bloody asians!

I have a run of Asians on the ward at the moment. It's interesting as they evoke both different and similar reactions from me as the non Asian patients. There is this Korean man. He overdosed because of money problems. I asked him, as a general screen for dementia and his level of functioning, "so normally, during the day, what do you do?" He replied, "I sit around, go for walks". To clarify if there were risks of self cares associated, I asked, "do you do some housework or cook? Had there been any problems with leaving hot tap on, or the stove on?" He replied, in his high, thin, wiry voice, "Those are women jobs. And my wife hasn't been feeding me properly. She hasn't been doing my laundry either"...ooookkkkkk... I thought, I’m SO glad I’m not a Korean woman! But I am no feminist. So to be fair, I have to write down this one. I can only say this because I am a Chinese person of the female sex. Anyone else making such comments, I am bound to leap up and strangle him/ her, or at least pin them to the wall with my piercing brown slanty little Asian eyes! So, Asian women. Known somatisers - that is, if they were depressed, they were likely to say, "i have a headache" but tell you so many times, YOU would start getting the headache. The following conversation occurred on Friday, between myself and a Chinese woman with a psychotic illness. She is probably also suffering from depression which she expresses by incessant complaints of either heart burn/ rumbling stomach/ loose bowels/ constipation/ going too frequently/ not going enough.. On admission, I wrote up her drug chart. She was on EVERY antiacide EVER made! So I asked her, "Mrs X, you are on an aweful lot of medications for your stomach!" She replied, "I have a really bad stomach problem doctor, none of these medications help". I said "gosh that's an aweful lot of medication to take with no effect, why do you keep taking them?" "I don't doctor. I only take them when I feel I need them, doctor. As you know doctor, us Asians are very sensitive to side effects. I avoid pills as much as possible". "But you have discomfort from your gut everyday!" "Yes doctor, the medicines don't work". "But you don't take them!". "No doctor, please give me something that works..." sigh...if i EVER get that way, PLEASE put me down!