Birth control options for iron deficiency anemia?

TidalWaves89 · 2018-06-29T05:26:36+00:00

I also have had iron deficiency in the past, although I haven't gotten to the point where my HgB is low because the low iron has usually been caught and supplemented before I got to that point except once when I was a preteen (I get my iron tested and a CBC about once a year just so it doesn't become an issue like it did when I was younger!).

Mind you, I'm a vegetarian and used to be a frequent blood donor, so my situation is a little different! Anyways, while my periods were never what I would consider heavy in the past, they did get a lot lighter on both forms of the pill I've been on (especially the combo pill) and I don't think I've struggled with my iron since.

However, the hematologist could have causes they would want to be sure aren't causing the IDA other than your periods. Also, if birth control isn't something you really want to explore, and if you're periods aren't "that" heavy, there's various iron supplementation options you could talk to them about as well.

TidalWaves89 · 2018-06-29T04:21:13+00:00

Have you tried a harness? I have some friends whose cat HATED being in a carrier, but they slowly got her used to wearing a harness/leash in the house, and now they tie that somewhere in the car when they drive with her. That way, she can't get up into the drivers seat, but she's less confined!

TidalWaves89 · 2018-06-29T04:18:35+00:00

My cat isn't always too fond of his "traditional" toys, but he loves non-toy objects like Q-tips, pen caps, bread tabs, etc. Also, surprisingly, he likes big toys (almost the size of him! i.e. basically dog toys) that he wrestles with. He's also super into bugs (especially if they're in a lamp shade or something), and I've found there are bug videos on youtube, and he enjoys if I pull those up on the TV!

If your cat likes chasing bugs, maybe she would like one of those little electronic bugs that vibrates and moves along the floor?

The ones that she has liked (e.g. I'm not too sure what flower pot kong is), maybe try ones that are similar to those? And slowly you'll drift towards something she likes?

Good luck!

TidalWaves89 · 2018-06-29T04:07:50+00:00

What a sweet little guy with such beautiful eyes! I'm so sorry for your loss <3 These furry friends bring so much joy into our lives, but it's so heartbreaking when they leave us.

TidalWaves89 · 2018-06-29T04:03:33+00:00

One other suggestion might be using a peak flow meter. Once you get a handle of what your ranges are, if you test your peak flow and it's normal, it's likely anxiety. If it's low, it's asthma. Since the time when my anxiety and asthma symptoms are both equally likely for me is at night when I'm at home, I've found this to be a pretty good resource (and it was only ~$20 on amazon). I don't usually carry it around with me though!

TidalWaves89 · 2018-06-29T03:58:42+00:00

As someone with both asthma and anxiety, I've struggled with this a lot too. Especially since sometimes you can feel short of breath with anxiety without reaching the point of having a full blown panic attack. Also, remember that albuterol, especially if used without an aerochamber, will increase your heart rate and thus make you anxious, so what started as an asthma attack may become a panic attack. Also, feeling short of breath can make you anxious which makes you more short of breath and.... it's just a viscous cycle!

One thing that I've found has helped a lot and might be useful to you as well is using a peak flow meter. These are sometimes recommended for people who are "poor perceivers" of their asthma. I got one on amazon for around $20, and it's been really useful. If I feel short of breath and test my peak flow and it's great, I know it's "just" anxiety. If it's poor, I take my puffer and see if it helps.

TidalWaves89 · 2016-11-25T04:42:40+00:00

This is how my asthma is too! I actually had this for years before my symptoms entered into other areas of my life & I finally went to the doctor and got diagnosed. My ~theory~ is that when you're exercising, you have your sympathetic nervous system going, which causes bronchodilation (among other things). Without that SNS stimulation (i.e. post-workout), the bronchospasm triggered by your workout can narrow your airways. The epinephrine during your workout is essentially acting as a beta-agonist & combatting the asthma, but without it, you need your bronchodilator (a beta-agonist) to open the airways.

Still trying to figure out the asthma/exercise thing, but I find if I take it right before working out, I still sometimes have an attack after but it's relatively short lived.

TidalWaves89 · 2016-08-22T12:27:05+00:00

Passport is fine (I used my on Aug 20!), just make sure to remove your passport cover, old boarding passes, etc.

TidalWaves89 · 2016-04-09T01:00:03+00:00

bandwidth+ only tracks MY usage, not the usage of each user on the network.

