My great plans to wake up before 9am on a saturday and spend 6 hours studying anatomy in the library were thwarted this morning by a funny surprise this morning. I started feeling some acid reflux in my throat about 6am, and so I thought, maybe my body is overproducing acid. Sadly, the lemons in my fridge were hard as stone! So I tried an apple instead.
AHHH! Worst mistake of my life (at least up this point). Because suddenly it wasn't my throat that was the problem. My abdominal area quickly became inflamed in severe throbbing pain! Of course, me being myself, my passion for medicine went into overdrive (it might have also been a tinge of desperation due to severe pain) and i started reading up all I could on ulcers, and of course, the quickest fix. (One that wouldn't leave me permanently scarred or have long-term side effects.lol) Now, one might wonder how I knew right away it was an ulcer. First of all, I've had a duodenal ulcer before that was medically checked out, and secondly my symptoms were all pointing in the same direction:
Throbbing, or stabbing pain in abdominal area between breasts and navel (check)
Increase in pain when changing position (Deeeefinately)
Pain occuring at night (often a couple hours after eating)
Got worse after I ate (which simply means that its gastric this time and not duodenal)
Radiated a bit to my back (kind of worried me, because that could lead to internal bleeding somehow)
It was associated with Nausea and in this case, even some vomitting. Though there was no blood or brown sediments in the vomit, so no internal bleeding was occuring)
I took some mint and chamomile tea to soothe my stomach lining, and eventually the pain subsided a bit. I woke up still feeling the tenderness in my abdominal area, but for now the pain is faint enough that I can deal with it without medication.
Oddly enough, the day before one of my friends was complaining to me that she had gone to one of the medical centres nearby due to severe abdominal pain that turned out to be an ulcer. I told her I could relate. I didn't realize until this morning how well I could relate. I ended up calling her up (at 7 am!) and asking her what the doctor had prescribed her, and where I could go in case I needed medical attention. Yeah, she was pretty pissed about getting woken up. But I was desperate, in pain and a bit freaked out.
Ulcers can be caused by a number of conditions but in my case I'm pretty sure it wasn't stress or a bacterial infection. Rather, I blame the horrendous yoghurt I ate last night, mixed with Cherry Coke, A Kit Kat, a Milkshake, and some fried chicken. That's like the perfect recipe for an ulcer. It's also a perfect recipe for obesity and a heart attack.haha. In fact after getting an ulcer the normal precautions to take are to avoid eating everything on that list. And on a more personal note, avoiding dairy is also very much advised, because milk is composed of lactic acid and sugars. Acid is acid, and sugars slow down the healing process.
And my abdomen is still warm:(
Then again, maybe this is a wake up call to severely change my college student diet. I think i'll start by dedicating myself to cabbage juices to get those babies healing. (My ulcers..lol)
Anatomy and Medical Specialties
Alright, so it's approximately 1.5 months into my second year at this medical university. It's going surprisingly well considering my week consists of approximately three classes every two weeks. Every other week its only 2 classes. And they are going surprisingly well, considering one of them (Anatomy) I am doing for the second time officially, as I was not allowed to partake in the final last year due to lack of the 5 points required from my midterms, and the second one (Immunology) is completely new to me and an incredibly difficult subject to grasp if one does not know their basics (which I don't.)
First of all, in reflecting on how many times I am repeating the anatomy course, one could easily infer that it would be quite absurd for me to pursue psychiatry as a specialty at this point. My knowledge in that subject greatly outdoes my knowledge in any other subject I've ever studied at medical school, thus it would probably be a better idea for me to pursue surgery. Or even better NEUROSURGERY. I would have probably passed the anatomy course the first time, had I not wasted my time writing and randomly vlogging on youtube about how I am wasting my time, and the other million of ways one such as myself finds to avoid dealing with a difficult and very intimidating subject. This time around though, the subject is neither intimidating nor difficult for me to master, thus I no longer search for ways to avoid confronting it. In fact anatomy has become quite a pleasure for me. Now I spend more time avoiding cleaning the "shithole" I live in. That is where the nearby library comes into use, with regards to my study needs. And of course, there is also the anatomy study group my friend organizes, which is also such a pleasureable experience that I honestly can say, I love anatomy. Immunology on the other hand, a class in which I'd love to sleep through. Half the time I have no idea what the teacher is talking about. I just remember random facts like T-Cells are CD-40 positive. (That might not be true, im just giving an example) What are T-Cells and what is being CD-40 positive mean is something I really have no idea about. Unfortunately, I have a dire need to start getting A's on all the quizzes because recently I found out that the final exam is about a week after I plan to leave for Canada, and the only way I can solve this conflict of plans (I NEED to go home for the break!) is by getting all A's from this point on and getting exempt from doing the final exam.
Alright, reflecting on the last paragraph, I'm starting to think that this has got to be the most boring, nerdy post I've ever written. But be not weary. It is all due to my choice of clothes today. I went shopping to Peek & Cloppenburg and bought myself the preppiest looking sweater I've ever come to own. Became so enthralled by the option of looking preppy that I put it on almost immediately upon returning to my loathsome and revolting dorm room. Even put on a headband and curled my hair to look like someone straight off of Gossip Girl. Lol. Thus it has also changed my whole thought process from. "Omg, Omg, Everything is so AWESOME!" to "Yes, I do in fact enjoy my current state of affairs." How unbelieveably great is that. The clothes do in fact make the man! I also tried to put on my glasses instead of contacts, but that just looks repugnant.
