How Romantic!

Did you know that since I started at CCNM in 2010 (September), that I have written SEVENTY exams? Wow, wow, and more wow!  Thanks to my classmate T for counting.

Yesterday we wrote our last exam, Radiology and Advanced Imaging Techniques, and boy, what a way to end an exam period! This was, by far, the funnest (not a real word, I know) exam that I have ever written at CCNM! We all sat in the pitch dark; the examination theatre's lights were turned off so that we could best see the images that were projected onto the screen in the front of the theatre. A series of eleven images were then shown on the screen, with each image pausing for four minutes before moving onto the next. This reel of images then cycled through once more. We were all given an exam sheet with exactly eleven pages; one page per image. Each page featured a series of short answer and multiple choice questions  that (for the most part) pertained to the corresponding image shown on the screen. Oh, and because the room was dark, we were each allowed to bring a light source to help us see our individual exam. It was quite the romantic exam: a pitch black room, filled with approximately one-hundred and forty glowing students. We were glowing thanks to our light-source of choice (candles, flashlights, mini lamps, and even a string of Xmas lights were used), but we were also likely glowing because we knew that relaxation, family, and fun were jjjuuuussstttt around the corner!

P.S. I didn't post last night because I was off celebrating the end of exams (and also my birthday gone by) by attending the opening night of the Nutcracker Ballet! It was absolutely lovely and I am so very lucky to have been able to attend it.

Sleeping & Radiating

This week I have my Health Psychology and Radiology final exams. Here are two tidbits taken from my studying of these courses:

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We learned a bit about insomnia (inability to fall asleep or stay asleep) due to mental illness (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, etc) in Health Psychology this term. While treating the underlying mental illness is key in correcting the insomnia, as naturopathic doctors, we can also teach our patients about sleep hygiene. I've talked about sleep hygiene before on the blog, but in my Health Psyc notes, we learned some even stricter sleep hygiene principles that can be used to help get our patient sleeping at night! In addition to following those recommendations previously discussed on the blog (here and here), the patient should...

- Avoid all screens after 7 PM. No television, cell phones, or computers. The back-light of these electronics stimulate our sympathetic nervous system, our 'flight or fight' heightened response.
- Avoid reading anything work related in the evening. It may be triggering stress! 
- Avoid evening exercise. Complete daily exercise in the afternoon or morning. Evening exercise may 'wind you up'. 
- Aim to accomplish one or two household tasks each day. It will get the 'nesting vibes' flowing, will output some energy (increasing bedtime fatigue), and will keep the house in tidier, potentially more relaxing space. 
- Complete a trial period without any coffee or caffeine. Because we all know caffeine keeps us awake...

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While studying Radiology this morning, I came across this nifty chart that shows some common causes of radiation. Ionizing radiation is the worst; in fact, we were given this chart to help us understand why X-rays (ionizing radiation) and other forms of imaging should only be performed when the patient's case and diagnostic guidelines warrant it.  Don't be X-raying your patients all willy nilly! There must be specific presentations and patient identifiers (gender, age, body type, etc) for these types of procedures. 

Radiology = Done

Cat Scan! 

Two funny pictures pulled from my Radiology course notes (I don't know the sources for them, sorry!). 

Briefly, here are some final thoughts on my Radiology course:

 

- In this course, we talked about Xrays, CT scans, MRI exams, Ultrasounds, and other machines used to image the body. 

- All of these machines have specific uses/indications. Some general uses include: Xrays for bones or masses, ultrasounds for soft tissue and organs, and MRIs for neural imaging. 

- There are lots of conditions that can be picked up during diagnostic imaging that are otherwise asymptomatic!

- Xrays have been linked to breast cancer in women who had many chest Xrays in their life. This is because the Xray chest image is often taken in the anterior to posterior direction (i.e. with the machine facing the front of the chest) allowing the rays to penetrate the breast tissue. Clinical guidelines now recommend that Xrays of the chest be taken in the posterior to anterior direction (i.e. with the machine facing the back) to decrease the Xray exposure of the breasts. 

- This course taught me some really neat tid-bits, such as how to diagnose osteoporosis, that our lumbar vertebrate look a lot like scotty dogs on Xrays (i.e. like Scottish Terrier dogs), that many cancers present as 'hot spots' in the body, and that most 'fuzzy' things on images are bad things! 

- As an ND, I will rarely have to evaluate an Xray, but if I were pressed to read one, I'm sure I could figure out what the Xray is showing me! I may have to consult my Radiology notes if it is something obscure, but if it something common, I'm confident that I would be able to interpret the film. 

- This was one of the funniest classes of the year. The prof was often cracking jokes and including funny images (like those shown above!) in his PowerPoint presentations. His humorous and relaxed teaching style was much appreciated. 

Year 3, Semester 1, Class Review, Part 2.

The other half of this semester's classes...

(Clinical) Nutrition - I've always loved nutrition and this class is no exception.  So far I'd say it's not as good as last year's game-changing learning experience, but it's still very enjoyable. We are given cases to work on (so many cases this year!) and we do a lot of reading from our hefty textbook.  This class is so material dense that we actually have two textbooks that we have to lug to class each time. By the way, if you think nutrition = diet, you are very wrong. Contrary to common belief, we don't even talk about food during nutrition class. In fact, the class is very, very medical, but more on that tomorrow...

Physical Medicine - I already talked about this class here. Lots of material, but interesting stuff.

Radiology - The whole class is spent looking at X-rays. Enough said. Oh, and the prof is a funny guy too.

TCM/Acupuncture 3 - TCM is so much fun! It's been less than a month of classes and I've already learned so many cool techniques, like a form of acupuncture using heat only (no needles), different ways of inserting a needle (surprisingly there are tons of insertion techniques, way more than just 'poke needle into patient'), how to reduce the appearance of scars with acupuncture, and acupuncture for additions management.

Homeopathy 3 -Live patient intakes in class and then a whole lot of homework. That's it.  While I don't like homeopathy, I like seeing the doctors perform thorough patient intakes before my eyes.