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I think Jesus is said to have said that. There is a contradicting truth, that every medical student learns the hard way: that the physician who treats himself has a fool for a doctor. As a retired physician, I spend a lot of time each week helping friends deal with complex medical issues. Two of my friends have developed increasing shortness of breath while playing pickleball and I have helped them by insisting that they get either a nuclear stress test or a stress echocardiogram. There are advantages of one compared to the other but I told them to insist that their doctor order one or the other. That has helped to diagnose significant coronary artery disease in both friends which is still being addressed.
As this was going on, I began to get very lightheaded playing pickleball and other activities and thought maybe I needed a stress test. I have been taking two medications for mild hypertension for over 15 years without problems. I thought that my basic aerobic conditioning might have slipped so I began to stress myself on an exercise bike that measured my heart rate. Although my aerobic capacity had dropped somewhat that didn't seem to be correlated with the lightheadedness. I considered that maybe I was metabolizing the blood pressure meds differently due to my age and maybe I should increase the hours between taking my once-a-day meds. That is when I noticed that my last prescription for Diltiazem 24HR 120mg had been inadvertently changed to Diltiazem 12Hr 120mg which means I was getting twice the dose over half the time. No wonder my blood pressure was dropping to 90/50 a few hours after each dose.
Physician heal thyself, or at least read the damned prescription bottle.
Discussion (7)
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Jesus did say, "physician heal thyself", but he was quoting some Greek dude. It was a well known saying at the time. However, Jesus was not telling someone else to heal themselves. In context, some were criticizing Jesus because He did not have any big healings in his home town.
Luke 4:23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”
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I think you have described the scriptural context perfectly. "Why haven't you healed your hometown first?"
There is another saying somewhere about the cobbler who has no shoes. As a physician I need to consider not only my community but my own feet.
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Full context, from Luke 4:
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
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Did your doctor not discuss the dosing change with you beforehand? Your first indication of the change should not be the bottle, and the pharmacist should have brought it to your attention too.
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Like a baus.
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