You know you're in med school when....

Your hands always smell of cadaver fixative.

LowlyPremed said:

I thought this would be a fun thread. I'll start.

Your highlighter runs out of ink.

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You hear someone say a drug name/structure/whatever, obviously mispronounce it, and you get annoyed.

(I've already gone through 3 boxes of highlighters).

You can remember the Krebs Cycle, but not your phone number.

You're wife tells you you smell like a band-aid when you get home at night.

The name Robbins is as familiar to you as your last name.

Biscuit799 said:

You can remember the Krebs Cycle, but not your phone number.

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Haha! I moved right before med school started and I still have to pause before I tell someone my phone number.

Here's mine:

All you can think of talking about is whatever block your currently on.

You discuss can discuss cadaver dissection while eating dinner.

You're sitting between two people who are mindlessly spinning their pens around their thumbs during lecture.

...when you realize that you are an average student and that it's ok (I have not reached there yet!)

When you're in your 6th hour of studying thyroid pharmacology, awake from your half-dead stupor, and find the following pasted all over your objectives list:

All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Tic a dull boy.



I'm fairly certain my wife was having some fun with me, but I'm really not sure .

Your wife finds your copy of "House of God", reads it, and doesn't talk to your for three days.

...when you take notes while watching ER or Grey's Anatomy...

sacallaco said:

...when you take notes while watching ER or Grey's Anatomy...

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...and something you saw shows up on a quiz or test. Has happened to me twice. One time I wouldn't have gotten it right otherwise.

when someone vehemently says "we're going to be doctors!!"

thank you captain obvious . . .

When you're lifting at the gym and are staring at your muscles, not because of their size, but because you're trying to see their attachments and origins through the skin.

MtMed said:

when someone vehemently says "we're going to be doctors!!"

thank you captain obvious . . .

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Hahaha... I actually said that myself once back in August after orientation. Then I heard someone say it last month, and I threw up a little bit in my mouth.

When you insist that someone in a photo is on the right. "No no no, the other right, the patients right."

You look forward to weekends not because you can sit back and relax and hang out with friends but because it means you have more time to study and catch up and dare I say? get ahead??

You feel superior to the 10am kids in college when your first class is at the asscrack of dawn...quite masochist if you ask me.

You tell your friends in college to enjoy college because they just dont know.

Reading 200+ pages over the weekend? easy. Trying to figure out how to sit back and relax? impossible.

You lose touch with whats popular on the radio or on television. The second that something new has changed with insurance, politicians & their plans for insurance, any change to anything USLME or med school or residency? You're the first to know.

You know what the "real med students of genius" is (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Real+med+students+genius&search=Search)
and know at least one person that each of these pertain to.

You wonder if you should be studying or doing something academically constructive between M1 and M2

...you know that "Chest" is NOT the name of a porno magazine.

when you think match.com has something to do with the NRMP...

Third year:
- you start thinking that recording vitals in the morning and wheeling a patient's cart in and out of the OR is part of your learning experience
- when you really, really want to go home and someone says "you can go home if you want to," you DON'T go home
- you think 8 am is a late start

Fourth year:
- your definition of a tough rotation is a rotation where you have to do something

Zuwie said:

Third year:
- you think 8 am is a late start

Fourth year:
- your definition of a tough rotation is a rotation where you have to do something

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In third year 8 am is definitely a late start, if you see the sun rise before going to work you are happy.

In fourth year amazingly 8 am becomes again early, my last block I had to be in clinic at 9 am and I still ran late most days.

Zuwie said:

Third year:
- you start thinking that recording vitals in the morning and wheeling a patient's cart in and out of the OR is part of your learning experience
- when you really, really want to go home and someone says "you can go home if you want to," you DON'T go home
- you think 8 am is a late start

Fourth year:
- your definition of a tough rotation is a rotation where you have to do something

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Oooh, fun switch-up on the thread. I'll play.

3rd year
- you're no better than **** and you know it
- you relish psych, where you don't have to be in until 7am
- you hate everything you do, and pretend that you love it
- residents and attendings scare you
- on a good day, your wife remembers your name

4th year
- you're no better than ****, but you stopped caring a long time ago
- you relish clinic electives, where you don't have to be in until 8am, and sometimes arrive before 9am
- you stop hating everything you do, and start remembering why you went into this business
- residents and attendings can kiss your a$$
- your wife says it's "just like when we first started dating"

I'll add this little one:

3rd year: you're coat pockets are so stuffed with books and equipment that you look 25 pounds heavier than your really are

4th year: maybe a couple of pens along with Maxwell (mostly for effect) in the breast pocket - that is if you're wearing a white-coat at all!

you are totally out of touch with current events!

smq123 said:

Your friend says casually, "Ooh, I think I'm getting a headache," and the first things that pop out of your mouth are:

1) When did the pain start?
2) Does the pain radiate anywhere?
3) Does anything make it feel better or worse?

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Ha, I do this to my husband. "What do you mean when you say your head hurts?" "Is it a sharp localized pain or a dull achy pain?" "How often does it occur?"

When childhood friends call you out of the blue and happen to mention this odd rash they have - what do you think it is?

Smurfette said:

You have an acronym for everything.

