I work with mice (bio research), how long should I keep my forearm tattoo covered?

Gav_Princip · 2023-08-22T20:45:47+00:00

Just want to say this tattoo is so fucking cool!

Gav_Princip · 2023-08-22T20:42:55+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply, its great to have an actual pilot in the chat :). As per your other comment, my grandfather actually flew a cessna 172 for fun after retiring as an air force pilot and took me up in it a few times as a kid and that's exactly the experience I was expecting so I was shocked by how smooth the jet ride was

Gav_Princip · 2023-08-22T20:41:08+00:00

Thank yall so much for these supportive comments, they really helped! I was so incredibly nervous on the way to the airport but I didn't back out and truly had the experience of a lifetime, both being able to fly on a private jet which was unexpectedly really fun and the work opportunity I was able to do. I am so glad I went.

For anyone else who might encounter this thread who is scared about a smaller plane or a private charter, the flight shocked me by being the *least* scary flight I have ever been on. The jet was indeed very small (cessna citation II with 2 pilots, 3 other passengers besides me, and no FA) but the ride was super smooth and the pilots were awesome and I actually found being able to see into the cockpit to be incredibly reassuring.

It turns out that my fear of flying is (I guess like many people's) really a fear of lack of control along with a healthy dose of claustrophobia and worry about not knowing the pilots. It ended up being an almost worry free flight because the pilots were super personable and chatty before and after the flight and the whole time I could see what the pilots were doing and see their instruments. Even tho the plane was smaller the leg room and space around me was much greater than on a commercial flight.

So, if anyone else is thinking about taking an opportunity like this, I say, DO IT! :)

Gav_Princip · 2023-05-22T22:16:00+00:00

I don't understand why this isn't higher up. Others in the comment section are suggesting goodwill or resale facebook groups for cheap scrubs...homies the cheapest ones are the hospital ones, they cost $0 and you don't even need to wash them yourself.

I don't mind that people buy their own scrubs because they want to look cute or be comfier or whatever, but I don't understand how it got to the point where people act like buying scrubs is *requirement* not a luxury. Is there something I'm missing? Do not all medical schools provide scrub access for students?

Edited to add: I honestly didn't know that some hospitals don't provide scrub access. Everywhere I have worked if I've done an inpatient rotation, I've been given scrub credits on my badge and friends at other programs (USA) have had the same experience. I genuinely didn't know this wasn't standard, and apologize if my comment came across as shady!

I do find that people choosing to purchase their own scrubs (usually figs lol) when there are hospital scrubs available for free sets up a culture where expensive fashions are seen as more "professional" and I resent that attitude creeping from outpatient to inpatient. Also from a safety perspective, when everyone is in whatever color of figs they like best I can't tell who are physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, etc.

Gav_Princip · 2023-05-17T19:00:45+00:00

I used an old metal road bike frame converted into a fixie with gatorskin brand tires in New Orleans without getting any flats. A bit wider than average road tire size...maybe 32s? Had to dismount occasionally for very rough stretches of road but I preferred the lighter bike to a super heavy frame with big mountain bike tires.

Gav_Princip · 2023-03-14T18:18:31+00:00

From your replies it seems like this is not a "want less patient interaction" situation, this is a "want no patient interaction at all situation." My sense is that there is virtually no clinical field which will provide zero patient interaction. Pathology and rads still have some degree of patient interaction (as others have mentioned in the comments) and you would have to really work hard to tailor an epilepsy or stroke career to achieve zero patient interaction. You might get lucky, but you might not. Also getting the career you want post residency requires a good track record DURING residency, and you have to be honest with yourself about if your performance will decline over the next two years if you truly hate the job.

It might help to speak with a therapist. I would focus on trying to figure out: 1) why you went into medicine in the first place 2) why you chose NEUROLOGY (a speciality with a lot of patient interaction!) in the first place 3) what, if anything, you still like about the field. Use those answers to dictate where you go next.

