A fifteen year old girl went to see a General Practitioner(GP) complaining of stomach pain. She has been suffering from this condition for a number of months now. The good GP promptly prescribed antacid for her and off she went. She returned again as her supply of antacids has finished.
It is indeed worrying that a 15-year old should suffer from such pain as it is bound to be chronic or longterm. She looked pale and tired and further questioning revealed that she had been having headaches and given painkillers the side effect of which is.... you guessed it stomach or in medical jargon "epigastric" pain. Her blood test showed that she was anaemic (lack of haemoglobin in the blood) as her Haemoglobin reading was 7.7mg/dl (normal level for female is 12-15mg/dl). The cause of the blood disease is being investigated and she was appropriately treated to normalize her blood haemoglobin level.
The point here is, had the anaemia been detected earlier, cause investigated and appropriately treated, the poor girl would not have to suffer the drug-induced stomach pain causing so much distress for her and affecting her schoolwork and general quality of life.
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