# What does my doctor mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595 "2009-10-21T12:04:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/21 "2009-10-21T19:36:46Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > From what I’ve seen on patient records, it’s just one doctor being polite to the referring doctor. Almost every entry I ever read from a referred physician ended with something like, “Thank you for the interesting referral.” > > Maybe one of the MD’s here can confirm. That’s a pretty standard bit of politeness from consultant to referring physician. Said in person, much can be read from inflection and facial expressions. But in writing, it means pretty much what it says. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/22 "2009-10-21T19:50:05Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Almost every autopsy report I’ve ever seen says that the deceased’s anus was “star-shaped and unremarkable.” “Almost every” one? Were there remarkable anuses? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/23 "2009-10-21T19:58:18Z")
Richard Nixon was a pretty remarkable anus. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/24 "2009-10-21T20:03:58Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I thought “well developed, well nourished” just meant that none of my limbs were stunted or shriveled or anything like that. That probably is the case. Working for a pediatric cardiologist, I heard pretty much that exact phrase a lot for kids that looked all right physically. ---
**Author:** ![rekkah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rekkah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rekkah)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/25 "2009-10-21T21:41:04Z")
> [@Heckity](#): > > I’ve seen the Seinfeld episode wherein Elaine is called “difficult” in her chart and subsequently no doctor will see her. Is “very interesting” a code of some sort about me personally, or is it more likely the neurologist is commenting on my “case”? Another vote for just meaning a slightly unusual, non-textbook set of medical symptoms, rather than anything about you personally. My dad once got a copy of some medical notes about him and reported to me with some amused excitement that the doctor had described him as seeming respectable. Unfortunately, when he read out the exact phrase used, I had to break it to him that “well-appearing” just means not looking obviously sick. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/26 "2009-10-21T23:35:22Z")
I read a doctor’s note where I was described as a “very pleasant 41-year-old woman.” Well, gee, that just made my day. 😃 Ivylad’s been described as “unremarkable,” but that’s a good thing…it means nothing wrong with that particular thing. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/27 "2009-10-21T23:48:23Z")
Some more medicalese: LOL in NAD: Little old Lady in No Acute Distress PBAB: Pine Box at Bedside WNL: Within Normal Limits (referring to lab test results. Alternate meaning: We Never Looked) Microdeckia: Not playing with a full deck. AHF: Acute Hissy Fit FTD: Fixin’ to die More at: [Doctors' Slang, Medical Slang and Medical Acronyms, Veterinary Slang, Veterinary Acronyms](http://www.messybeast.com/dragonqueen/medical-acronyms.htm) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/28 "2009-10-22T00:01:14Z")
My dad was a doctor, and when I was a kid, he used to dictate his cases on a tape recorder, to be transcribed later, I suppose. He had a great memory and an acerbic wit, and he didn’t use codes that I know of, unless “acute goddamn hypochondria” was code for something else… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/29 "2009-10-22T02:20:51Z")
My aunt was distraught to read that she had “terminal insomnia” until she found out it meant her insomnia occurred at the end of the sleep cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/30 "2009-10-22T02:38:38Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > “Almost every” one? Were there remarkable anuses? IANAMD but I can think of two things that might make them remarkable - really bad hemorrhoids and lots of kinky sex. I’m sure the MDs in the audience can come up with more. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/31 "2009-10-22T03:40:42Z")
Psychiatrists (at least I think it is mostly them, never seen it in another type of MD’s report) like to say “Patient appears to be stated age.” I once had a client who got her report, and apparently the psychiatrist wrote “Patient appears older than stated age.” Well, she did, but still…Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/32 "2009-10-22T03:43:57Z")
IME difficult pts are usually referred to as **non-compliant** **poor historian** (difficult here can mean challenging as opposed to jerkiness) or, drum roll, **difficult.** \*\* Patient tolerated well\*\*, \*does not \*mean it didn’t hurt, or that you don’t hate me now, merely that you didn’t try to die when I did the procedure. some personal unofficial favs: \*\*Assuming room tempurature Circling the drain Impaired rectal cranial clearance - smurf/blueberry sign - hamster cage sign\*\* **LOL/LOM with the dwindles being admitted for discharge to a higher level of care.** You see, medicare often won’t pay for an ailing elder to move from their home into a nursing home, you know, before they fall and break their hip or some such. But there’s no problem getting them to pay to move the same patient out of the hospital into a nursing home, so sometimes soft admits are done to get the patient into a safe place _before_ something bad happens. You want more, I got 'em ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/33 "2009-10-22T04:58:09Z")
