Tag Archives: Joel Teelucksingh

Before the first deyah is lit on Divali, somebody has already done a great deal of work. The house has been cleaned, food has been prepared, oil has been poured and wicks arranged (no fireworks, please). Hopefully, the gathering is not an opportunity for that annoying aunt to ask about …

The soucouyant, douen and La Diablesse have been doing the night shift for generations locally. Now they must compete with commercial horror houses, plastic skeletons, battery-operated witches and pumpkins. Naipaul would have cast a withering glance at our “mimic men”. The American-style buckets of candy have found a willing audience …

Mrs M died last year. I remember the vegetables from her husband’s garden (including my first dragonfruit) and the delicacies that she meticulously prepared. She was a lovely woman who watched Ask the Doctor with religious fervour. She started visiting for her diabetes and I became close to her family. …

Imagine her beside the hospital bed, handbag slipping off one shoulder, phone vibrating with messages from work. Her father is recovering from a stroke and needs assistance with daily living. His tablets have changed and she is handed a prescription with handwriting that old schoolmasters would have disdainfully dismissed as …

As always, October looks lovely. There are pink ribbons to look at in the bank while waiting in an awfully long line with two tellers, pink labels in the supermarket and pink balloons at the entrance to a company whose staff have been asked to wear pink on Friday. There …

The prescription for healthy living was flawless, if I do say so myself. Grilled fish, fresh vegetables, fruits bursting with antioxidants, legumes, thirty minutes of exercise each day, eight hours of sleep, less stress, avoid all the fried foods that have become staples in our diet, take medications that may …

World Suicide Prevention Day is observed annually on 10 September. The international theme for 2024 to 2026 is “Changing the Narrative on Suicide”. It seems mundane to ask the question: “How are you?”—but if your gut tells you something is wrong, ask again. Try this instead: “You haven’t seemed like …

In the days before the new academic year begins, the quest for books, uniforms and shoes continues. Health is often ignored—but a child who is exhausted, hungry, anxious, dehydrated or struggling to see the board cannot succeed. Sleep patterns may have changed during the vacation, so it is wise to …

This Independence Day, Trinidad and Tobago turns 64. If the country were one of my patients, this would be about the age when I would become more interested in health. I would ask about diabetes in the family, home blood pressure checks, cholesterol, sleep, smoking, alcohol, waist circumference and whether …

The third scalding shower before breakfast was not for cleanliness. It was the only place the young man stopped vomiting. There was a cycle of blood tests, drips, injections for nausea, endoscopy and abdominal scans that yielded little useful information. The hot-water behaviour is such a peculiar clinical clue that …

The half-used insulin vial was wrapped in a stained cloth and tucked inside a small purse. She had carried it through the sweltering heat, on a maxi and then on foot, to reach the clinic. “Doctor, I know the sugar high,” she said. “But tell me something. Where you want …

Men will discuss chest pain, blood in the urine and constipation with surprising courage. Erectile dysfunction often arrives in a whisper. Sometimes the patient waits until the consultation is almost over: “One more thing, Doc…” Erectile dysfunction means repeatedly being unable to obtain or sustain an erection firm enough for …