Imagine for a moment, a patient with hypertension and galactorrhea. The patient is on risperidone, a notorious cause of galactorrhea. So the patient has hypertension and drug induced galactorrhea. But Occam’s Razor is irritating my brain. There must be a single diagnosis that ties these two symptoms together. Could she have a pituitary tumor causing Cushing’s disease and a prolactinoma? So I turn to my global and highly educated consulting crew, Twitter:
anyone aware of connection between galactorrhea and hypertension?
— Joel Topf (@kidney_boy) March 7, 2013
I received a few great responses:
@kidney_boy Did you know that William of Occam died of multiple causes?
— David Juurlink (@DavidJuurlink) March 7, 2013
and
@kidney_boy @davidjuurlink do you guys know Hickam’s dictum? A patient can have as many diseases as he damn well pleases.
— Irfan Dhalla (@IrfanDhalla) March 7, 2013
Hickam’s Dictum. I’d never heard of it even though Hickam ultimately became Dean of Indiana University, where I did residency.
For a long time I’ve wanted a counter argument to Occam’s Razor and now I have one. Thanks Jimmy Wales!
