Aussie-Chinese Girl Reflects on Her Med Practitioner Journey

 As the Melb Weather Goddess has finally decided to grace us w/ more summer-like temp and weather cond (here and there 😅😭), everyone I know who is not otherwise (forcibly) tied indoors (i.e. effing exam season pour moi 💀) is rushing to beaches, parks, and outdoor dining seats. But as everyone knows, Australian nature is out to get us, from the hole in our ozone layer to our deadly animals, so now is as good a time as any to raise some sun protection awareness.  A newly published study by Canadian researchers discovered a phenomenon they're dubbing the "sunscreen paradox", which is basically when people feel invincible after applying sunscreen so they are more inclined to engage in dangerous sun-exposure activities such as  going to the beaches when the UV index is dees as being extreme   not taking other sun-protective measures e.g. wearing a hat, UV outer layers only applying sunscreen once and never reapplying inadequate amount and/or covereage of sunscree...

 If you're from Aus, you would know my pain of waking up at 6:30am but feeling like it's only 5:30am BECAUSE IT TECHNICALLY WAS until Sun 1/10 when we skipped from 1:59am straight to 3:00am, essentially losing 1hr of much needed beauty sleep 💀 Pair that w AFL Grand Finals long weekend in Vic and you have a miserable workforce and miserable students w morning classes/lectures/placements 😓  In keeping w this awful phenomenon, I thought I would post about our body's natural circadian rhythms, certain physiological diurnal patterns, and why the 21st c. living style w overstimulation (screens, but also mental and physical) is a nightmare for our body's natural daily cycle 😑  (yes, this is now how I spend a large portion of my free time now, yes, super nerdy, but who isn't in med, and no, don't believe any health profesh when they say they aren't nerdy, they are nerdy, just not like god tier nerdy w/in nerd popln LOL)  What is the circadian rhythm? - Body's...

 One of the stereotypes of Aussie that’s actually true is our love for the beaches, pools and water parks - I mean who wouldn’t w our amazing WHITE SAND beaches (that was actually sold to Jeju-do from QSD 😂) and blistering summer heat. So w the summer approaching and an extremely tragic pt case seen this week, I thought I would do a post on water safety But first w the pt story:  21M engaged in a breath holding competition with brother in pool - did not resurface after 3 mins, family started to worry. Pt pulled out of pool unresponsive, CPR 10mins, O2 sat 50% when ROSC. BIBA, ICU admission. Loss of grey-white matter differentiation on MRI brain suggestive of global brain insult. Sedated ator, pupil equal, brisk reaction to light, limbs withdraw at painful stimuli. Intubated and one seizure episode day 2 of admission. Bleak prognosis.  Cannot even begin to imagine the psychological trauma currently experienced by his brother, family, and friends. Water safety tips - young...

 If you’ve read my very first post, you’ll know that I was struggling a hekking lot w life and med school in 2021 and was dx w adjustment disorder mid 2021 and took 1.5yr LOA before recommending 2nd year med this year. Well, it’s only since like mid year this year that I felt comfortable enough to explicitly say, yeah I had adjustment disorder, yeah I have a psych l, yeah I’m on escitalopram.  Apparently I’m a good “fake it til you make it” person cuz subject coord at Western clin school thought I was like totally ready and eager to come back from Feb when actually I was internally screaming, attending ward rounds just to hide in library or bathroom or anywhere else (no I’m not disclosing my secret hideout, everyone has to find their own in each hospital, and trust me everyone needs one) until last 2 weeks of Sem 1.  Also massive newly discovered pet peeve: don’t assume I’ve always been an extrovert and happy to start convo and be proactive and whatnot so I don’t struggle...

Reflection of the day: BRAIN FOG → Dis kid got overly excited over the 26 sunny weather in Melb and forgot about the cursed temp diff and landed herself w most likely the common cold (tested COVID -ve thankfully 😁), potentially bacterial infection secondary to viral currently (only now experiencing coryzal sx w productive yellow/green sputum 🤢). Last few days finding it difficult to concentrate on lectures and brain-intensive learning in general, so thought I would look into this common phenomenon known as brain fog.  So what is brain fog?  It is NOT an official medical term  It is used by pts to explain their sx of difficulty concentrating, focusing, performing daily tasks (e.g. taking much longer to do something than they normally do) etc Can be ACUTE or CHRONIC  What causes brain fog? One study conducted by Dr Ali Mazaheri (A/Prof in Psychology at the University of Birmingham) shows that inflammation is implicated in brain fog and directly affects attention Th...

The Bureau of Meteorology has officially declared an El Nino year yesterday, but what the heck is an El Nino and what does it mean for us Aussies?  "Official" definition: El Nino is part of a natural cycle termed ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation), along w El Nina and "neutral". It is one of the most influential natural phenomena that affects yearly climate variability in Australia. Dummy 101 definition: El Nino = warm spells i.e. we gonn melt more than usual this summer  Significance: El Nino years typically mean ↑ fire risk in SE Aus Reduced rainfall Warmer temp Shift in temp extremes  (n.b. some places will have both higher one-day avg temp and longer warm spells, whilst elsewhere e.g. Melb more likely to have higher one-day avg temp but shorter overall warm spells) Increased frost risk (due to reduced cloud coverage, can get colder-than-avg night-time temps) Reduced tropical cyclone numbers Later monsoon onset Decreased alpine snow depths Time to stock up on ...

What is R U OK all about?  - National public health charity → National Conversation Movement  - Started by Gavin Larkin in 2009 as a why to champion just one question in honour of his father, Barry Larkin, who tragically passed from suicide in 1997 much to the shock and grief of his family, friends, and everyone else around him - Collation of resources developed from LIVED EXPERIENCE to support HELP-GIVERS in asking R U OK and having the skills, knowledge, and confidence to engage in MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION if the answer is no  - Suicide prevention is the RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL  - Campaign about building INFORMAL SUPPORT NETWORK → friends, family, colleagues, local communities, interest groups etc START THE CONVO TODAY Click here for more tips & tricks!  “Without R U OK? the landscape would look very different. There is great value in demonstrating to the whole community that they can contribute to suicide prevention and then, importantly, showing them how. ...