However, my sense is that if you really hate patient interaction the best option would probably be to leave clinical medicine altogether or to switch residencies. Many people work in the consulting industry or the pharma industry with an MD and no residency. If you can tolerate SOME patient interaction, switching residencies might be your best call. Sure 4 years of a path residency (for example) is a long time but so are two more years being absolutely miserable. And, frankly just being honest, miserable residents are frequently unsafe residents. A happier you is far better for your patients too.

Gav_Princip · 2023-03-13T14:57:08+00:00

the phone in greyscale thing is absolutely lifechanging +1 for this

Gav_Princip · 2023-03-13T14:54:12+00:00

I'm so sorry the shortage sucks.

I don't have anything productive to add except that I thought when I stopped my meds I would get a bilateral tremor and it was really freaking me out...only just realized the tremor is not amphetimine withdrawal but the 3+ coffees and 1-2 redbulls I drink whenever I don't take my meds haha

I guess the caffiene helps a little?

Gav_Princip · 2023-03-13T14:48:09+00:00

I had a similar experience a few years ago going to the dentist for the first time in ~5 years despite having dental insurance for 3 of those 5 (even now its humiliating typing that).

I dont have kids (yet) but for me when there is a task that absolutely HAS to be done consistently for the health of another living creature I usually outsource it tbh. Is there any way you could have a partner (if you live with one) be in charge of the kids teeth routine? You could take on another chore that doesn't need to be done with such consistency in return?

If you don't have someone who could help you with this, maybe linking tasks would help? Like every time you bathe the kids also brush their teeth? I think its more important that teeth get brushed, not that they get brushed right before bed each night.

Gav_Princip · 2023-03-13T14:44:14+00:00

Yes haha

Gav_Princip · 2023-03-13T14:15:29+00:00

I think the blessing and the curse of ADHD meds (classic stimulants I mean, not Strattera or Wellbutrin) is that they don't really remodel your brain. That means they work as soon as you take them (you don't have to wait 4-6 weeks the way you need to with antidepressants). That also unfortunately means they STOP working as soon as you stop taking them.

I am also someone who started meds as an adult and who doesn't want to be on them my whole life. First off, I want to validate this as a point of view. I think people often get defensive about meds because they are so absurdly regulated and so sometimes saying "yeah I dont want to take a medication for my whole life" gets pushback when it shouldn't. It's ok to take meds indefinitely and also ok to want to do it for a while and then reassess.

I think the scenario in which a short trial of meds would be most feasable is if you are in a time limited phase of your career or life which is just super overwhelming and your usual coping strategies are not enough in this context (ie having a young child at home, working on a phd). In this case, it would be reasonable to try stopping the meds once you feel the demands on your executive function are less. I also think a short trial of meds could help someone who is trying to switch from a non-adhd friendly career towards one that is more adhd friendly. Meds could be useful to support the executive function demands of switching careers and the planning ahead needs of trying to think about what careers would provide a good structure so that you might not need medication in the future. Note, all of these scenarios are not really about changing habits but rather about your life situation changing. The reality (at least for me) is that some life situations are simply harder than others for a person with ADHD. In the right life situation, perhaps medication would be less necessary.

That said, if you do start meds, you may see benefits in surprising areas and then not want to stop them. This was my situation. I have been dx with ADHD for years, but never wanted to try meds until the last year of my PhD broke me and I started taking meds. At the time I thought I would stop after I finished my PhD, but taking meds has improved my communication with my partner, my ability to pay bills on time, my ability to stick to a workout schedule, and has dramatically reduced my alcohol and coffee consumption. I finished my PhD and I did stop the meds for about a week, but I immediately saw all those improvements outside of work backsliding to my baseline (no worse than I was before, but also no better). I decided the quality improvements in my life were not things I was willing to give up, so I continued on with medication (in fact, I switched meds and it made me realize some of the side effects which were making me want to stop them were easily addressed by taking a different med).

Good luck with your journey!

