That time when... med school kicked my butt

Second year of med school has been a blur so far. I arrived back from my trip to Africa on the day my classes started, literally dropped my bags at home and went straight to class. I do not advise doing that and will not be doing it again.

My brain was not ready to jump from Chad straight to classes. So while I tried to adapt to being back, I started running behind class materials and felt like I was playing catch up. The entire semester. My stress levels went to record highs, and I even had insomnia, something that, with rare exceptions, I had never had. I passed all of my classes, but my class ranking suffered a bit and I'll have to work extra hard to recover.

The result is that I finished the semester utterly exhausted. But since I'm an overachiever at heart, instead of taking advantage of winter break to recuperate before second semester, I went ahead and signed up for an elective. Because I'm insane. I did escape for a week to go to the beach, because I felt that I could simply not start 2nd semester without recharging my batteries at least a little bit. I'll talk about that on the next blog post, suffice to say, it worked! A week in paradise was just what the doctor ordered. :)

However, I realized that I need to cut myself some slack, and not be so hard on myself. This semester was pretty tough, but I passed. Beating myself up because of class rank is stupid, and I know I can do better next semester, when I won't start out stressed and already playing catch up. Plus, we start out with Neuro and I love neuro!! So it should be fun.

So the two lessons to take home are: 1- don't come back from a stressful trip to Africa (or elsewhere) the same day your classes start. Give yourself some time to arrive and adapt before classes start. 2- do your best and don't beat yourself up if the results are not exactly what you expected. After all, it was just 1 semester and I passed!!

The thing about stress...

We've been seeing a lot of things about stress lately, and how much it affects your quality of life, mental health and physical health in general. In Uruguay, the leading cause of death for those above 40 years old is cardiovascular problems.

Well, high levels of stress cause high blood pressure, increased heart rate and even mess with your cholesterol levels. Stress also disrupts sleep, which is what the body needs to recuperate and keep us healthy and sane. And I guess there's no need to mention that stress also damages our mental health and influence our lifestyles in a negative manner (people who smoke and/or drink, usually smoke and/or drink more when they're stressed, don't have time to exercise or relax, etc.)

For the two weeks before my exam, I was very stressed. I wrote about this a couple of posts down, but I didn't give many clear examples. You guys, I was really stressed. I was yelling at people for no reason. I was not sleeping well, which made me tired and cranky on top of stressed. It was not good. And the worst part was that I knew I really didn't have to be that worried about the exam, because I had been studying and knew the material, but I could not reassure myself.

So this time, I am trying to do things differently. I have 3 1/2 weeks before my second midterm, and my goal is to not become a horrible stressed out person. I made myself a schedule and I'm keeping strictly to it. It includes time to relax, time to go for a walk/run, time to see friends. Obviously, it includes lots of time for studying. But I think that if I keep to my schedule and remember that my study techniques apparently work (so far, cross your fingers!), I can keep the stress at bay and make it through the exam and on to my month off in July (here's hoping!).

This schedule, of course, may not be the "stress cure" for everyone, but I think it might work for me. I just want to encourage each of you, whether you're a med student, doctor, nurse, or nothing at all related to medicine, but as all human beings, still vulnerable to the stress of life: Try different things and see what works for you. There are lots of different things that can help with stress management, and definitely improve your health and quality of life. Your present and future self will thank you. Chances are, your friends and family will too. 

The day after...

the midterm exam, that is. It was a beautiful day, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Warm. The exam took me 2 1/2hrs (we had 3 1/2hrs total, so ample margin!) and started at 9, so I got home around noon. Changed into a bikini and a beach dress, grabbed a book and some sunscreen, and spend the afternoon on the beach, **reading a book** that had nothing to do with medicine! (Only my med-student friends will understand what this means. Oh, it was heaven!

Then I slept for about 10hrs.

And then, I got on a bus to go to Valizas, a place on the coast of Uruguay, which only has wild beaches and barely any houses or people. It was 36hrs of walking through nature, collecting delicious edible mushrooms, cooking, talking to friends, and generally just relaxing. I even turned off my cell phone for the 36hrs, in order to really disconnect from school. I knew they would be posting the answers to the exam soon, and I didn't want to see that.

Came home late at night and very tired, so I slept like a rock (for 5hrs!) and got up the next morning to start all over again. That's when I finally checked my answers and realized I had done very well on the exam. :)

Now, until the next exam, I have a little breathing space. It's only a month, but I'll take it! 

Mid-terms and stress

Just a quick post about my midterm exam: 

It's stressful. Very stressful. This is a 3-hr exam that covers ALL of the material of EVERY class we've had so far. 

The way my school is organized, we have 2 midterms and if we have an average of 80% on the exams, plus 80% on the "continuous evaluation" which includes all of homework, presentations and participation in class (and is completely subjective, which I hate!!), you get a month's vacation in July. 

If not, you have to prepare for a 3rd exam in the 3rd week of July, which covers all of the material for the entire semester. 

Folks, remember this is med-school. That well-known metaphore about drinking from a firehose is a great illustration. So the material for the entire semester, in one killer exam? I'd rather not, thanks. 

Hence why I'm currently stressed out and studying so I can get the best possible grade on this midterm. If I get less than 80%, I can forget about my chances of not going to Final Exam. It also doesn't help that my otherwise adorable kitty is going through puberty and decided to wake me up in the middle of the night, every night, meowing at the door of my bedroom. (She can't get spayed yet, she will as soon as they let me!) 

Wish me luck. I'm really stressed out, and I really shouldn't be. I know my stuff. I have been studying. But since it's the first exam, I'm not sure what to expect. 

Yey! Med school! Just 3 more years of this (before clinics)! 

P.S.: Can I please just poke somebody with a sharp object? I feel like if I don't get to handle a needle or IV line until December, that I might explode.