Other than that, in the past three weeks my optimism for everything to do with my life has been tainted by the inability to sleep in the normal hours of the night. I'm not quite sure what caused this disarray in my sleep pattern, but it may have been too many nights and weekends partying it up in clubs with friends and watching random shows at 4 am till I passed out. Simply put, no matter what time I to go to bed at, it always takes from an hour to 2 hours to fall asleep for me. I usually imagine random things that make me happy but with these conditions I'm starting to run out of things and people to think about! I even tried to pull an allnighter to get my sleep cycle right and it still took me 2 hours to fall asleep the next day AND I ended up sleeping 11 hours and waking up at 1pm. Now that is just ridiculous! I tried everything from avoiding caffeine to avoiding light and drinking water and its just not working. Some chemicals in my brain aren't being secreted when I need them most. I'm just not that far in my medical career to figure out which ones, and too lazy right now to Google it:P
Then there's the issue of the people in my hallway. This year I was unfortunatly cursed with all first years living in my hallway, and one second year that is missing in action. I thought that the first Anatomy midterm would scare them into hibernation, as is what occurred last year at this point, but sadly no avail. These people are generally quiet...at 6 in the morning and loud the other 23 hours of the day. And interestingly enough, they are the loudest about the time I am trying to fall asleep (midnight until 3am) and about the time I wake up (12pm -2pm). Other than that they are nice people:) Fairly messy, swedish, unsocial to non-swedes, cooking very strong odoured food in the kitchen and enjoying writing threatening letters in swedish about my laundry being in the machine too long. What more could a student like me want to be happy?
First of all, in reflecting on how many times I am repeating the anatomy course, one could easily infer that it would be quite absurd for me to pursue psychiatry as a specialty at this point. My knowledge in that subject greatly outdoes my knowledge in any other subject I've ever studied at medical school, thus it would probably be a better idea for me to pursue surgery. Or even better NEUROSURGERY. I would have probably passed the anatomy course the first time, had I not wasted my time writing and randomly vlogging on youtube about how I am wasting my time, and the other million of ways one such as myself finds to avoid dealing with a difficult and very intimidating subject. This time around though, the subject is neither intimidating nor difficult for me to master, thus I no longer search for ways to avoid confronting it. In fact anatomy has become quite a pleasure for me. Now I spend more time avoiding cleaning the "shithole" I live in. That is where the nearby library comes into use, with regards to my study needs. And of course, there is also the anatomy study group my friend organizes, which is also such a pleasureable experience that I honestly can say, I love anatomy. Immunology on the other hand, a class in which I'd love to sleep through. Half the time I have no idea what the teacher is talking about. I just remember random facts like T-Cells are CD-40 positive. (That might not be true, im just giving an example) What are T-Cells and what is being CD-40 positive mean is something I really have no idea about. Unfortunately, I have a dire need to start getting A's on all the quizzes because recently I found out that the final exam is about a week after I plan to leave for Canada, and the only way I can solve this conflict of plans (I NEED to go home for the break!) is by getting all A's from this point on and getting exempt from doing the final exam.
Alright, reflecting on the last paragraph, I'm starting to think that this has got to be the most boring, nerdy post I've ever written. But be not weary. It is all due to my choice of clothes today. I went shopping to Peek & Cloppenburg and bought myself the preppiest looking sweater I've ever come to own. Became so enthralled by the option of looking preppy that I put it on almost immediately upon returning to my loathsome and revolting dorm room. Even put on a headband and curled my hair to look like someone straight off of Gossip Girl. Lol. Thus it has also changed my whole thought process from. "Omg, Omg, Everything is so AWESOME!" to "Yes, I do in fact enjoy my current state of affairs." How unbelieveably great is that. The clothes do in fact make the man! I also tried to put on my glasses instead of contacts, but that just looks repugnant.
Other than that, in the past three weeks my optimism for everything to do with my life has been tainted by the inability to sleep in the normal hours of the night. I'm not quite sure what caused this disarray in my sleep pattern, but it may have been too many nights and weekends partying it up in clubs with friends and watching random shows at 4 am till I passed out. Simply put, no matter what time I to go to bed at, it always takes from an hour to 2 hours to fall asleep for me. I usually imagine random things that make me happy but with these conditions I'm starting to run out of things and people to think about! I even tried to pull an allnighter to get my sleep cycle right and it still took me 2 hours to fall asleep the next day AND I ended up sleeping 11 hours and waking up at 1pm. Now that is just ridiculous! I tried everything from avoiding caffeine to avoiding light and drinking water and its just not working. Some chemicals in my brain aren't being secreted when I need them most. I'm just not that far in my medical career to figure out which ones, and too lazy right now to Google it:P
Then there's the issue of the people in my hallway. This year I was unfortunatly cursed with all first years living in my hallway, and one second year that is missing in action. I thought that the first Anatomy midterm would scare them into hibernation, as is what occurred last year at this point, but sadly no avail. These people are generally quiet...at 6 in the morning and loud the other 23 hours of the day. And interestingly enough, they are the loudest about the time I am trying to fall asleep (midnight until 3am) and about the time I wake up (12pm -2pm). Other than that they are nice people:) Fairly messy, swedish, unsocial to non-swedes, cooking very strong odoured food in the kitchen and enjoying writing threatening letters in swedish about my laundry being in the machine too long. What more could a student like me want to be happy?
Oh and reflecting back on NOT becoming a psychiatrist, one of my friends here (the OLDER ones, like to refer to him as Grandpa or Female due to the fact that he, like women does not like to openly admit to being 24. Even his ex-girlfriend was shocked to recently find out that he had been 4 years older than her when they were going out.) actually wants to pursue Psychiatry. He's already done a 4 year- Honours Degree in Psychology back home so that specialty really suits him. If he doesn't end up doing that he wants to play with Helicopters, *cough*, I mean fly in them as a professional medical practitioner. I found the following quite humourous comic about the different specialties, and it just reminded me of his plans.
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