> [@Heckity](#): > > **Shot From Guns** , that reminded me of the time a radiologist told the nurse who had done my mammogram that my “breasts were unremarkable”. Hey, the radiologist who ran my last mamogram and subsequent echogram (I have cysts) said “speaking not as a man but as a doctor, your breasts are happily boring: congratulations.” Speaking as the niece of two bio-aunts, all three (1) of which are breast cancer survivors, I like happily boring breasts! (1) Yes, I can count. No, no typo. One had breast cancer twice, seven years apart. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/34 "2009-10-22T05:44:07Z")
Hopefully “interesting” doesn’t mean a rare disorder, like the one that got my mom’s illness written up in the New England Journal of Medicine because they’d never seen an adult with her condition before. (some sort of rare complication of psoriasis that had her covered in welts head to foot for a week) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/35 "2009-10-22T11:12:07Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > IME difficult pts are usually referred to as > **non-compliant** > **poor historian** (difficult here can mean challenging as opposed to jerkiness) > > or, drum roll, **difficult.** Those first two are usually for specific types of difficult, though, or are as I’ve seen them. “Non-compliant” means ‘doesn’t take medicine at all/per instructions’ or ‘doesn’t follow directions.’ I’ve seen such issues with patients not taking medication as specified that I’ve learned to take a medication history for a returning patient not as ‘so you’re taking X medication Y times per day?’ but ‘what are you taking right now? OK, how many times per day? Anything else? How often?’ double-checking it against the instructions given at the last visit. I can’t think of how many times patients have reported continuing a medication when they were told to discontinue it after the last visit, or taking it at the wrong dose/wrong number of times a day. (Part of this may be that our meds are often eye drops, which people seem to feel more free to use as they feel like rather than instructed, when the instructions were not ‘as needed.’) “Poor historian” can be a variety of things: ‘sucks at telling us what’s wrong,’ ‘sucks at giving a comprehensive/coherent medical history,’ ‘expects medical staff to be mind-readers,’ and probably some other things I haven’t thought of. ---
**Author:** ![corvidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@corvidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corvidae)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/36 "2009-10-22T11:21:38Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > From what I’ve seen on patient records, it’s just one doctor being polite to the referring doctor. Almost every entry I ever read from a referred physician ended with something like, “Thank you for the interesting referral.” > > Maybe one of the MD’s here can confirm. Not an MD, but I spend plenty of time going through patient files, and specialists almost always say something like “thank you for referring this very pleasant patient”. I wouldn’t take it as anything. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/37 "2009-10-22T11:49:09Z")
When I lived in Cameroon, I’d get my test results back from the labs in French to carry back to our bilingual nurse. Of course, I peeked. My marginal ability to read French caused more than one near panic attack! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/38 "2009-10-22T12:22:55Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Some more medicalese: > > LOL in NAD: Little old Lady in No Acute Distress > > PBAB: Pine Box at Bedside > > WNL: Within Normal Limits (referring to lab test results. Alternate meaning: We Never Looked) > > Microdeckia: Not playing with a full deck. > > AHF: Acute Hissy Fit > > FTD: Fixin’ to die > > More at: [Doctors' Slang, Medical Slang and Medical Acronyms, Veterinary Slang, Veterinary Acronyms](http://www.messybeast.com/dragonqueen/medical-acronyms.htm) I used to support the medical records applications at a local hospital system. The ones the ladies taught me were LOLFOF (Little Old Lady Found on Floor) and the infamous GOMER - Get Out of My Emergency Room. For some reason the phrase from autopsy that made me smile was “the rectum was grossly unremarkable”. I hope I am never that jaded. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Heckity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/39 "2009-10-22T13:04:15Z")
I don’t know **Shodan** , that my be new greatest aspiration in life - to leave with a grossly unremarkable rectum 😃 My favourite slang so far as provided by **Qadgop the Mercotan** is Pneumo-cephalic - airhead. I’ll be watching my charts for any of those listed! ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595/40 "2009-10-22T14:37:01Z")
As a nurse who reads way too many medical records, I agree that “WDWN” (well developed, well nourished) means appropriate weight from thin to chubby, and excluding obese or anorexic. I also agree that “Thanks for the interesting referral” is a common courtesy found in many records. My favorite is incompetent cervix. My cervix may be incompetent, but the rest of me rocks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-my-doctor-mean/514595.md?page=3)