Does your doctor's lingo have you in a tizzy?

Dr. Judith Reichman 'Today' show contributor • Profile • E-mail

According to the American Medical Association, an estimated 90 million Americans have difficulty understanding and acting on their health care information. If your eyes glaze over during a visit to the doctor, fear not, there is help. “Today” contributor, Dr. Judith Reichman, offers these tips:

Our doctors have spent years of intense study in order to try to understand the complexity of human physiology as well as the symptoms, diagnosis and therapies of disease.

Unfortunately, they have been schooled to do this in a special language. While listening to them “talk amongst themselves," you might feel you've come across a secret language. (Or you may simply feel your English teacher did a really awful job.) If so, you're in good company. The American Medial Association has found that 90 million Americans have difficulty understanding and acting on health care information.  If you can’t understand what your doctor is saying to you, you will not understand the “whys” and “what to dos” of your medical care.

Don’t a lot of medical terms come from Latin or Greek origin?
Yes, they do. But many doctors, myself included, have never taken formal Latin or Greek courses. And guess what? We get by. Most medical terminology uses a few words from a Latin or Greek base with common prefixes and suffixes and once we know them, we can figure out their meaning. Here are a few:

Medical term                              Meaning
Menses                                 Period
Menorrhea                             Another term for period
Menorrhagia                           Heavy excessive periods
Metrorrhagia                          Bleeding between periods
Menometrorrhagia                   Bleeding on and off all the time
Menopause                            Cessation of periods due to lack of
                                           ovarian estrogen as the ovary ages
Amenorrhea                            No period bleeding
Oligomenorrhea                       Infrequent bleeding

Now let’s add the prefix “dys” — abnormal or painful:

Dysmenorrhea                         Painful periods
Dysplasia                               Abnormal cells

Then let’s go to roots that define our pregnancy status:

Medical term                                 Meaning
Gravid                                     Pregnant
Gravida                                   Pregnant woman
Nulligravida                              A woman who has not
                                             been pregnant
Primigravida                             A woman in her 1^st pregnancy
Multigravida                             A woman who has had
                                             two or more pregnancies

What are some other common gynecologic words that are changed to “medical speak?”

Medical term                                   Meaning
Pruritus                                     Itching
Coitus                                       Intercourse
Endocrine organs                        Organs that secrete hormones,
                                               such as the ovaries,
                                               adrenals or thyroid
Androgens                                 Male hormones
Hirsutism                                   Excessive or male pattern
                                               hair growth
Lesion or tumor                          Growth (this can be benign or
                                               malignant depending on the
                                               adjective used)
Neoplasm                                  Cancerous growth

Most doctors refer to our gynecological organs and the surgical procedures that remove or repair them with technical terms. Can you give us explanations for some of these?
Once more, the suffix tells whether the organ is removed (ectomy) or opened (ostomy).  So, removal of the uterus (huster, a Greek word meaning uterus), is a hysterectomy (the “u” became a “y”). The term hysteroscopy means that the uterus is looked at through a scope.  Salpingectomy (salpinges are fallopian tubes) means removal of the tubes.  Salpingostomy means that the tube is opened, which is often done in surgery to remove an ectopic pregnancy or scar tissue. 

Oophorectomy (oophor = ovaries) means removal of the ovaries.
Cystectomy means removal of a cyst.

Only on TODAY.MSNBc.com! Dr. Judith Reichman addresses your questions about women's health. LAST WEEK: Will removing my ovaries prevent cancer? GO TO ALL HEALTH TUESDAY COLUMNS

To complicate things just a bit, but important to note; if the hysterectomy includes removal of the cervix, it is called (and this is in English) a total hysterectomy. Otherwise, if the cervix is not removed, it’s a subtotal hysterectomy.  If both tubes and ovaries are removed at the same time as the uterus and cervix, the term total does not encompass all of them. Instead, this is called a total hysterectomy and bilateral (both sides) salpingo-oophorectomy.  Try saying that quickly three times!

What about prescriptions?  Aren’t they also written in Latin?
Some of the instructions are, and unfortunately doctors have also developed abbreviations to save time.  (We docs love abbreviations, you’ve heard many of them on your favorite medical TV shows and movies.)

The Latin terms on the prescriptions should be translated by the pharmacist on a label or in patient’s instructions, but just in case they are not totally clear, here are a few.

As Written                        As Translated                    As Meant
PRN                             As needed                     As needed to
                                                                     control problem
BID                              Twice daily                    Once in the
                                                                     morning and once
                                                                     at night
TID                              Three times daily            Every eight hours
QID                              Four times daily              Every six hours
PO                               By mouth                      Should indicate if
                                                                     to be swallowed
                                                                     whole, chewed,
                                                                     or taken or
                                                                     without food
                                                                     (and if without,
                                                                     if after a meal)
HS                               At bedtime                    I guess this is
                                                                     pretty clear
AC                               Before meals                  How long before
                                                                     meals, or is it
                                                                     just before you
                                                                     ingest that first
                                                                     forkful of food?

Currently, pharmacies and hospitals are asking doctors to write out instructions with full words in English to help prevent mistakes and confusion.   

Dr. Reichman’s Bottom Line: Should doctors use their 10-dollar words?
There are technical words in every profession and walk of life, from law and computer science to engineering. I can’t understand half of the words used by my automobile mechanic. When these same professionals interact, their language enhances their ability to share information, but when interacting with the layperson, it’s vital that they express their knowledge in easy-to-understand terms. 

We all want to be health literate so that we can understand how to take care of ourselves and get appropriate medical care.  If a doctor uses medical terms that you don’t comprehend, don’t be intimidated; stand up for your own literacy rights.  Ask for a translation and explanation.  If you are given written information or instructions, make sure you understand them. 

Dr. Judith Reichman, the “Today” show's medical contributor on women's health, has practiced obstetrics and gynecology for more than 20 years. You will find many answers to your questions in her latest book, "Slow Your Clock Down: The Complete Guide to a Healthy, Younger You," which is now available in paperback. It is published by William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins.

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