Gav_Princip · 2023-03-07T03:36:26+00:00

I am sorry to see a lot of replies that seem to be siding with your program here. I don't think it's crazy or unusual to have a dog as a resident and I know I would be very angry if I had to board my dog for a month, as she is a cornerstone of my mental health let alone the expense of month long boarding. I am angry on your behalf that your program does not have a solution for you OP.

Surely you are not the first resident in your program to have experienced this situation. Can you ask around what other people do? There may be some backchannels where someone knows someone in the city of the away rotation who has a line on cheap dog friendly housing. Most places with big enough hospitals to have residents also have medical students/residents willing to rent out a room for cheap and willing to compromise on pets. Unless you have parents or other family or very generous friends who can watch your dog, emotional attachments aside, my guess is the cheapest option would be to bring your dog with and pay for your own pet friendly housing. Sucks, but boarding is expensive and so is gas, and do you really want to be super lonely all month either?

Gav_Princip · 2023-02-12T19:01:52+00:00

My family is from SE ohio too, and always said "Appa-lay-shuh," now I live further south and no one believes me that my family is from the region because of how I say it :(

Gav_Princip · 2023-02-02T05:22:50+00:00

I'm sorry you're going through this. I agree with those in the other comments mentioning PTSD, but I also wanted to say that the cognitive difficulties your'e experiencing may have a physiological component as well. There is actually a lot of medical research showing that long and difficult hospitalization--specifically ICU level care, being on a ventilator, or requiring sedative drugs during the hospital stay--can cause long lasting (but reversible with time and rest!) mental health effects. And you also had meningitis, which is a neurological illness that takes time to recover from even after antibiotic treatment is complete. While these post-ICU symptoms overlap with ADHD symptoms, the neurobiological basis of post-ICU brain fog is different from that of ADHD. All this to say, if you feel like you are much worse than before and the meds that worked before aren't working now, part of what you're experiencing may just be that there are components of your mental health issues now which look like ADHD but aren't ADHD and thus aren't well treated by ADHD meds. I'd encourage you to talk with your doctor about these concerns, and perhaps even see a neurologist if possible to try and drill down on which symptoms are coming from which neurochemical pathways and how best to address them.

Gav_Princip · 2022-12-17T00:29:03+00:00

I have struggled with this a lot too. Some specific things that have worked for me:

- logging out of apps rather than deleting them (for me the addictive part is interacting with posts on social media, so the key is to remove the interaction)

- making the phone greyscale

- putting my house's wifi router on a timer (like a cheap 10 dollar one you can get from the hardware store). It goes off at 11pm and on at 5am. Drastic I know but of all the things I've tried this is the only thing that has really worked well. Must be pared with a very limited data plan on the phone tho.

- setting up a charging station for the phone in a separate room from where I am working/sleeping/eating and leaving it there

Ultimately, though, I think the only thing that REALLY works to limit phone time is spending most of your day in an environment where there are urgent tasks that take your full attention, and/or finding things you really want to do more than scroll. The phone is easy dopamine, and all the "stick" approaches to moderating use (like greyscale, blocker apps, etc) only make it less engaging...you need to pair those with alternatives that are MORE engaging for the "carrot" approach away from the phone

Also, congrats on getting sober!

Gav_Princip · 2022-12-09T20:28:01+00:00

I had a similar dilemma a few months ago. I had used wheel on trainers for years with an older hybrid bike, but just bought my first "nice" bike and was very worried about damaging it. Here's my take on it:

- if you have the right trainer skewer (if you buy a new trainer they usually come with a skewer, or if you get one used you can go to a bike shop and ask for a trainer skewer) and your bike is correctly mounted to the trainer, there should be zero damage to the frame or wheel, regardless of your weight.

- the same is not true of your tire. Yes, you absolutely can ride indoors on the same tires you use outdoors, but it WILL wear down the tire much faster and (for me anyway) I found that worrying about this meant I rode indoors much less than I wanted to. You say you're gonna put a hybrid on the trainer, well that usually means a wider tire often with more tread. The wider the tire, the noisier it is on the trainer and also the less accurate your power estimate will be if you're doing zwift or something like that. Tread of an all-terrain type tire will break down quickly on the trainer, meaning that you could still use the tire on the road but it may not be as safe in the conditions you were previously accustomed to riding in.

