This is my (medical student’s) response to the Grey’s Anatomy Episode, “The Other Side of Life.” I wanted to find out what procedure Susan Grey had and what exactly happened. Short medical summary: Susan Grey had the hiccups! She first was given chlorpromazine, which is normally an anti-psychotic drug, but sometimes works to relieve hiccups. Hiccups are a sign of some underlying problem and with Susan, her issue was one of acid-reflux — when acid goes from the stomach up to the esophagus (which is the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach). Miranda decides to do a more drastic intervention called an endoscopic gastroplication — which in real life has a high long-term fail rate! (go figure). In the episode, the endoscopy leads to more complications — a bacterial infection of Susan’s heart valves called bacterial endocarditis. This infection became uncontrolled and evolved into probably what was sepsis, which completely overwhelmed Susan’s ability to recover from the infection. For more information on “sepsis”: www.clevelandclinic.org I thought I would throw out the idea of “hiccups” and “acupuncture” for your consideration, as it is something that seems to work in case reports. Several groups have reported anecdotal cases of success using acupuncture to relieve hiccup symptoms. Case reports are less rigorous forms of research, based on observation. Doctors normally don’t make much of case reports. But given how acupuncture is usually very safe (if the …
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