I can now use all the nifty LASER equipment in our Biofreeze lab for my patients. From what I've learned about how the K-Laser works on a biological level I was thinking it could be used successfully with fungal infections. I have a patient I want to try this with and have been putting together a protocol for it's usage and emailed K-Laser earlier today for any advice they may be able to offer. Then, ironically enough, on my drive home tonight I heard a commercial on the radio advertising for laser therapy for to fungus! It's a very common nail malady, #1 if I'm not mistaken so, if things go well, I'll have a happy patient and perhaps an extra nice little niche for a future practice. I'm looking at documenting the procedure and, if I get good results, maybe get something published. I've been kind of amazed in our GIUG class. Today, we say a copy of an email sent by a doctor talking about one of his patients mother who had just started dialysis. The place where the lady was getting dialysis shared the fact that a full 1/3 of their dialysis patients are there as a result of using acetaminophen and NSAIDS!
Unreal. A third of dialysis patients due to misusing over the counter medications. Our class had heard a story the day before about a lady who was over using ibuprofen and was suffering from a sore back that she described as the worst back pain in her life. Upon examination the doctor (our teacher) noticed swelling in the ankles then paused with the impending adjustment to seek out a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. His suspicions of high blood pressure was confirmed then he started asking the patient some questions and learned of her recent usage of ibuprofen. At first she was just taking a couple a day but then they weren't working quite as well and she kept upping the dosage. On the day she came in to see the doctor she had taken 24 ibuprofen over the course of the day. That's 4800 mg or 4.8 grams and was destroying her kidneys. The doc sent her to an MD who confirmed the diagnosis and gave her a loop diuretic which helped to alleviate the situation.
I guess the moral of those stories are that if you have to take an NSAID or acetaminophen to take the least amount possible and for the shortest amount of time. This all goes back to our pharmacology class and the discussion on COX1 and COX2.
Should be a fun week. I still have to recontact most all of my patients then put in 25 hours this weekend starting Friday at 3 for Irene Gold followed up quickly by exams on Monday and Tuesday in Endocrinology and GIUG, respectively. Studying for those exams is kind of straight forward. For Endocrinology simply know everything possible about the thyroid gland and for GIUG know all I can about the kidneys.
As far as internal health goes, and the post graduate Internal Health Specialty program I'll be starting in March, the kidneys and liver are probably two of the most important organs we have. The percentage of blood in the body that goes to those two organs alone is just shy of 50%. 27% will be found in the liver and 22% in the kidneys. Half our blood, right in the middle of our bodies. Knowing this, the test for jugular venous pressure from our physical diagnosis class makes a little more sense.
Today's pic is of my upgraded intern badge. The upgrade is that little sticker in the lower right hand corner with the Roman numeral IV. Which reminds me. We have a very nice breakfast presentation coming up this Thursday in the Purser Center at school. It's in honor of all the Tri-7's who have successfully completed their competency boards and have started clinic. Apparently the president of the school will be presenting each of us with our business cards as student doctors. And that reminds me of something else, once you have that intern badge, it seems to be common practice for people to start referring to you as "doctor" at least within the confines of our school which, is kind of cool. :)
My parents will be joining me in this Thursday's presentation. They haven't been to the campus since my brother went to school there back in the mid '90s. Then, they'll be making another trip there on the 26th of this month to go through a graduation for an additional bachelors degree that all students become eligible for after completing the first four trimesters at Logan.
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