The "Ask a Doctor" Thread

[Khairan]

Originally Posted by Timbit

You would've known if you hadn't neglected my post in order to give all your attention to Khairan's.

I asked what candida overgrowth is.

Candida is a type of fungus. Everyone probably has some candida living in various parts of their body (colonization), but under certain conditions -- such as suppression of the immune system -- this normal growth can become *over*growth and the colonization (harmless and asymptomatic) becomes an infection.

[Timbit]

Originally Posted by Khairan

Candida is a type of fungus. Everyone probably has some candida living in various parts of their body (colonization), but under certain conditions -- such as suppression of the immune system -- this normal growth can become *over*growth and the colonization (harmless and asymptomatic) becomes an infection.

How's it treated?

[Khairan]

Originally Posted by Timbit

How's it treated?

Antifungal medications -- drugs that attack the fungus and kill it.

[Jamroll]

Doctoring is the devils work, I tells ya!

[Bruinrab]

Farah, have the endocrine people told you why they aren't concerned? If not, ask them. While they certainly have more knowledge, it's fair to ask why they don't agree with the others when your symptoms are changing. They may have a wider threshold for normal with test results, but they also should provide symptom driven therapy - "treat the patient, not the numbers".

[RestlessSoul]

Originally Posted by Khairan

Candida is a type of fungus. Everyone probably has some candida living in various parts of their body (colonization), but under certain conditions -- such as suppression of the immune system -- this normal growth can become *over*growth and the colonization (harmless and asymptomatic) becomes an infection.

Originally Posted by Timbit

How's it treated?

inoculate the patient with another microbe and let them duke it out (Mario, Dr. et al. Ultimate Fighting Championship: S. Aureus in the Treatment of Candidal Overgrowth. N Engl J Med 2009; 357:414-418, Jul 19, 2009)

results not guaranteed. may cause certain unwanted side effects, such as: dry mouth, constipation, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, hair growth, eggplantosis, and hatred of your doctors.

Ask your doctor if it's right for you.

[ChotooMotoo]

Originally Posted by RestlessSoul

inoculate the patient with another microbe and let them duke it out (Mario, Dr. et al. Ultimate Fighting Championship: S. Aureus in the Treatment of Candidal Overgrowth. N Engl J Med 2009; 357:414-418, Jul 19, 2009)

results not guaranteed. may cause certain unwanted side effects, such as: dry mouth, constipation, nausea, vomiting, hair loss, hair growth, eggplantosis, and hatred of your doctors.

Ask your doctor if it's right for you.

what no sexual side effects, or sudden urges for compulsive gambling? SOUNDS GREAT!!!

[MaleFashionista]

Quick question for all the M3s/M4s/real doctors:

When did you guys start studying for Step I...and what prep books did you use (Kaplan, BRS, Goljan's, etc...)? Mine are coming up in four months...and as of right now, I'm fairly confident I'm going to get approximately a 2

[displaced]

okay, so we'd learned that a way of being able to tell if your pt. w/hypothyroidism's condition is uncontrolled is by the pulse pressure (<40 mmhg). say your patient's on synthroid and their pp is 76...does that mean they're taking too much or can you not make that correlation?

[Bruinrab]

Originally Posted by MaleFashionista

Quick question for all the M3s/M4s/real doctors:

When did you guys start studying for Step I...and what prep books did you use (Kaplan, BRS, Goljan's, etc...)? Mine are coming up in four months...and as of right now, I'm fairly confident I'm going to get approximately a 2

I took the kaplan step 1 prep course (the 3 weeks of lecture one). I also used qbank. Ended up scoring in the high 230's. I planned to also use goljan and first aid, but it got to be too much. My recommendations - use first aid and qbank, maybe add goljan's path review book (I think it's the rapid review series).

My step 2 studying was pretty stupid. I delayed the exam twice because I couldn't get motivated, ended up putting it on the final day of my eligibility period (New Year's Eve), then got sick for most of the time I had planned to study. Instead of reading first aid and doing USMLE world as planned, I didn't do any questions and only read step 2 secrets. I still beat my step 1 by 9 points.

[ChotooMotoo]

Originally Posted by MaleFashionista

Quick question for all the M3s/M4s/real doctors:

When did you guys start studying for Step I...and what prep books did you use (Kaplan, BRS, Goljan's, etc...)? Mine are coming up in four months...and as of right now, I'm fairly confident I'm going to get approximately a 2

my sis-in-law studied the kaplan books, she did really well despite being out of medical school for 7 years.

[Asvi]

Which is better..Women's One A Day or Centrum?

[Bruinrab]

I'd go with one-a-day. It doesn't go overboard by giving too much of anything, especially the metals. Also, the lower level of vitamin A is safer in women of reproductive age.

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by MaleFashionista

Quick question for all the M3s/M4s/real doctors:

When did you guys start studying for Step I...and what prep books did you use (Kaplan, BRS, Goljan's, etc...)? Mine are coming up in four months...and as of right now, I'm fairly confident I'm going to get approximately a 2

salam

i didnt take a course, bought the kaplan books and used those along with BRS path and BRS micro. I read every book that I had except for the kaplan pathology book and the kaplan anatomy book (which i just browsed). I took notes out of the kaplan and BRS books into First Aid, giving me an awesomely annotated first aid. I then read through that full first aid book with all the notes. The overall process took 6 weeks. I took 5 days off during those weeks

Throughout the process I did questions every day. I think the key to my study strategy was qbank and the way I used it. Basically I did 50 or 100 questions every day, and went over their explanations. I did NOT only do questions on the subject I was currently studying. I just did random blocks of questions. The only subject I excluded was anatomy which i really sucked at to the point where there was no point doing questions till I studied it. The fact that the questions covered a range of topics kept me sharp on a wide variety of things while I focused my studying on individual subjects. It also helped point out deficiencies and the Qbank explanations themselves were a great learning resource.

Finally, I did two of the online exams that the NBME offers for money. They suck, and incorrectly predicted my score (overshot it once, significantly underestimated it the other time). I also did the free one that they publish and it was quite similar to the real deal.

ws

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by Bruinrab

I took the kaplan step 1 prep course (the 3 weeks of lecture one). I also used qbank. Ended up scoring in the high 230's. I planned to also use goljan and first aid, but it got to be too much. My recommendations - use first aid and qbank, maybe add goljan's path review book (I think it's the rapid review series).

My step 2 studying was pretty stupid. I delayed the exam twice because I couldn't get motivated, ended up putting it on the final day of my eligibility period (New Year's Eve), then got sick for most of the time I had planned to study. Instead of reading first aid and doing USMLE world as planned, I didn't do any questions and only read step 2 secrets. I still beat my step 1 by 9 points.

salam

how did you get interviews at lots of top surgery programs? what do i need to do to get good interviews?

ws