22 November 2009

Vocab lessons

Thanks to medical school I now know:

- The annoying twitching that my left deltoid has been doing all day is called a fasciculation.
- My myopia will likely mean a later onset of presbyopia (compared to non-myopes).
- When I was a child I had a form of parasomnia (I sleep-talked; c'mon, who's surprised?).

- Neurologists like disorders with either 1) long names or 2) eponyms 3) both for the same syndrome (ex. acute demylinating polyradiculoneuropathy aka Guillian-Barre)
- Ophthalmologists also like long names, but prefer they end in "-ia" (ex. internuclear opthalmoplegia)

- If you eat contaminated pork, you can get pork tapeworm (T. solium), but if you eat a carrot contaminated by someone with pork tapeworm you get neurocysticercosis so cook those carrots good (see picture above).

- Laser Assisted Subepithelial Keratomileusis (LASEK) surgery involves shearing a flap into your cornea, while you are awake (with analgesic eye drops, picture).

- Anesthesia is technically only central nervous system depression. When you are put under you also get neuromuscular blockade (paralysis), analgesia (pain control) and amnesia (no memories).

- A symptom of hepatic (liver) failure or renal (kidney) failure is asterixis (characteristic hand flapping). It is likely accompanied by encephalopathy (altered mental status). Oh, and you're in danger of dying, soon.

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