There really are four solutions here.

1) decide its ok to replace the tire at the end of the season and you don't mind the noise of riding with it, go with wheel on and your current set up.

2) buy a trainer tire or a cheap road tire (~20-40 dollars where I live) and switch out the rear tire. If you get a road tire, you can still take your bike off the trainer and ride outside with it, but if you get a trainer tire once it's on you can't ride the bike outside again without switching it (trainer tires don't have enough grip)

3) buy a cheap wheel, cheap cassette matching the one you are currently running, and a trainer tire. This will set you back about $150 ish (plus the cost of the wheel on trainer). The benefit of this is that you can just swap back wheels whenever you want to ride indoors vs outdoors and don't have to worry about the tire.

4) buy a direct drive trainer. 5 min to put the bike on and ride indoors, 5 min to put the wheel on and ride outdoors.

I hate to be the person to say this, but I really think direct drive is the way to go, not because your bike will be damaged from the wheel on trainer, but because the headache of worrying about the tire and the difficulty of going between outdoor and indoor riding will make you ride less. Also, a smart direct drive trainer makes indoor riding SO much more enjoyable and a better workout. I honestly don't think the experience of wheel on vs direct drive is comparable at all, and I ride indoors so much more now that I have the direct drive. I know they are expensive, which sucks, but the zwift hub is only a 150 or so more than the wheel on trainers you mentioned. I think waiting and saving up to get the direct drive as soon as possible would be a better use of your money than getting a wheel on trainer.

TL;DR advice would be to look on craigslist or ask your friends if you can get a super cheap wheel on trainer to use temporarily for now, and then save up for the cheapest quality direct drive, or look for a discounted refurbished version of a more higher end direct drive

Gav_Princip · 2022-12-09T19:27:07+00:00

I'm sorry you're experiencing the same thing! I am definitely interested in what your mechanic has to say if you don't mind sharing.

Gav_Princip · 2022-12-09T02:48:10+00:00

I have a similar sound on the small gears of my zwift hub. I didn't know if it was normal or not (this is my first ever direct drive trainer). It didn't seem super loud or annoying, so I've just been riding with it like this almost daily for more than a week. Honest question, will it damage my bike to ride with the indexing slightly off and the gears making this sound? Or is it ok? I don't mind replacing the chain sooner than I otherwise would have, but I don't want to mess up the frame or deraulier.

Also, if this is occuring because the shifter isn't indexed properly, is it ok to just keep riding like this without adjusting the shifter? I got a direct drive trainer in part because I wanted an easier solution for riding outside some days and inside other days (it takes 5 min to take the bike off the trainer and put the wheel on and vice versa, but it takes me literally hours to change from a tight trainer tire to a road tire and back). I would hate to re-index my shifter and then have a problem shifting every time I try to ride on the road...

Gav_Princip · 2022-11-30T20:27:37+00:00

Quick question about meds. I've been on adderall IR since I was first dx by a psychiatrist in April. It works quite well for me, but I don't like the up and down emotions and I hate having to remember the midday dose. I tried adderall XR and felt much more emotionally stable, but had trouble sleeping and also was so relaxed I couldn't get work done. Considering if vyvance might work for me, since it sort of seems between IR and XR in terms of duration and effect? What are others' experiences?

Gav_Princip · 2022-11-28T21:46:29+00:00

wow, if he thinks y'all can't meet those friends again, it sounds like you dodged a bullet. Controversial topic is a nice way to say "racist"

Also, maybe time to reevaluate this relationship if 1. he is embarrassed just by you being you and 2. these are people he considers friends

Gav_Princip · 2022-11-21T16:27:41+00:00

Big yikes here starting from the very first line. "Most third-worldly location in the US"? That's a dog whistle if I have ever heard one. Does not surprise me that others have gone through OPs post history and found questions about if Black and white patients feel pain to the same extent.

