The Medical Thread

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

Why do you think you have lupus?

If you truly do have lupus, then a physician can provide treatment that will greatly improve your condition and make you feel a lot better. Given the significant progression of the disease, the medications can prevent a number of the eventual complications the lupus causes.

At bolded: be careful, wait until you have a license before dispensing medical information!!! It's the new rule on GC!!! Forget the fact that you may have primary experience treating said patients or research on said illness, but, remember to add your disclaimer!!!

I just reposted your second paragraph because I thought it was awesome!!! Very succinct Dr.!!!

[BigRedBeta]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

At bolded: be careful, wait until you have a license before dispensing medical information!!! It's the new rule on GC!!! Forget the fact that you may have primary experience treating said patients or research on said illness, but, remember to add your disclaimer!!!

How silly of me to forget that!

I saw that other thread once, then never looked at it again...it's amazing to me that I've been on GC for almost 6 1/2 years now and managed to avoid most of the major arguments that have arisen here.

[BigRedBeta]

There is no credible study that has linked vaccines to autism.

It's rubella.

The rise in autism diagnoses is at least in part to expanding the diagnosis and increasing awareness of parents. A shocking number of parents asked me if their child was autistic when I was on my peds rotation when their kids were right on track or even developmentally advanced.

[BigRedBeta]

It's certainly a very touchy subject given the recent shootings across the country.

Medically, I'm not sure that it's up to doctors to make the decision on whether or not people can have guns. If the law states that those with diagnosed mental illnesses aren't allowed to possess firearms then that's the consequence of having a mental illness, but doctors should focus on disease and health. This isn't to say that doctors must ignore social issues with their patients, but that I think that's more of a one way street - doctors focus on social issues that affect the health of their patient (ie domestic abuse, inability to pay for meds, difficulty patients have getting to appointments b/c they don't have transportation), but shouldn't worry about how the health decisions affect the social issues in their patients. That's a very simplified view for sure, going with the one way street analogy, and I'm sure that if I thought about it, I'd be able to come up with some situations in which I don't agree with what I've just said, but on first glance, that looks like a good starting point. I probably didn't explain it that very well though...

Of course I'm of the opinion that we'd be better off with out the 2nd Amendment, but recognize it's not that easy...

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

It's certainly a very touchy subject given the recent shootings across the country.

Medically, I'm not sure that it's up to doctors to make the decision on whether or not people can have guns. If the law states that those with diagnosed mental illnesses aren't allowed to possess firearms then that's the consequence of having a mental illness, but doctors should focus on disease and health. This isn't to say that doctors must ignore social issues with their patients, but that I think that's more of a one way street - doctors focus on social issues that affect the health of their patient (ie domestic abuse, inability to pay for meds, difficulty patients have getting to appointments b/c they don't have transportation), but shouldn't worry about how the health decisions affect the social issues in their patients. That's a very simplified view for sure, going with the one way street analogy, and I'm sure that if I thought about it, I'd be able to come up with some situations in which I don't agree with what I've just said, but on first glance, that looks like a good starting point. I probably didn't explain it that very well though...

Of course I'm of the opinion that we'd be better off with out the 2nd Amendment, but recognize it's not that easy...

You bring up a relevant medical situation. In no way should a physician make that decision. But the diagnosis of any mental illness starts at the doctors office or worse yet, the psychiatric ward. Making it well within the realm of medical doctors to have a very strong comment about the issuance of guns.

The problem is people who have traumatic experiences, like some PTSD, who need medications to ease their difficulties.

Unfortunately, very few mental illnesses are actually treated by any medication given and the 2-pronged treatment is not followed through, like bipolar 2 with lithium treatment then talk therapy, preferably cognitive therapy. And let's not get into stress management...

[BigRedBeta]

SoEnchanting - have you taken the medicine shelf yet? I'm still 5 and a half weeks away, but the sheer weight of information we've gone over already has me worried (I'm going to put in some major time studying this weekend :O). Just started outpatient clinic this week - clinic's boring, but we have those small group sessions for half the day and they've been kicking my butt. I can't imagine having to study everything we've gone over on my own...hope you're managing okay.

I just thought of this but...I have a copy of our class notes (put together by some third years about 5 years ago and since passed down from class to class) on google documents, I could share them with you if you're interested. They're not super well organized, but it might be helpful, just to see the scope of things we've discussed...Let me know.

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

SoEnchanting - have you taken the medicine shelf yet? I'm still 5 and a half weeks away, but the sheer weight of information we've gone over already has me worried (I'm going to put in some major time studying this weekend :O). Just started outpatient clinic this week - clinic's boring, but we have those small group sessions for half the day and they've been kicking my butt. I can't imagine having to study everything we've gone over on my own...hope you're managing okay.

My IM shelf is this Friday!

Scared to death since I've been told this one and Surgery are the worst ones. I've finished reading FA and MKSAP. Now I'm just doing online questions.. and praying... a lot.

