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...

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...