The Doctor and the Counselor - Complementary Medicine

Irina was muttering nonsense to herself as she exited the turbolift. Her palms were moist and her mouth was dry, her heart rate slightly elevated and her red hair slightly disheveled. She'd been hoping to get some extra time to mingle with the ship's crewmen, and avoid seeing the ship's physician until she absolutely needed to—which appears to be the case for the moment. She would normally have had her medication ready to go, but she didn't bring it with her on to the ship. She wanted to avoid all the questions the security officers would ask, such as: Why do you have two dozen loaded hyposprays in your duffel bag? The fewer people that knew of her condition, the better. Irina took another left turn down the corridor, and entered sickbay. She didn't know if it was purely her own anxiety, or some cacophony of emotions she began to feel upon entering; she awkwardly blurted out, "I demand to have my physical now!"

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Miss..." replied James as he glowered at the woman who had just barged in and demanded her physical.

"Err . . . Reese. Irina," she squirmed, extending her right hand. Her left hand was occupied twirling a tuft of hair and her eyes darted around the sickbay, failing to meet James' eyes. "If I could have that physical now, I would appreciate it."

"Well, you're in luck, my dear lady," replied James happy that he had made her slightly nervous. "I have just finished a couple physicals and have just enough open time to get yours done," he added.

"Good! GREAT!" she bellowed. Irina hopped on to the nearest biobed, took a deep breath, and her eyes finally locked on to James. She lifted her hair up, exposing the skin of her neck, and the subtle line of spots running upward from her shoulders toward her forehead. She pointed to a small pale area where one would administer hypospray. "I need 50cc of psilosynine inhibitors administered stat," she whispered assertively, though favoring discretion. "Another 5 cartridges for the road, and another 60 cartridges of it synthesized for the next month. You'll find I'm a patient woman, Doctor—so I can wait for the bulk of the supply, but I need some of it now!"

"Excuse me?" he asked as he glared at her in bewilderment. "Okay, first and foremost, we'll get your physical completed. After we have completed your physical, we will discuss potential medical needs, and provide whatever medications are REQUIRED. I will say this, though, Ms. Reese," he added as he glanced at her medical record. "Psilosynine inhibitors are actually in the process of being phased out gradually. It has been shown that a continued and prolonged usage of those types of drugs can permanently damage certain areas of the brain, not just those relating to empathic or telepathic capabilities. While the damage is still focused in that area of the mind, it does affect other things tied to that part of the brain. In your case, and mind you, this is just preliminary until I've finished your physical examination, I would recommend the usage of a new and low dosage drug that doesn't do any permanent damages. In this case, I think that Lyratandrozine should work quite well for what you need," he added as he finished speaking and reached for the medical tricorder that was near him.

The briefest pout appeared over Irina's face as she glared at James, before she replaced it with the most disarming of smiles. Whatever was left of the medication she took this morning was wearing thin in her blood. She began to sense in the Doctor a strong moral center. "This is going to be harder than the last one," she thought to herself.

She lifted herself gracefully from the biobed, approached him with the largest of her peridot eyes, and placed her hands upon his forearms. "Look, Doctor . . . ?" she paused, as if looking for a name tag somewhere on his chest, giving up and instead began patting his chest gently. "Doctor. You and I both know Lyratandrozine, while it helps suppress my empathic ability, is still not quite up to snuff with Psilosynine inhibitors, and on top of that it doesn't have any effect on my pheromone production; a side effect of my unique condition. I wouldn't want to take you away from any . . . special lady friend you may have." Irina reached for the hand that wasn't currently occupied with the tricorder, and began to play with it. "I was in Starfleet Medical, too. How about you let me specialize in the mind, and I let you specialize in the body?"

"I'm surprised you didn't know that my name is James, James Stewart," he said coyly. "As for what you're asking, while it may not affect your pheromone production, we will also be using Gandrozine which is a pheromone inhibitor. As for you specializing in the mind, I see here that you are a Counselor and not a Psychiatrist, which means that you do not have the ability to prescribe drugs, and because drugs affect the body, they are my domain unless or until you become a licensed psychiatrist with an MD or PhD after your name. Surely you are also aware that Psilosynine inhibitors are also highly addictive, which is the second reason why long term usage is not recommended. Because this ship needs every crewmember at their best, I cannot continue to permit you to take an addictive substance that may already be affecting your mind in negative ways," he explained thoroughly. "As for keeping me away from a lady friend, you are quite in luck at this moment, my dear. My husband will be returning to sickbay in a few moments," he added as an evil smile began to cross his face. There was absolutely no way he was going to allow this particular patient to demand anything without full medical proof backing her claims and demands. Her previous doctors may have been influenced by her manipulative powers, but he certainly wouldn't be one of them.

The feeling of rejection was not something Irina had ever been used to, on or off the medication. The feeling was sobering, giving her a brief moment of lucidity as punishment for her utter defeat. "GOD. This is so embarrassing," she screamed, though careful not to draw too much attention to herself. She jumped back onto the biobed, focusing the remainder of her energies on suppressing some of her more violent tendencies. "My addiction . . . has never been with the psilosynine inhibitors. It's always been with the emotions I sensed from people—that's what was addictive. The attention and admiration, the doting, the envy, the jealousy! I never trusted anything else to calm that storm as well as the inhibitors do." She stared intently at James. "Could I get that Lyra-stuff-zine from you, now? That smug confidence I'm sensing from you now is pissing me off. . . ."

