Anatomy Lab smell question

[TopVeggie]

I just visited anatomy lab for the first time (I'm still pre-med), and I have one very important question:

How do you get over the smell?!?!


Amazingly, I could handle looking into the chest cavity of a cadaver, but the smell of the formalene is still with me 12 hours later, and it gave me the worst headache. I had to keep leaving the room to get air. I've never smoked before in my life, and I have the strongest urge to pick up a clove. I tried drinking coffee, and that actually really did help, but now any plastic-y smell reminds me of it, and makes me gag. I need to get over this now, and I will need to deal with this in general. Thanks!

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[braluk]

you get used to it. Its just clockwork after a while

 

[Mixtli]

Hell man, I don't even change for anatomy lab. It's really not a big deal if you take a shower after class and wash your clothes regularly.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

Yeah, its not that bad. You get used to it quickly.

 

[ShyRem]

I hear lavender soap and lotion work well. You do, however, get used to it. After all, you're living with that smell for months on end.

 

[braluk]

anyone ever try tomato juice - or whatever it is that you bathe in when sprayed by a skunk (someone check Jackass the movie for me i think they sprayed Johnny Knoxville with a skunk)

 

[Law2Doc]

anyone ever try tomato juice - or whatever it is that you bathe in when sprayed by a skunk (someone check Jackass the movie for me i think they sprayed Johnny Knoxville with a skunk)

I'm pretty sure that's a wives tale, not a real remedy for the smell. See http://soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment.php4?seg=213 .

 

[JohnnyOU]

I like the smell now....weird.

 

[Nosferatu]

I still haven't gotten used to it. To me different regions smell different too. That and different bodies have their own smell as well. There are few things I hate worse than that semi-sweet smell. If you can't stand it, you'll learn to suck it up

 

[Sondra]

I still haven't gotten used to it. To me different regions smell different too. That and different bodies have their own smell as well. There are few things I hate worse than that semi-sweet smell. If you can't stand it, you'll learn to suck it up

Different bodies do smell differently. I am okay with the smell of my own body, but when I visit other groups, my eyes will water and the smell can be awful.

Lots of people in my class chew gum to cut down on the smell. I think it is gross to have something in my mouth during lab, but it does work.

 

[Med_Cliche_Man]

I would give my life for medicine, what's a few smells here and there

 

[78222]

Different bodies do smell differently. I am okay with the smell of my own body, but when I visit other groups, my eyes will water and the smell can be awful.

Yeah, that happens to me too. I dont even notice the smell of my cadaver but some of the other ones are sickening.

 

[LJDHC05]

Who needs Axe body spray when you have Cadaver by Calvin Klein...it really gets the ladies at the bars.

Within the first 5 minutes of the first cut, my group was talking about food while skinning the thorax...you'll get over it.

 

[wymo78]

Lots of people in my class chew gum to cut down on the smell. I think it is gross to have something in my mouth during lab, but it does work.

Just remember to take the gum out before using the bone saw....particalized bone stuck in you gum is NEVER any fun

 

[pjl]

Use vicks vaporub or whatever it is called, just a small dab under your nose. Or at least that is what some girl in my group did

 

[Dookter]

Just quit going to lab....worked for me all last week.

 

[78222]

Use vicks vaporub or whatever it is called, just a small dab under your nose.

sissy

 

[TopVeggie]

Thanks to everyone for your responses!

Now I'm just worried about being the biggest dork in anatomy lab-- covering the hair, covering the nose, vapor rub under the nose, car air freshener around my neck, scrubs, and showering after lab.... oh boy.

I'm glad you say it gets better.

I'll be 26 by the time I start med school, and the reason it's taken me this long is that I've always thought I couldn't handle being around, let alone working on, cadavers. As it turns out, I think I'll do fine

Thanks!

 

[fantasty]

Having not been in the lab for a few years, I just walked by the exhaust vent coming from the anatomy lab (where the poor m1s are still locked away in their little hovel). The smell hit me like a brick and dredged up a lot of unpleasant memories (not regarding the bodies - just the pimping and practicals).

 

[Labslave]

Come to UMich (shameless plug)! We completely neutralize the formaldehyde. In general, our cadavers are way less stinky than cadavers at other schools (from personal experience and from others who interviewed at other schools), and we keep them way into the spring.

(Note: I wouldn't choose a medical school based on anything that has to do with anatomy, since it's going to comprise only a fraction of your education. This includes anatomy facilities, how bad it smells, etc.)

 

[Rogue Synapse]

Come to UMich

Literally out of sheer curiosity - I heard that anatomy practicals at UMich are multiple choice, that you get 90 secs per station, and that you're told whether a structure is (for example) a nerve, artery, or vein. Is that a cruel urban legend, or truth?

 

[Dookter]

That is somewhat how they are at Duke. [We just had our first practical yesterday.] About 40% or so were multiple choice, we had 60 seconds at each station, and on some they said "What is this nerve, etc." But we did have to be at the station with another person, so with you both trying to look at something and with only 60 seconds, it can be a bit of a time crunch.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

Multiple choice practicals?! oh my god. I would have loved that.

I never got over the smell. Overpowering every time. and I always have this "residual" smell... obviously I shower and change, and maybe it's psychosomatic, but I can just "imagine" the smell so it's overpowering and makes me vomit. If I think about it right now, I can conjure up the smell and I want to hurl. does this happen to anyone else?

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Do you get multiple choice when you are cutting open a live person? That seems counterproductive to even doing a gross lab.

The smell in our lab keeps getting worse, and no, I have yet to get used to it.

 

[braluk]

my roommate told me some pretty nasty stories about his anatomy prof back in college. She'd be extremely anal about people touching things after dissections with their gloves, but then she'd touch hair hair and push it behind her ears with her gloves on, after pig heart dissections, cadaver dissections,etc. Can you imagine that nasty crap in your hair with dissection juice and parts?

 

[Blanket]

Hell man, I don't even change for anatomy lab. It's really not a big deal if you take a shower after class and wash your clothes regularly.

I don't change either (i don't even take a shower after the lab). I just wash hands and walk out.

To be honest....I am really not grossed out at all.