplement form. Silymarin apparently helps detoxify the liver and contains a lot of antioxidants. (See how much you can learn on the internet?)

I explained all of this to her and told her she'd have to go to Walgreens or some other drugstore to find it (not the library--but we probably have a book about it!).

Then, I apparently turned into a doctor. The disadvantage to Google: looking way smarter than you are.

Woman: "Yeah. It has somethin' to do wit your liver. Yeah. Ok...Yeah, see I've got this pain right here..." starts pushing on the right side of her stomach "and I think it might be my liver. Or my gall bladder. I'm not sure which."

Me: "Well, it's probably not your liver because that's a bit further back, but if it's on your right side it could be your gall bladder or appendix."

Woman (pulling her shirt up just below her bust line) "Yeah, it just hurts right here, so I'm not sure what it is."

Me: "Ok. Well, it could be a lot of different things. My advice would be to go get it checked out by a doctor." (A real one.)

Woman (shirt still up): "Yeah. I was thinkin' I might go get it checked out. Ok. One other question...what are processed foods?"