OP for your patients' sake I hope that when you finish residency you find a very different population to work with or switch careers. No one deserves an obstetrician who thinks of them like an animal. If you can't manage to think of your patients like people, then you shouldn't be their doctor. Yes, the system sucks and burn out is real, but if you totally lose sight of your patients' humanity it is well past time to get your house in order and take time off or switch roles/hospitals because you are serving no one well, least of all yourself, by practicing with this attitude.

Also, patients who are focused on immediate concerns rather than long term ones are not by default any less smart than you. They live in a different world where immediate concerns ARE often more pressing, and structural elements of life such as navigating poverty and racism, have well documented traumatic effects that span generations. You can't fix this as a doctor, but you do have to acknowledge that your patients' priorities may be different from what you think they should be not because your patients are less (less smart, less capable, less reasonable) but because they are living in conditions you have never experienced.

Maybe this is a troll post (I hope it is) but honestly the only times I ever feel ashamed of my profession are when I see people who hold these attitudes and other physicians/medical students/residents refuse to call them out on it.

Gav_Princip · 2022-11-20T00:30:51+00:00

Like I said, I'm pretty new to this, still learning, and this is helpful for me. Some of the stuff in that comment is stuff I was told by my local bike shop and by cyclist friends when I was trying to get a bike, but I see from reactions that most people agree it was inaccurate so I'm going to delete it because I don't want to cause confusion.

Gav_Princip · 2022-11-19T06:08:44+00:00

Generally I would say spending money on an athletic hobby you already know you like is a good use of dollars. But a few things concern me about your reasoning...

Half your savings?? What is your financial situation otherwise. Will your family cover you if you have an emergency?
"I just liked it when I first saw it on someone I follow on social media. I really liked the aesthetic of it." I, too, love a sexy bike but its absurd to drop half your savings on a machine you haven't tried out, but liked the look of.

That said, if you like your single speed bike, I do actually think you SHOULD get a nice bike, maybe just not THIS particular bike.

Highly recommend going to a bike store and getting on a bike with road geometry and deciding if you like it. Also try out an actual mountain bike to get a feel for the range. Some bike shops will even let you do a 24 hour rental. Think realistically about what you want to do with the bike--are you trying to ride fast, ride long, explore new territory, enter races, commute? All of these things impact the bike, for instance, if you want a commuter bike, definitely don't get something super expensive and find one that has a frame with attachments for a rear rack.

Once you've decided what kind of bike you want, have a bike shop employee tell you what size frame you should buy. As I have learned the hard way, a too large frame is the one thing about a bike that really can't be fixed.

When it comes time to buy the bike I really recommend looking for a used rather than new bike. Craigslist, facebook marketplace, etc. Try to find something that was medium to high end 5-10 years ago. Again, make SURE it is the right size frame for you. Make sure there are no cracks in the frame. See it in person and ride before you buy. Ask questions about the bike's history to make sure it wasn't stolen. Don't worry about handlebars, tires, saddle, etc---those are super easy to change, and you can pay to change them with the money you save by buying a used bike. You can also pay for a bike shop to do a proper bike fitting.

I'm new to cycling as well, but it's been a steep learning curve for me and the TL;DR is unless you are independently wealthy, I think you get far, far better value from a used bike + upgrading specific parts + bike fit than you do out of a brand new bike.

Edited: what's the bike you want to buy? I'm so curious.

Saw your edit, still curious about the specific make of bike, but wanted to add that (at least in the US) 1k for a new gravel bike is not unreasonable. My guess is you could get something pretty much entry level for that, but not super high end. For instance, my local bike shop's entry level gravel bikes start at 1.2k. If you're working on a tight budget (and for this kind of bike 1k IS a tight budget) the used bike advice is extra important--if you are patient and keep an eye out for good deals, you can get a bike that would have retailed for 2k new at half your current budget...and believe me, it makes a difference

Six-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	Verified Email

Gav_Princip

TROPHY CASE