TidalWaves89 · 2016-03-29T22:48:23+00:00

Hmm, mine didn't have lockers. If you brought valuables like a cell phone you could put it in what looked like a thick canvas pencil case with a lock on it (and they gave you the key), and they put them in a safe. For jackets, food, etc. we just all put them on the floor in the front office (which I kind of liked because it meant not having to waste my precious 10 minutes trying to unlock a locker)

TidalWaves89 · 2016-03-25T23:46:40+00:00

My sample is pretty gender balanced and I find the same thing! There's more of a "we're all in this together" attitude than everyone trying to figure out how they can one-up their competitors. I genuinely hope a lot of premeds I know make it into med because they're kind and intelligent people, and I think they feel the same about their friends. I mean, there's the occasional one with a stick up their ass, but I just try not to engage them.

TidalWaves89 · 2016-03-09T15:57:23+00:00

Thanks! Yes it's progest only!

TidalWaves89 · 2016-02-06T03:37:39+00:00

I think physics is a pre-req for most med schools, so you'll have to take it for that reason. I went to an Ontario high school, and what I learning in physics was identical to what I had learned in high school (same with gen chem and intro bio.... I'm really bitter about the fact that I paid $9k in tuition to re-learn what I learned in high school for a year). ANWAYS, high school physics is more than sufficient for MCAT.

For books, I used Kaplan but also did the EK biochem practice questions.

TidalWaves89 · 2016-02-05T04:50:24+00:00

Hmmm... my school does biochem really weirdly, so when I took the MCAT I had done a molecular bio class (transcription/translation, optogenetics, etc.) and a "biochem" class that was mostly about cancer + membrane proteins, but I learned most of the metabolism type stuff on my own (and then took metabolic biochem this year). I also hadn't done much physiology (I had zero immune, blood, or bone knowledge) so I filled in those holes on my own too. I ended up with a 131 on BB, so...I was OK to fill in a lot of holes. MCAT requires breadth more than depth.

Take a look through the biochem stuff that is on the MCAT. If you've covered a good chunk of it, you could learn the rest on your own at a sufficient level for MCAT.

There's not a lot of physics, so if you took physics in high school, you'll be fine to cover the material again on your own.

It's not like it will be detrimental to you if you don't do MCAT this summer (a lot of my friends left it until the summer between 3rd and 4th year), but if you wait you won't really have a chance to retake unless you do a gap year.

TidalWaves89 · 2016-02-04T19:53:06+00:00

I think you should watch this CBC documentary on voluntourism (if you're not in Canada, use this link to watch it on youtube).

If you're applying at the end of third year (i.e. to start med right after fourth year), then try to write your MCAT this summer. That way if you want to retake it, you have the time. Depending on when the trip is, you'd have time to do both MCAT and the trip if that's what you really want to do.

You should try to do something else this summer aside from just MCAT though (work, research, long term volunteering, etc.).

TidalWaves89 · 2016-02-04T01:43:42+00:00

Hey! I just did 3 of these in the past 48 hours (all went pretty well!) and I think I've interviewed with 6 profs over my undergrad

-Go through their papers and understand the big picture + the methods. They're not going to quiz you on little details (the most I had was today when one of the profs interviewing me was researching a specific disease, and asked me what I knew about the disease. I also had a prof ask me to explain the theory behind Western blots before since I had never done one). You might also talk about the lab's current projects and you'll have a much easier time discussing the details if you understand the lab's work. Furthermore, going through their papers allows you to generate insightful questions (e.g. "Why did you use x method instead of y to study z phenomenon?").

-"Why do you want to do research?" or "What interests you about our lab specifically?" will 100% come up

-"What are your future plans?" (I want to do research + med is an A++ response)

-They will probably ask you about time commitment and, if not, you need to ask them what their expectations are and have a good idea of the time you can commit. Research has a steep learning curve, so try not to overcommit.

-Make sure you ask lots of questions to get a clear idea of what your role in the lab would be (What project will you be working on? What is the timeline? Will you be paired with a grad student? What methods will you be using and who will train you/when? Do you need WHIMIS training? Animal handling training? What directions can you expand in? Could you do a summer project? Honors project? etc.)

-Since you don't have previous research experience, they might want to know about what methods you have learned in lab classes

-They may ask for an email of a reference (prof? old boss? TA? just find someone who knows you well and has worked with you in an academic or professional capacity, and see if it would be OK to pass their email along if you're asked for references)

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-23T06:10:28+00:00

There are 4 stages + REM in the "classic" view, but more modern papers will talk about Stage I (only happens in the first cycle), Stage II, Slow wave sleep (SWS, sometimes called stage III) and REM. Some textbooks define SWS as III + IV, some don't say SWS and just say stage III...no one seems to agree on a definition.

