There was a 55 years old woman with mild acute pelvic inflammatory disease. I asked her to have some blood tests and prescribed a course of antibiotics as per management protocol. Then I advised her to abstain from sexual relations for two weeks, because a rest to the pelvic parts would hasten up clearance of the infection. She looked at me for a couple of seconds as if she could not believe what I was saying.
"We have not had any sex for last six months" she said in a matter of fact voice.
Since she did not ask me for any advice on that point, I decided to take it as a piece of information that would not change my advice to her.
"OK. Please do not have any sex for another two weeks" I said.
She looked at me incredulously for a moment and started laughing. I wonder if she thought that at her age sex was a no-no, and I was just being funny. Since she did not show any sign of letting up and did not seem to want anything more from me, I went to see another patient while she had her laugh. She finished her laughing and left just before I finished examination of the next patient. If laughter is the best medicine, it must have done her a world of good, and perhaps a shorter course of the antibiotic would have done as well, I thought. The thought was superfluous anyway, because it came after she had left.
"We have not had any sex for last six months" she said in a matter of fact voice.
Since she did not ask me for any advice on that point, I decided to take it as a piece of information that would not change my advice to her.
"OK. Please do not have any sex for another two weeks" I said.
She looked at me incredulously for a moment and started laughing. I wonder if she thought that at her age sex was a no-no, and I was just being funny. Since she did not show any sign of letting up and did not seem to want anything more from me, I went to see another patient while she had her laugh. She finished her laughing and left just before I finished examination of the next patient. If laughter is the best medicine, it must have done her a world of good, and perhaps a shorter course of the antibiotic would have done as well, I thought. The thought was superfluous anyway, because it came after she had left.
