Merry Christmas!

Or Merry Yule, Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, whichever you'd prefer :)

BMI? Oh please..

Some of you might know that I am a practitioner of a certain self defense system. I train twice a week. (approximately 4 hours/week)
Today, I heard some kid blabbering about BMI, gushing about how healthy her BMI (Body Mass Index) was.
She had a BMI of 19, and had a skinny build. For some reason, some people find it necessary to compare BMIs, so this person (she might be developing an eating disorder for all I know) asked me about my own BMI.

About my build:
Length: 153cm / 5ft
Weight: +- 53kg / 117lbs (changes throughout my cycle)
Body type: Mesomorphic/Endomorphic

BMI: Height (cm) / (Weight (kg))^2

Again..!

Useless rant post alert. Don't read this.

The Immune System (Book)

The Immune System

For those of you who don't know yet, I'm a sucker for immunology and infectious diseases. Several weeks ago, the Dutch Railways (also called NS) gave me a fake heart attack, but I did manage to pass my Immunology test with 8.7 out of 10 pts.
Thanks to this book. So yeah, it's a great book.

Puberty and #YOLO!

Pu·ber·ty  (pybr-t)
Noun

The stage of adolescence in which an individual becomes physiologically capable of sexual reproduction.

Alright, everyone's going to have to deal with this one, sometime in their lives.
My fellow lady folks start growing boobs, our hips start widening, and we'll also get to deal with our monthly visitor.. Egh.
My counterpart however, gets to deal with facial hair growth, among others. You men are so lucky you don't get to deal with monthly visitors, grrr..

Aside from changes in our bodies, our behavior changes as well. Some of us go asshat wild - 'Yay for one-night stands, binge drinking and stuffing our noses with drugs!'

Scenario: Aside from studying Health & Life Sciences, I also work at a consulting bureau. An agent of the RIVM decides to offer me a place to complete my interns if I manage to find a solution to one of the problems he's been wrestling with: How do you get youngsters to take their frail bodies into account (in other words: How do you get them to stop YOLO'ing?)

Anthrax

This has GOT to be one of the scariest diseases around, shame my high school only mentioned it once.

There were/are several 'anthrax islands' around, with Gruinard Island being one of the best-known islands. Apparently, there are 0 inhabitants, as weaponized anthrax was being tested on this island on sheep. Within days, all animals died of respiratory distress and shock, showing anthrax's potential as a biowarfare weapon. They burned down the island to decontaminate it, but when they reintroduced sheep, anthrax quickly returned.
Sometime ago, they sprayed formaldehyde mixed with seawater on the island, and upon reintroducing a flock of sheep, no animals were infected with anthrax, making it a safe island again.

Bacterial/Viral/Fungal/Parasitic: Bacterial
Causative agent: Bacillus anthracis 
Incubation time: about 8 days
Antibiotics of choice: Ciprofloxacin
Toxins / Factors: Lethal factor (LF), Edema factor (EF), Protective antigen (PA) (AB)
Bioterrorism agent category: A
Vaccine available: Yes (Toxoid: contains inactive toxins)[1]

Myocardial Rupture

Myo·car·di·al
adj. 
Myo translates to muscle (Ancient Greek: Mus or Mys), while cardia/cardio translates to heart (Ancient Greek: Kardia)

A myocardial rupture is a laceration or the tearing of any part of the heart. It is a quite rare, and usually fatal complication of myocardial infarction (heart attacks).
It accounts for roughly 1/4th of all deaths caused (indirectly) by myocardial infarction.[1]

Dutch Vaccination Programme & HPV

Hey folks,
It's been a while.
Been studying anatomy and physiology for a while now. College really takes away all your time..
Either way, I'm working on a PBL assignment at the moment, and I figured I might as well put it online.

Although it only deals with the Human Papillomavirus(HPV) and the Dutch's way of dealing with immunization, it might just cover some information you might need for whatever assignment.

Roleplay situation: Aside from studying Health & Life Sciences, I also happen to work at a consulting bureau. I'm visiting some kid named Bram, whose parents don't have their children vaccinated for religious reasons. Their kid has a nasty cough, which sounds achingly similar to a dog's barking.
After I'm done visiting the family, I wonder whether my little sister should get a HPV shot or not..

Proof of vaccination

Last update: November 26th, 2012

Plague

Blackened skin. Swollen lymph nodes. Rats and other pests. Fleas. Ew.
You know what I'm talking about. The Plague.
It's caused more human deaths than any other infectious disease, save for malaria and tuberculosis.[1]

It's caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium.
It's primary host is the rat, and the intermediate hosts between rats and humans are fleas. (Guess that gives me another reason to lay down rat/mouse traps.)
Since it primarily infects rats, but sometimes infects humans as well, it is a zoonotic disease. (disease which primarily infects animals, although it can also cause disease in humans)
Infected rats generally die soon after infection, but the survivors develop a chronic condition in which the animal can keep transferring the disease to other organisms.[1]

Alright, my little pet hamster doesn't carry fleas,
but that isn't the case for every pet rodent..