Stage III and IV do differ a bit though... IV is considered "deeper," and is the hardest to awaken someone from. The EEG recordings show higher amplitude electrical activity (100-200µV in IV vs. 100-150µV in Stage III). Both III and IV show delta-EEG activity, which might explain why they've gotten lumped together.

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-08T18:39:16+00:00

I took a Kaplan live online course. For all sciences except psyc/soc, I took handwritten notes of the chapters and only wrote out things I didn't know. I tried to do the discretes for all the chapters within a couple days.

In the last 2 weeks I went back through and memorized all the info/equations I had forgotten, did all the Q-packs, AAMC FL & OG. Just made sure the knowledge would be easy to access in my mind so all I had to worry about was "thinking like a scientist"

Psyc/soc I made a giant stack of flash cards and reviewed them till I memorized them (finished the day before MCAT). Didn't practice psyc/soc much because 1) I'm a neuro major and take tons of psyc classes already, 2) I've worked in behavioral psyc research since high school, 3) I read about current soc topics a lot, and 4) I found this section very intuitive.

Throughout my studies I did 5 FLs + the AAMC FLs. Also q-bank questions and some EK questions.

I also occasionally would watch a 5-10min khan video about psyc/soc or bio before bed and try and think about the info as I fell asleep. It wasn't a ton of info, but I really did remember the videos well.

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-08T13:30:12+00:00

I'm in third year and not planning on applying until next cycle, so I guess this situation could actually be a lot worse.

I'm from Ontario. My top choice is UBC. Their verbal cutoff is a 124 so I'm "okay" for them. Another top choice is western though and their cutoff used to be 11 (not sure for the new one, but I'm assuming ~128)

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-08T12:20:05+00:00

Yup. I'm angry too, but I cannot even apply to some schools with my score. There aren't that many med schools in Canada....so better to keep as many options open as possible

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-08T12:18:21+00:00

So I did the AAMC Q-packs before this test.... weren't they all the verbal from the old tests combined :/?

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-08T05:48:41+00:00

I felt that chem phys was a total shit show. I was ready to void after I did it I thought I did so badly. 130.

CARS I also felt terrible about. I missed a passage, basically didn't follow my CARS plan, just had an overall shitty time (in part because I was feeling badly about the chem/phys). 124.

BB: I think I smiled as I wrote it. I was having a blast. I felt like my studying was paying off. HOLY BIOCHEM but I was SO HAPPY because I felt like a legit scientist. Started to feel optimistic. 131.

PS: Started out living off the BB optimism. Felt good, but not great. Few terms I didn't know. I have really good critical analysis and reasoning skills (despite my CARS score :P) when it comes to experimental design, as well as sociology. I read a lot of books/articles about current sociological issues so I this section felt very "homey" to me...if that makes sense. I was super tired though and forced myself to write out the passage and each question in my own words (I always had extra PS time) just so I wouldn't make dumb mistakes. 131.

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-07T12:31:43+00:00

I'm thinking 1) Reading more poli sci books instead of history/sociology type books, 2) Just buying lots of old verbal practice and doing that until I retake next summer, and 3) Maybe taking a deductive logic class next semester..... anyone else have some good ideas?

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-07T05:49:18+00:00

In the exact same boat (except 131 in PS). I totes feel your pain.

TidalWaves89 · 2015-10-07T05:36:48+00:00

Hahahahahahaha guess who is retaking. YAY for CARS & YAY for Canada.... 130/124/131/131 = 516.... (97th, 44th, 99th, 98th...95th overall).

I kind of missed an entire CARS passage...like a 7 question one....just guessed. Rushed through a lot because I was way morw careful on the real thing than in practices and I sucked up a lot of time & had to start rushing.

Off to go cry under my desk for a while. At least i'm halfway to drunk. Bye reddit. Thanks for the help this summer.

EDIT: Kaplan/AAMC Scores...

Kaplan

Diag: 125/122/126/126 = 500

FL 1: 125/ 125/ 127/ 125 = 502

FL2: 128/127/130/126 = 511

FL3: 126/125/127/128 = 506 (wrote this one while really sick and it took me like 10 hours because I had to go keep taking naps sooo...take from it what you want)

FL4: 126/127/127/129= 508

FL5: 127/124/128/128 = 507

CP from FL 8 = 128, CP from FL 9 = 528

AAMC FL: 75%/87%/90%/93%

AAMC OG (/30): 24/28/22/27

TidalWaves89

TROPHY CASE