Leprosy question

Post by **Loredoctor** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 9:10 am

If a leper moved in down the road and was shunned by most people, how would you treat him or her?

Post by **hierachy** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 9:36 am

I'd pay all their bills for them, out of the kindness of my heart

Post by **Revan** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:33 am

This is a really good question IMO. I'd like to think I'd treat her or him just the same I treat everyone else (like crap) heh -kidding. But I really don't know...

Post by **Prince of Amber** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:01 pm

Does Leprosy still have that 'unclean' stigma? Very interesting question.
Is it mostly curable nowadays? I know we have discussed the disease before but never in this context. I'd like to think I would be kind and understanding - not in a 'hey the character in my favorite books is a leper -would you like to borrow them?' kind of way - but just to let them get on with their lives - surely modern drugs control / stop the disease and we wouldn't even notice. I don't know about in the 3rd World where any drugs are likely to be too expensive for the average leper, and the disease maybe their only source of income anyway.
Just how common is leprosy outside of India? anybody know??

Post by **jehannum_2000** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:37 pm

Prince of Amber wrote:not in a 'hey the character in my favorite books is a leper -would you like to borrow them?' kind of way -

LOL!

Pete.

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:12 pm

"Shunning" comes from ignorance, which breeds fear. I can honestly say that if anyone in my community were diagnosed with leprosy, they would be "shunned." I live in the buckle of the Bible belt, and despite whatever modern medicine might tell people in my community about leprosy, these mountain folk would always be afraid of someone with leprosy.

Example: several years ago, before I went to pharmacy school, I worked in a local pharmacy in my hometown as a technician (a pharmacist's assistant.) We were given a prescription for Dapsone, another name for DDS. The patient had been bitten by a brown recluse spider, and Dapsone is one of the main therapies by post-spider bite infections. As we were filling the prescription, and out of ear shot of the patient, the pharmacist who owned the store (and his wife, a non-pharmacist and co-owner of the store) were talking about how infrequently they see prescriptions for Dapsone. I mentioned that Dapsone is also used for leprosy (having learned this from TCTC.) She (the bosses' wife) totally flew off the handle, saying that I'd better not tell that to the patient (as if I would have.) She was completely irrational about a minute piece of trivia that was totally irrelevent to the situation at hand.

Post by **Furls Fire** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:57 pm

I would have no problem being around anyone with leprosy. Or any disease for that matter. I have spent most of my adult life around people with AIDS, even when there was so little known about it. I don't fear sick people, I want to help sick people. Whether it be Leprosy, AIDS, cancer, MS, or the common cold. Sick people need help and compassion.

Post by **dlbpharmd** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 3:04 pm

Amen Furls Fire.

I have never met anyone with leprosy, but I have worked with patients with HIV, TB, etc. There are certain precautions to take which are only common sense and practical. Otherwise, there is very little to fear.

Post by **Furls Fire** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 3:25 pm

It's the "unknown" that makes people fear, and that fear leads to hostility. My experience is mostly with AIDS, (I have never met anyone with leprosy either), I do some advocacy work on behalf of AIDS victims in my area. This includes helping people get and keep jobs, helping HIV inflicted children stay in school and provide educational seminars to schools themselves, I help people get the meds they need...etc. I try, and albeit I'm only one person, to educate as many as I can about HIV/AIDS in my community so there won't be this hostile fear hovering over everything. And I enjoy doing it too.

Post by **Roland of Gilead** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 3:54 pm

Well, if a leper moved into my neighborhood, first I'd see if he had a white gold wedding ring, was missing a couple of fingers, and had a bad attitude. Then I'd stick close to him, because I might be going on the journey of a lifetime.

Post by **Furls Fire** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 4:19 pm

I'm with you, Roland! Follow that leper!!

Post by **duchess of malfi** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 5:55 pm

I've worked my entire adult life in hospitals...I am used to being around sick people and I don't think it would bother me at all.
And, yes, modern medicine does wonders for leprosy, if the CDC website can be believed.

Post by **dANdeLION** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:51 pm

I'd lend him my Covenant books.I know I'd be inspired if there was a fantasy series that had a left-handed migraine sufferer as its main protagonist.

Besides, I have too many missionary friends and nurse relatives for me to worry about diseases.

Post by **[Syl]** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 8:41 pm

I'd love to see what a person with leprosy would actually have to say about the books. Just because I've read the books would make me want to get to know the person anyway.

It's very hard for me to say what I would do if I hadn't read the chronicles. Not that I would have shunned them. I'm the kind of guy that if someone wants to talk, I'm for it. I'm also ok with silence, respect people's need for privacy and all.

So the real question for me would be what would my reaction be to someone with a disease I know nothing about if I actually got the chance to meet them. I think my ignorance would make me nervous. I'd be curious and a little worried, I think. Not that I'd catch something (I mean, if they're not in quarantine...), but that if I did work up the courage to ask questions, I might offend.

Post by **DukkhaWaynhim** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 9:42 pm

I guess I'm lucky that I've never really been around anyone with scary diseases, other than cancer (but we know that cancer isn't contagious or shameful).

However, I think you can open this topic up to other ways of being a pariah. Let's talk social dynamics. You don't have to have a horrible wasting disease to be shunned by the general public. I come from a small Indiana town, where gossip travels at the speed of sound, cliques happen, and birds of a feather stick together, and every other cliche you can wave a greasy finger at.

In High School, there was a guy in my graduating class (1st gen child of Hungarian immigrants to the area) that was universally despised and made fun of (geek!) by just about everyone. If you talked to him without being a jerk, he immediately overcompensated and thought you were his best friend, mostly because I think he was starved for social contact in place that was teeming with it. This caused great discomfort, because this flew in the face of the massive peer pressure to socially cast out the Geeker Outcast Uncool! So, it was easier to stick with the crew and keep the outcast outcast.

It didn't help that we had self-proclaimed super cool people that must have been channeling Sherriff Lytton.

I didn't mean to get all Judy Blume about it, I just thought it relevant to talk about being a social outcast.

DukkhaWaynhim

Post by **Thomas Covenant** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 12:41 am

Hierachy wrote:I'd pay all their bills for them, out of the kindness of my heart

GRRRRRRRR

Post by **Thomas Covenant** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 12:43 am

If only you lot had been my townmates, I probably would never have saved the land, or even been summond there...

Post by **Blue_Spawn** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 3:46 am

I would reject them.

Outcast them away.

Post by **UrLord** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 4:35 am

well, besides saying "You're a leper? Cool, why don't you borrow my white gold ring; it might come in handy" I'd probably treat him the way I'd treat anyone else. That is, I'd ignore him until/unless he accosts me in some way. Unless he came to the place where I work, in which case he'd get a free donut

Post by **Furls Fire** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 4:36 am

TC...I just LOVE your title!! LOL!! That was one of my favorite Covenant lines. "I'm not your bloody Berek!"

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Leprosy question

Leprosy question