"That depends upon what your medical examination reveals, however, with your medical history, I don't see any reason why we can't arrange that," he said cautiously as he used his tricorder to take some baseline readings. "It would seem that there is almost no trace of the psilosynine inhibitor in your blood anymore. All the other readings are a mess. I'd better get you on the medication now and try these readings once we get you stable again," he said as he looked at his tricorder and saw that everything was way out of balance for the poor girl. "As for my confidence pissing you off, my dear, may I point out that you were the one who charged in here demanding medications without even having had an examination to verify the need for it? That said, I can't take your examination unless or until I can get you balanced again, so here is a week's prescription of the Lyratandrozine and a week's prescription of the Gandrozine. Come back in in about three days, and we will conduct your physical then, as you should be balanced by that point," he said.

"GAH, I have to come back here? I figured I could bat my 'lashes for a minute, get what I needed, then hide in an unlit, musty jefferies tube for a month." She placed the medication toward her neck, and applied. "Once every 12 hours like the inhibitors?" Irina asked. "And gandrozine, I hope it's not some glorified deodorant like what my first doctor gave me; he thought he was being funny."

"No. These medications are in a dosage that requires only once a day treatment. I would suggest you take them immediately after waking up or immediately before bed. Do not overdose on them, if you take too much, you will find that the side effects of an overdose of either are quite harsh. One of the smaller symptoms of an overdose is vomiting throughout the day in which the overdose occurs. As for Gandrozine, it has never been prescribed to you before. Now, there is something else that we are going to address while we're at this. The Lyratandrozine has been known to lose effect if taken long-term, in this case long-term is defined as more than a year, although in some cases it can take up to five years for it to lose effect, it is designed to temporarily block the effects of your extra-sensory abilities. The key in this is that we will have to gradually reduce the dosages, but the dosages will only step down in extremely incremental amounts. That said, as long as we can train you to effectively and creatively use those abilities in your role as a counselor, as they gradually become stronger, there is no reason that you should need the medication after a year," he explained as he considered the option. "If for some reason you can't be trained to use them, I need to know here and now so that I can work out an annually rotating medical treatment," he added.

Irina began feeling the medication, as if cold water began to fill her from the inside, putting out wildfires burning throughout her body. "Well that's uncharted territory, Doctor Stew," she quipped. "I've been using this stuff going on ten years or so. Before that, I could've been described as: A narcissistic psychopath, who frequently exhibits violent, anti-social behavior. I've also been called a slut—the latter hurts a little more than the former." Irina pointed to the hypospray. "Without this, it's like using an uncalibrated tricorder from the 23rd century with a Klingon bat'leth duct taped to it. It's dangerous, unruly and you can't trust any of the numbers. My empathic metamorphism, not only gives me empathic abilities, but will give me the personality traits of those around me. It was supposed to reach its peak, and end in something known as the finiis'ral when I turned 18. My personality would have been finalized, but that never happened. It may have had something to do with my Human DNA, it seems to lock me in this perpetual puberty. This suppressing medication keeps me, well . . . me; and in all practical terms, makes me asexual. I see the advantage of having empathic abilities, but the idea of training myself . . . well that's a whole lot of hard work that I'm not sure would even work on some thing like me. Please, put me on whatever regimen that will stop it."

"Alright, Ms. Reese," replied James. "If you don't want to be without them, that is fine. I suspect that perhaps the gradual decrease which will be required prior to changing medications may be exactly what you need. I may be mistaken but perhaps as your abilities gradually begin to show up, you will learn to control them. There are a few simple shielding techniques which can be used to block it out entirely except when you wish to use it, but these are disciplines learned over time. If the abilities begin to gradually show up during one of the transitional periods, notify me immediately. Assuming you are game for trying it, we will attempt to train you in using your abilities responsibly. As I'm sure you are aware, some humans naturally develop empathic abilities, among other things. I and my husband were two such individuals. Believe me, I know your frustration, and to be honest, that teenage stage that has been lifelong, at least in my case, was primarily from a lack of control and a lack of a desire to control our abilities. Once I learned to block it out and shield myself, I managed to find my way through the mess. I still periodically use those abilities when I feel that they will be of benefit, however, I have also learned how to read people decently without using them. It took me a decade to learn how to control it, and I had no support system. In your case, you certainly would have a support system, and the training we would implement would be a mix of techniques used by various species. What worked for me as a human may not work for you, thus the broadest possible training in these techniques would allow you to find what works best without having any specific technique imposed upon you. If nothing else, it would give you something to focus on during the transitional periods as the medications change. Being focused on something besides the searing agony of everybody else's emotions might just help keep your mind off of the pain and problems of the transitional period. I won't push the issue, but I did feel that explaining it might help ensure that you are as informed as possible. Take time to consider the options so that you know what you wish to do when the time comes," he said as he tried to relate to her.

James remembered how his empathic abilities had kept him in a teenage cycle of constant rebellion and trying to go against the grain. It had gotten him into more trouble than it was worth, and when the final bombardment had come when he was in a huge crowd of people with friends, colleagues, and fellow Starfleet Officers present, he had had to learn how to reign his abilities in. Henry had been going through the same stage at around the same time, and fortunately they had encountered each other during this phase. They had, in essence, been each others support system. This may have been why they fell in love, however, it may very easily have just been what was destined to happen, with or without that common bond.

"Oh wonderful, another empath," Irina thought to herself. "Someone else who can claim they know what I'm going through."

Irina took the deepest of breaths, looking toward James. "Well, consider me 'informed,' but I think you'll come to find that some of my more permanent characteristics is my stubbornness, on or off the medication. I'll cross that bridge when the time comes, sink or swim, just be prepared to flood the deck I'm on with anesthezine. Could I at least rely on my 'deodorant' not wearing off as easily?"

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