Everyday medical English

The aphasic patient
The adult who is aphasic encounters many frustrating situations during his or her recovery. Professional people often impose on him useless drills and procedures patterned for children or mentally retarted persons which seldom help him to communicate and often add to his frustration.
Often these approaches are used because the results of research on aphasia are unknown.
A recent survey in which 50 aphasic patients who have recovered a useful level of speech were interviewed, produced interesting information.
All participants in the survey stated that they understood what was said in their presence much sooner than was believed according to literature.
They reported that they were traumatized by much that they heard. “They talked about me as if I weren’t there,” said one of those interviewed, or “as if I were dead”.
The aphasic patients all thought that they would have achieved successful communication earlier if the speakers had spoken more slowly. One patient said that when conversation was too fast “it was just noisy to me”.
All interviewed persons agreed that everyone asked too many questions at one time. The person with aphasia is often unable to formulate a reply under optimal conditions. Any interfering stimulus such as a second question or even a repetition of the first can prevent him processing an answer. Their genereal impression was that no one waited long enough for an answer. The patients cited numerous signs of impatience from those around them which hurt their feelings and affected their morale and motivation to cooperate.

Vocabulary
Aphasic patient – pacijent koji ne može da formuliše reči i ideje zbog ozleda moždane kore
Encounter – naići na
Impose (on) – nametati
Mentally retarted – umno zaostao
Survey – anketa
State – navoditi, iznositi
Traumatize – ozlediti, potresti
Trauma – trauma, duševni potres
Interfere – ometati, upletati se u nešto
Interfering – koji se upliće
Stimulus – nadražaj
Process – prerađivati
Morale – moral, pouzdanje

SOURCE: From American journal of nursing, The Aphasic Patient / AN ENGLISH READER – MEDICINE, Sunita Bujas & Vesna Margan, ŠKOLSKA KNJIGA 2000.

The menopause
The menopause is a time in life that manz women dread. It is surrounded with ignorance and exaggerated stories and many women do not know what to expect. Because of this the nurse is often asked for advice.
Menopause is the cessation of menstruation, which is due to absence of ovulation because of changes in hormonal balance. It is accompanied by symptoms known as „climacteric“. They may start two or three years before the menstruation ceases and continue for a year or so afterwards. It occurs around the age of fifty, although some women may experience it at forty while others as late as fifty five.
The symptoms are brought about by the sudden decrease of oestrogen level and may be heralded by a feeling of emptiness and exhaustion. Hot flushes are one of the most unpleasant symptoms caused by sudden vasodilatation of the blood vessels supplying the skin.
This may cause a great deal of embarassment as the woman feels she is observed by others, which is often not true and a quick glance in the mirror can do much to reassure her.
Headaches and occasionally giddiness may be present. There is usually some weight gain at this period of time, which adds extra burden to the spine and feet and leads to a back ache and fallen arches.
The woman tends to be highly sensitive, her feelings are easily hurt, and she is prone to bouts of weeping. She is often depressed. Tolerance and affection from her family and a little help around the home will do much to reassure and support her at a difficult time.

Vocabulary
Cessation – prestanak
Bring about – uzrokovati
Vasodilatation – proširenje krvnih žila
Ovulation – sazrevanje i izbacivanje ženskog jajašca
Oestrogen – estrogen, vrsta ženskog hormona
Herald – oglasiti, heralded by – praćeni
Embarrassment –neprilika, embarrass - staviti u nepriliku
Reassure – utešiti, umiriti
Giddiness – vrtoglavica
Weight gain – dobijanje na težini
Weight loss – gubitak na težini
Fallen arches – spuštena stopala

SOURCE: From the book Obstetric and Gynaecological Nursing, Rosemary E. Bailey, Bailliere, Tindal and Cassel Ltd., London, 1974. / AN ENGLISH READER – MEDICINE, Sunita Bujas & Vesna Margan, ŠKOLSKA KNJIGA 2000.

HIV and AIDS
1. What are HIV/AIDS?
HIV stands for “Human Immunodeficiency Virus”, a virus which has the ability to attack the immune system and make the body more vulnerable to infections.
AIDS stands for “Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome”, which is a name to cover what happens when the body becomes more vulnerable to infections.
You do not catch AIDS. Initially, you catch HIV which leads to AIDS.
People who develop AIDS become ill from variety of problems which they cannot fight off and from which they eventually die.
Two illnesses which commonly affect AIDS patients are:
- a type of pneumonia called pneumocystitis carinii, and
- a form of cancer which attacks the skin called Kaposi’s sarcoma.
It is possible to carry HIV virus without having AIDS itself. People have been known to carry the virus for up to ten years or more before developing AIDS.
2. How do you catch HIV?
Because of the conflicting publicity about AIDS, people are naturally confused about how easy it is to catch the virus.
It is, in fact, very difficult to catch HIV, other than through the recognized risk behaviours.
Medical opinion is that you cannot catch HIV through normal day-to-day contact with a person carrying the virus.
It is safe to share cups, plates and cutlery. Food prepared under normal hygenic conditions by a person with HIV cannot carry the virus. However, implements such as toothbrushes or razors which come into contact with the blood and bodily secretions may not be safe.
Since the virus has been found in bodily fluids including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, urine, menstrual blood, faeces and breast milk, the virus may be contracted from a person with HIV in the following ways:
- through high-risk sexual practices – unprotected vaginal or anal sex (homosexual and heterosexual),
- through sharing hypodermic needles and drug equipment (as intravenous drug abusers do),
- from an infected mother to her child,
- through transfusions with contaminated blood or some blood products.

SOURCE: AN ENGLISH READER – MEDICINE, Sunita Bujas & Vesna Margan, ŠKOLSKA KNJIGA 2000.