We asked our in-house not-a-doctor. (Gab at @notadoc) for his opinion about these sausage fingers. He attempted to give us a reply, but Gab would not let him post – gave him a code 403. But that doesn’t stop cats from finding other ways to disseminate the info.
He writes:
“I posted some things on his medical condition back around the time of the funeral.
My diagnosis (that you can take to the bank) is that Charlie 3.0 has “5-P syndrome.”
“5-P syndrome.”: Piss Poor Protoplasm Poorly Put-together.
(I once worked with a great elderly doctor who actually put that on the patient’s chart. The front office actually came to me for input, because they couldn’t find “5-P syndrome” in the medical code book.)
No one can truly make a diagnosis, without a thorough medical history and physical exam. A lot of the diagnosis are a “smorgasbord.”
One rule of medicine: the more common things occur more commonly. That comes from the medical saying “when you hear hoofbeats, don’t think of zebras.” One of my roommates in medical school was from Uganda. He would always say, I think of zebras. (He actually had a zebra skin shield that he once used to protect himself from automatic weapons carried by Masi worriers. He also moved to the back of his clan.).
The first thing I noticed was the “butterfly rash” on his face. That is, frequently considered lupus, which is an autoimmune disease. (More common in women). Lupus may also have swelling and arthritis in the fingers, etc.. Sarcoidosis is another autoimmune disease which can have the sausage fingers and a rash.
Having an emergency medicine foundation, on every patient I think of what would be the worst condition. Before that patient leaves my presence, I have to make sure that I have evaluated for that. It is tacky when the patient dies Immediately after your evaluations. (I’ve seen it happen). With the swelling, and especially with his age, (and today, anyone who has been jabbed), you have to rule out heart failure. A close one behind that would be renal failure. Typically, those swellings begin in the feet and progress up the body and eventually shortness of breath and then failure. You can have any type of vascular problem along with various arthritis’, TB along with TB medications.
Another medical saying: Any type of rash can be syphilis. Infections can cause a rash and swelling. You can even have an arthritic syphilis. When I did a little research last month, they included chlamydia causing this form of rash also.
The reality is, the various diagnoses might be a multitude. Then add all of the treatment side effects. With these symptoms, and his age, these processes have probably been going on for some time now. Seeing that he has a lot of symptoms in the autoimmune section of the smorgasbord, I am sure that he has been on some steroids. If he has swelling, he is probably on diuretics. And then you have the side effects of these medications individually and combined.
Another major and forgotten medical saying: Never leave your patient alone with a specialist. Make sure that you always leave a nurse with a specialist for the protection of the patient. Rarely will a specialist consider other body parts except their specialty. It is like they have blinders on. You know Charlie has been seen by a lot of specialists. One specialists won’t want to offend another specialist, therefore treatments are stacked upon other treatments. Those in emergency medicine and theoretically family practice, are more of the generalist that are looking at all the systems together. But the only way that you can make a diagnosis, is consider that it is a possible diagnosis and then test for it. “Test don’t guess.”
What Charlie needs is to be “detoxified,” and then given “nurture.”
He will never get these. I am sure his cabal has some “super – hidden treatments.” But can those advanced treatments overcome decades of lifestyle?