Yersinia pestis can cause multiple forms of plague:
- Sylvatic plague
- Bubonic plague
- Septicemic plague
- Pneumonic plague

Broken Heart Syndrome

"Due to problems on the tracks, the train leaving at 8.43 AM to Amsterdam Schiphol will not depart."
Wait, what? ..But I have an exam on Immunology in an hour!
My heart skipped a beat in surprise, and after this, my BPM skyrocketed in response to the stress hormones released by my kidneys. For one moment, I thought the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen / Dutch Railways) would choke the life out of my poor beating heart.

Heart Attack Level: NS.
One day, the NS will choke the life out of someone's heart.

Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli

Wooot, spare-time-post! No, seriously. My crazy timetable decided to give me 3.5hrs off between classes. Seriously? What the hell am I supposed to do? Oh wait. My teachers finally checked my writing assignment on EHEC. 8.5 out of 10 pts, hehe..

Well, let's get to the point.

Brock Biology of Microorganisms

Another ridiculously thick book, although it doesn't match up to the High-and-Mighty Sobotta.

Well, obviously, the book deals with microorganisms. Mainly bacteria, Archaea and viruses though. I've been using the book to finish my writing assignment on EHEC and Salmonella. Overall, it's a pretty neat book. It's supposedly a good book for studying immunology, or so I've been told.

Lots of text, but a lot of illustrations too.

Salmonellosis

Mhm.. Smoked Salmon..

I like salmon. Especially smoked salmon. It's also one of the only kinds of fish I'll eat without fussing. Until my stomach started acting up after eating smoked salmon for lunch.
I figured it was because my salmon was several days past the "Use By.." date. Either that, or it contained some pathogen. But the diarrhea was only short-lived and very mild, so I continued eating salmon, because smoked salmon is so very expensive (yeah, yeah, I'm a cheapskate, I know). I figured I was immune to the pathogen anyways, because when I continued eating the salmon on a daily basis, it never bothered me anymore.
2 weeks later, somewhere between the 4th and 6th of October, I received a letter from the store telling me that it might have been infected with Salmonella. Oops?

Gestational Diabetes

.. Alright. It's been a while since I posted something.
I've had to write 2 articles, one on gestational diabetes and the other on Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli. Such fun.. But I'm back! Sort of..

Either way, everyone probably knows what diabetes is - it's a condition in which too much glucose travels around in our blood, either because the hormone insulin is not working, or because it's gone missing.

We women have a tendency to crave weird foods at times. Especially during pregnancy. Sugary foods might suddenly become very interesting, but we should still limit our intake.

Yummy..

Pyrexia

Py·rex·i·a
Noun,
Medical term denoting fevers.
Medical Dictionary

Yes, I named my blog after Pyrexia, the medical term for 'fever'.
I only swapped the 'y' for 'u' because in Ancient Greek, we the sign for 'y' was a 'u'. Not to mention there's already another blog with the name 'Pyrexia'.
.. Alright. This is the second time in a month I'm coming down with a bloody darn fever. Funny thing? Yesterday was my birthday. I was ill on my birthday.
Illnesses strike whenever they want, wherever they want.

I didn't measure my body temperature, but I'm guessing its close to 39 °C.
Sometime ago, my body temperature used to linger around 38 °C without me being ill or feeling like crap. I'm weird like that.
By now, my regular body temperature is about 37.5 °C, which is still a bit higher than the average of 37 °C, but it falls within the range of normal again.
I never knew an elevation of 1.5 °C could make me feel this crappy, but I guess I underestimated the power of a good old fever bout.

So when do we call it a fever?

Weekend Ponderings...

This is an useless post on why I already hate dislike Health & Life Sciences, which is what I'm currently studying, and why the hell I think med school would be my thing. Don't read this.

Yup, it's Friday! Yay!
And even though it's Friday, I have a writing assignment to finish, two upcoming exams to study for and a web-course to finish and pass.

And I'm only in the second week of my first year of university. Not even med school. Oh no.. But I would gladly give up my position to get into med school. Internship? Residency? 'Pimping', or 'Shame Based Learning' as it's called? Sure. Come at me, bro!
While I've discovered that I certainly do like writing about diseases and researching them for a week or so, I've also discovered that I still dislike hate cell biology and genetics - which is what we're dealing with right now in Health & Life Sciences. Joy..
 

Flu Epidemic Europe 2012?

I came down a week ago with a random flu-like disease.
My fever came and went, while my throat only felt a little sore for a couple of days. No nasal congestion, no rash. I wasn't sore all over, although it did bring a killer headache.
Aside from this, I was tired 24/7, even when I slept 9 hrs.
It certainly wasn't strong enough to keep me in bed, but it was annoying.

