Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: nausea

  • Rage against the machine

    Kaitlin KanVillanova, Pennsylvania, United States It was almost as if the neuromodulation clinic was the machine itself. The entire ward was U-shaped, with each arm housing preparation and recovery and the treatment suite nestled in the middle. Each patient was scheduled to the moment; nurses were on a constant cycle of ushering in and wheeling…

  • Botulism: from pork sausages to Botox

    Justinus Kerner in old age, taken a few years before his death. circa 1860. Taken by Friedrich Brandseph. Scanned from Klaus Günzel: Die deutschen Romantiker. Via Wikimedia. Of the various kinds of food poisoning that afflict mankind, botulism is the most dangerous. It has likely occurred for many centuries, as shown by sundry dietary laws…

  • Half-skull

    Sophia WilsonNew Zealand a ghost shrieks at the window,threatens to break through,shatter eye-cover. throbbing fingers infiltratesoft crevices;neuronal mass pulsates. knife twists, gristle-turning;stoat gnaw,rat’s claw. mind summersaults tosnap-trap pain,can’t let go its axon’s branch. cerebral crevices convolute;razorsreplace thoughts. vessel spasm,vision tremble;light jars, sound breaks, eye inverts andnausea heaveslike tidal rise. intention leacher,sight imploder,plan thwarter, work blighter.…

  • Charles Darwin’s illness and the ‘wondrous water cure’

    John HaymanMelbourne, Australia Charles Darwin (1809-1882) suffered from a relapsing, incapacitating illness for most of his adult life with a bewildering array of symptoms.1 The first symptoms appeared when he was a medical student in Edinburgh (1825-1827), where he was unable to witness surgical procedures and was noted to have a “weak stomach.”2 Later, when…

  • Winter race against time

    Christopher CameronKelso, Scotland, United Kingdom The phone rang in my surgery as I was embarking on an insurance medical examination a few days before Christmas. The town outside was strangely quiet, with few vehicles moving owing to a heavy snowfall earlier in the evening. Knowing my receptionist would only have put a call through during…