You have a differential diagnosis for your own abdominal pain that includes names of pathogens.

You diagnose members of the general public with diseases (i.e. "that guy over there totally has whooping cough!"; "she looks like she has PCOS")

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Granted I am an MS0, not sure where I will be attending quite yet, but I am convinced that Sheldon Williams, the former Duke basketball player has fetal alcohol syndrome. Someone google his name and confirm my diagnosis!

Medical123 said:

You discuss can discuss cadaver dissection while eating dinner.

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Better yet, you think nothing of finding the major duodenal papilla and describing the wonderful, greenish matter that you had to clean out to
see it clearly to your wife over lunch. As you notice her face turn
a bit pale you realize that she's not eating any more and wonder why?

Or -- you thinking nothing of watching your anatomy professor dive
gloveless into a dissection to separate structures.

Or -- you realize that you're no longer intimidated by having to
bisect a cadaver with a tree saw to study the oropharynx.....

...when things that used to seem awesome (e.g. "adventurous" sexual behavior) are now scary and repulsive because you know all too well the consequences while things that used to be scary and repulsive (germs, the internal structures of a human being, bacteria, viruses....etc) are the most interesting things on the planet....because you know all too well the consequences!

....when the word "halitosis" gets the same snickering and giggling that "doody" did in kindergarten

The drama in your life is rivaled only by high school.

You can't remember if you came to medical school because you wanted to help people or because you hate yourself.

You find yourself posting on a "you know your in med school when..." thread at 11pm when you should be studying for the histo board.

You think " *courtesy of wikipedia" should be somewhere on your diploma.

You think you have whatever disease you're learning about… every week.

Smurfette said:

You have an acronym for everything.

You have a differential diagnosis for your own abdominal pain that includes names of pathogens.

You diagnose members of the general public with diseases (i.e. "that guy over there totally has whooping cough!"; "she looks like she has PCOS")

Click to expand...

In addendum:
The dirty acronyms are the ones that are the ones that work best in memorizing things

During the test you think 'if i skin my hand with this #2 pencil, i would get this question right! The answer is in front of me ...ughh stupid self preservation"

3rd year
The guy in front of you is bleeding from a bullet hole through his jaw and all you can think is sleep.

Haha, too many things I wanted to reply to in this thread.

mjl1717 said:

you are totally out of touch with current events!

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So true, I am starting to master the art of not looking like an idiot when people talk about current happenings until I figure out what they're talking about. During surgery I used to say that the most TV I saw was when I walked into a patient's room.

I was just looking at some wikipedia article a couple of weeks ago and realized James Brown had died. Everyone kind of looked at me like I was from another planet for not knowing that.

3rd year: you're coat pockets are so stuffed with books and equipment that you look 25 pounds heavier than your really are

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I started to dread chairs with arms, because I would sit down and get locked in by the many papers and books in the side pockets. Not to mention the fear of blowing out your pockets when you try to stand up.

- when you really, really want to go home and someone says "you can go home if you want to," you DON'T go home
- you think 8 am is a late start

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Ah man, it's true about 8 being a late start. I try to hide the fact that I'm carrying my coat when I see my friends on surgery.

But as far as going home, the one thing I was told on my first rotation, "When somebody tells you that you can go home, be out the door before the sentence is finished." Luckily I've made a pretty good habit of doing that. Although, "if you want" is kind of a bittersweet ending . . I'll make sure to not say that if I ever have students.

Ha, I do this to my husband. "What do you mean when you say your head hurts?" "Is it a sharp localized pain or a dull achy pain?" "How often does it occur?"

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Everything you guys have posted, so bloody true. It's like a switch flips in my head and I go into history-mode, start asking all these darn questions. At least I'm not alone.

You come to realize how normal handwriting can evolve into chicken scratch as you witness yours make the transformation.

great thread!

1) When you get angry at papermate for including colors of highlighters you don't like (I mean, c'mon, who uses purple highlighter!!)

2) You found a way to convert a stapler into a highlighter holder (PM for specifics

3) You have purchased a case of red bull from sam's, then complained that it wasn't enough

4) You finish the entire second season of Entourage three days before an exam because you're so burnt out on studying, but so strung out on red bull (see #3)

Haha i finished 3 seasons within a matter of about a week or so. I love that show, cant wait til it comes back on.

Oh, caffeine doesnt do it anymore for me. I had 3 red bulls during exam week, and about 400-600 mg of caffeine from coffee and I still passed out. Im also trying to scale back on my caffeine consumption so I can resensitize myself to its effects again. Also, when thinking resensitize, you understand that its downregulation and upregulation of (spare) receptors and understand the EC50 curves that accompany them. Sigh...

1) drink diet pepsi in the morning.

2) eat at the same crappy restaraunt four days out of the week simply because its across the street from school.

3) starts threads with titles such as this: http://drslounge.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=373391

...you actually plan to have Physio with your breakfast, Path with your lunch, and Pharm with your dinner

...the same energy drink (Full Throttle) that used to keep you up all night becomes a sleep agent

...your student loan debt is enough motivation to see you to graduation

You know you're a med student when: You tell a chick your gonna be a doctor and then she wants your nads...