And why am I on greekchat right now LOL...? I might need to put myself on internet punishment until the weekend.

I did outpatient at the beginning, and it was so much slower than inpatient medicine. At least you have more study time, I hope. Pray for me this week!

P.S. I'm about to PM you my email address. I'd appreciate any and all help!

[nikki1920]

Just to interject: the VT killer WAS under a court order to receive counseling but that order was never enforced or followed up on.


One size does not fit all, each person suffers with *insert issue here* differently and what works for one may not work for another and vice versa.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by nikki1920

Just to interject: the VT killer WAS under a court order to receive counseling but that order was never enforced or followed up on.


One size does not fit all, each person suffers with *insert issue here* differently and what works for one may not work for another and vice versa.

Then the question becomes, is the university responsible for an adults actions, no matter if he is in his "right mind" or not? If that be the case, plenty of us would not be "allowed" to have a college education and may have been forced to pursue a field less that our aptitude...

[Kappamd]

For those of you in medical school,
How many schools did you apply to? Did you apply to any considered "out-of-state?" I've been researching and all the schools I've looked at make it seem as though if you are from out of state, you have little to no chance of even being interviewed, let alone being admitted. I go to school in Ohio and we have our fair share of medical schools, so it would be nice to know if I should focus my efforts or here or look elsewhere.

[SoEnchanting]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

For those of you in medical school,
How many schools did you apply to? Did you apply to any considered "out-of-state?" I've been researching and all the schools I've looked at make it seem as though if you are from out of state, you have little to no chance of even being interviewed, let alone being admitted. I go to school in Ohio and we have our fair share of medical schools, so it would be nice to know if I should focus my efforts or here or look elsewhere.

I applied to all four in-state medical schools, and 5 out-of-state schools. Of the out of state schools, I interviewed at 3 and got accepted to 2. Although these schools may have a slight preference for in-state applicants, I didn't feel as though I was at that much of a disadvantage because I was out-of-state. Many of the people I interviewed with were out-of-state as well.

If you are trying to leave Ohio, then you should apply to more out of state schools. You just need to make sure that the out-of-state schools you are applying to are 1. not state schools and 2. accept out-of-state students. If I were you, I'd apply to Ohio schools as well just as a back-up.

P.S. Good luck to you!

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

For those of you in medical school,
How many schools did you apply to? Did you apply to any considered "out-of-state?" I've been researching and all the schools I've looked at make it seem as though if you are from out of state, you have little to no chance of even being interviewed, let alone being admitted. I go to school in Ohio and we have our fair share of medical schools, so it would be nice to know if I should focus my efforts or here or look elsewhere.

I applied to all three schools in the state of Louisiana but didn't fill out the secondary application to Tulane. I was accepted to both LSU campuses and chose LSU-Shreveport. Most state schools will NOT take out of state students (unless of course they are big name schools) because the state funds the education of these students in part. If mostly out of state residents were admitted to a state school, there would be hell to pay! As others have said, your best bet is to apply in state unless you are a stellar applicant with loads of research or willing to pay the big bucks for a private school education.

[BigRedBeta]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I applied to all three schools in the state of Louisiana but didn't fill out the secondary application to Tulane. I was accepted to both LSU campuses and chose LSU-Shreveport. Most state schools will NOT take out of state students (unless of course they are big name schools) because the state funds the education of these students in part. If mostly out of state residents were admitted to a state school, there would be hell to pay! As others have said, your best bet is to apply in state unless you are a stellar applicant with loads of research or willing to pay the big bucks for a private school education.

While I agree that in-state is best...I think that the overall goal for most people should simply be to become a doctor (without going to a foreign school). Simply because of the difficulty of getting in anywhere, the prudent strategy is to apply to a broad spectrum of schools.

And research matters only at those schools that value research heavily. Certainly there are some schools where research is a requirement for admission and some schools where it is a simply a nice bonus.

[cheerfulgreek]

Earlier today, I was reading an article on new medical research. A new study in rats showed that removing some of the bone marrow could actually strengthen bones and speed up recovery after a fracture or a break. Has anyone heard of this? If this is true, I would think doctors would have to give the patient some kind of bone growth hormone if some of the bone marrow were to be extracted.

[BigRedBeta]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

Earlier today, I was reading an article on new medical research. A new study in rats showed that removing some of the bone marrow could actually strengthen bones and speed up recovery after a fracture or a break. Has anyone heard of this? If this is true, I would think doctors would have to give the patient some kind of bone growth hormone if some of the bone marrow were to be extracted.

1) If it's being done in rats, it's certainly very new. This technique will be a long way from be implemented in humans.

2) Unless the article talked about giving other medications why would "bone growth hormone" need to be given? The marrow produces blood cells, not bone. I have no idea the exact mechanism of how removing marrow would speed the process, but it seems like the point is that whatever is in a rat's marrow may be slowing down bone growth...