Hungry after anatomy lab?

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ms1finally

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I don't know about you guys, but I come out of anatomy lab HUNGRY. Starving. Ravenous. It's weird - and it's a very distinct hunger, sort of like the hunger I feel when I've been playing in the pool or something. Anyone else experience anything similar?

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ms1finally said:
I don't know about you guys, but I come out of anatomy lab HUNGRY. Starving. Ravenous. It's weird - and it's a very distinct hunger, sort of like the hunger I feel when I've been playing in the pool or something. Anyone else experience anything similar?
yeah, i'm starved too. i think it's just because it's 12 and i usually don't eat a huge breakfast. to that's the deal. but yeah, ur right. i dunno why.
 
I think its pretty typical. Most people felt the same way in my class last year.
 
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i've heard that it has something to do with the formaldehyde that actually physically makes you hungry if you get exposed to it for long enough. Not sure if that holds any truth.
 
CalH22a said:
i've heard that it has something to do with the formaldehyde that actually physically makes you hungry if you get exposed to it for long enough. Not sure if that holds any truth.
I'm starving right around the third hour in lab...we use phenol so that might not be it. I always get out of there feeling like I've doused my mouth with chloraseptic spray after standing above the cadaver and breathing in the fumes.
 
this is disguisting but i think its the smell of flesh and fat/grease mixed in. again, I dont know if this is true but i sure hope not.
 
The only strong urge I have had is because I've been in lab for so long that I just need food. I never thought of the chemicals or the lab being the cause of it though.
 
SkylineMD said:
The only strong urge I have had is because I've been in lab for so long that I just need food. I never thought of the chemicals or the lab being the cause of it though.

My peer mentors (MS IIs who are in charge of a small group of MS Is during orientation week) said that the formaldehyde does actually have some chemical effect that makes you more hungry.
 
A bunch of people in my group last yr were always craving ribs after dissecting. The soleus made me hungry, but other than that, everything looked kinda too "human" to get me salivating.
 
Sureshot83 said:
My peer mentors (MS IIs who are in charge of a small group of MS Is during orientation week) said that the formaldehyde does actually have some chemical effect that makes you more hungry.

in a quick 30second google search i didn't find any correlation between formaldehyde and hunger. Maybe the 2nd years at your school are correct, maybe not. But I don't put much weight in what comes out of other people's mouths unless I need to know it for an exam or they have proof.
 
Hi Guys,
All I can say is wait until third year and your General Surgery rotation. All of that bovied flesh smells just like barbeque. Ummm! There is nothing like the smell of argon beam coagulated liver edge either. How bout some onions?? Slaw anyone?

njbmd :D
 
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I always get really hungry half way through lab, considering how much fat i usually have to deal with on my cadavar, you would think it would make me never want to eat again.
 
By the last month of anatomy, some of my classmates (including myself) were munching on candy bars in anatomy lab during late night study sessions. Just make sure to take off your gloves.
 
Yeah, yeah. This is a perennial topic. Yes, the fixing solution makes you hungry. No one really knows why. And yes it's odd to be hungry when working with corpses. But get used to it. When it comes to desensitization, you ain't seen nothing yet. ;)
 
some MS2's and 3's said they couldn't eat pulled pork for a month after scraping and pulling out multifidus and spinatus to do our laminectomy during the first dissection, but i was hungry enough to eat a juicy bbq sandwich right there at our table!

ironically, we named our cadaver juicy, for unknown reasons
;)
 
A little blob of cadaver juice splashed in my mouth last week when my labmate's chisel thwacked the wrong way. Note to self: close mouth when near cadaver.

Put me right off my supper, it did.
 
liverotcod said:
A little blob of cadaver juice splashed in my mouth last week when my labmate's chisel thwacked the wrong way. Note to self: close mouth when near cadaver.

Put me right off my supper, it did.

Yep, you're a zombie now. At least that's what my lab group said if you got juice in your mouth. I unfortunately had a bit fall down my scrub top, I was also a bit put off... :oops:

When I'm in lab, I find myself describing everything in terms of food. I found myself completely unable to trim the fat off of my pork chops afterwards.
 
DianaLynne said:
I unfortunately had a bit fall down my scrub top, I was also a bit put off... :oops:
Had I been there, I would have been more than happy to dig it out for you. Gentleman that I am.
 
I was starving when I came out of anatomy lab! I had just eaten a falafel two hours before so I shouldn't have been so hungry but I needed to eat again. My friend was starving also and we both commented on how weird that was.
 
sometimes its all i can do to not rush out and gorge myself on liver and fava beans...washed down with a nice dry chianti ( feverishly smacks lips together ). Usually though I just settle for a good ole' rare steak....mmmmm. :D
 
Even in the midst of burning bone smell, I was asking my lab group if they wanted to order in a pizza. I don't know what it is about anatomy lab but my stomach is always growling.
 
When I work around cadavers I always find myself craving things I don't normally crave- chili cheeseburgers for example.......
 
This is why I try to eat continuously during my morning classes before gross lab. But even then, yeah, I still get hungry. So much for heating up instant grits between classes.
 
This thread inspired the following question:

Which cut of meat would be ideal if a medical student...um...hypothetically...wanted to taste cooked human flesh? Does anyone have any good recipes? Does human flesh go with white wine or red wine?
 
On my grossing days (which go like 7-9 hours), I am perpetually around formalin. So much in fact, that I usually have a hard time smelling it. Anyway, I haven't noticed a change in my appetite, so I personally doubt it has a stimulatory effect.
 
about 2/3 of my class was extremely hungry after every single anatomy lab. Some people weren't really hungry at all after it. But a majority always commented on how hungry being in those rooms made them. I've heard rumors of it being from the chemicals. I dont know how true it is or even if it has been studied. But there is definitely something that stimulates hunger in a lot of people (moreso than just having class during those time periods).
 
yeah I was always starving and I don't know why. what's worse is I always wanted tannish lunch meat like turkey....gross....
 
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