Some people will do anything....

Some people will do anything...., originally uploaded by mattcotham.

Many of our patients don't like to take their medicine, which isn't
surprising when you taste most of the medication formulas used here --
very bitter, none of the candy coatings and flavorings like you get in
America. Today I went to see one of my post-op surgical patients and
when I examined the wound I found it smeared with a thick white paste.
I'm thinking to myself that he's brought some weird African medicine
from home, so I go and get the translator. Turns out he had been
chewing up his Tylenol, making into a white paste, and then smearing it
on the wound to make it hurt less. This is a similar approach to the
witch doctors whose remedies for most illnesses is to simply cut the
skin in small cuts over wherever it hurts. We explained the idea that
the medication needs to be swallowed, so we'll see how well we do tomorrow.