Sometimes patients tell me things that are out of the realm of possibility. Crazy stories, some of them. Not symptoms that are odd, but events that defy human physiology.

She got half-way through her bowel prep and became paralyzed on the left side for one hour.

Some would suggest that I’m not listening to their complaint. To the contrary.

The less experienced clinician dismisses the impossible or takes issue with the history. The mindful clinician, however, understands that the need to report something far reaching represents something bigger than just a strange symptom.

Dramatic exaggerations tell their own story.

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