Today, I found a newspaper article in a Dutch newspaper concerning the flu. Title: "Experts predict flu epidemic"

Sp!ts, September 12th 2012

Read on for a sucky English translation (by me)

Neonatal Jaundice

I survived my first week of college (I'm studying Health & Life Sciences at VU University Amsterdam).
So far, it's been an alright experience. I found out I really, really dislike cell biology, although I do like writing about disorders and ailments.
I just finished my first writing assignment regarding neonatal jaundice, and although I'm no expert, I'll be blabbering about it in this post.

The info regarding Neonatal Jaundice has been updated as of November 16th, 2012.

Donating Blood : The Aftermath

Enough said. They probably punctured the vein on the other side as well, and then accidentally stabbed the bicep muscle as well. >_>

This was 5 days after my donation.


Other posts about Blood Donation:
Donating Blood I
Donating Blood II

Thanks for reading!

Lab Coat!

I Am Mad Scientist!
It's So Cool!!

.. I know, random moment.
Why do people obsess over lab coats anyway?

More books!

Yup, I finally got my books today. Missing two of them, though.
The moment I saw the anatomy&physiology book, I freaked out because I thought it was some basically the same as the Sobotta. Luckily, it's not the same. ^^

They also delivered my lab coat >;D I love lab coats! It's ginormous for a size S coat, though. Euro size 42 o_o' (84 cm/33")

Donating Blood II

Alright, last time I babbled on and on about my own experiences regarding donating blood.
I'm going to babble about the requirements you have to meet if you wish to donate blood today.

Requirements:
Age: 18+
Weight: 50kg+
Blood Volume: 3.5L+
Hb levels: between 7.5-10mmol/L for women, between 8.5-11mmol/L for men
Blood pressure: above 90/60. If you have a ridiculously high BP, the doc will ask you why and might send you back home to take care of it.
Negative for HIV/HEP/Syphilis/Any other weird disease, of course.

.. Wait! There's more!

Donating Blood

Hey folks!

Today was the first time I gave up blood to save someone.
In the Netherlands, those who give blood are unpaid volunteers. We do it simply because we like the thought of helping people. Noble thought, right?
The docs made me fill in some survey, again (it was the same one, geez), asking about my non-existent sex life, travels and recent health. Nothing out of the ordinary.
My Hb values and blood pressure were still nearly the same, so I got to donate blood.

But I'm so poor..!

Nearly every college student deals with this.
In 1.5 week, I'm starting college, and my wallet is already empty.
I still have to find myself a job which will allow me to earn a pretty penny while also allowing me to ace this year.
I have to pay for self defense classes.
No one is buying my beaded works. I have not yet bought any school books, save for The Sobotta (which still cost €100+).
I still have to buy a lab coat and 8 other books if I substitute the Dutch anatomy book with the Sobotta.
I'm poor.

Choices..

"What will you do if you don't get into med school?"
..
..
..
We'd rather not think about it, but everyone will ask you this question, unless you happen to be a cum laude student.
Will you give up?
Wait for a year while doing nothing?
Wait for a year while studying something else?

Choices, choices..

So how do you get into med school? II

Of course, there are a few unusual ways of getting into med school too.

Last time, I rambled on about the central selections.
Maybe I should tell you something about the school selections, lateral entries and SUMMA.

For those of you who have not read the first part, go read it. Unless you're familiar with the Dutch education system, that is.

So how do you get into med school? I

So how do you get into med school?

Can you get into med school without taking biochemical subjects?

In the States, there are things with GPA and MCAT (don't ask me, someone explain this to me, please). I've heard it was surprisingly hard to get into med school with a 3.5 GPA.
In Belgium, everyone has to take a test, and only the best get into med school.

So what about the Netherlands? It sort of sucks.

Speed Anatomy

Forgive me, I'm having one of my weird moods today.

I nearly mastered Speed Anatomy :)

Sobotta - Atlas of Human Anatomy

My parents gave me this for graduating from high school. Sort of impressive, aye?

Take the * meds!

.. Take your damn meds, wench!
Sometimes, I wonder, why did the Gods make us this stupid? I've known a person for my whole life, but during the last days, her mind is falling apart because she damn refuses to take her medication. She's going paranoid, blaming every damn person for stealing objects from her house. At first, ghosts were responsible for making items disappear. Then, the neighbours. Then, random key-makers. And the list goes on.. Sigh.. (Or is she on radioactive, mind-wrecking meds?)

Well, Hi!

As the title says, Hi!

I have no idea how many people are going to read my random musings, but who knows what people do in their spare time..

I guess I should introduce myself. I am Ainyria (this is one of my many nicknames).
I'm currently a 22yo Dutch/Asian girl/woman who is a medical student at the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam.
I'm in my second year by now, and I've suddenly become somewhat knowledgeable about hyperthyroidism and Graves' Disease, since I'm also a patient with Graves' disease.
So I'm both a patient and a medical student at the same time. Win! (Not really.)

This is a blog I'm using as a sort of diary and emotional purgatory throughout my journey in becoming a doctor and dealing with Graves.


This is it for now.
See you around!