I know I know

Thanks Kron, for telling me I've been slacking in my blogging world. I've been underwater in school and life, but now it's my SPRING BREAK!! So hopefully I'll get all caught up in blogging and LIFE. It's so easy to let life slip by when school is consuming your every minute and soul.

These past two weeks have been torturous. I slept a total of 15 hours per school week the first and second week of exams. I had a giant Drug Action test during week 1 that was worth 30% of my grade. Every minute of every waking hour and (should have been) sleeping hour I was studying. I was even studying in the shower...

This test was all about ENZYMES: enzymes acting as transporters, substrates, receptors, inhibitors, inducers, etc. I find this area of pharmacology fascinating. For instance, when you get a prescription filled at the pharmacy and it has an auxillary label reading, "Do not take with grapefruit juice" there is science behind it! That science is referring to the fact that grapefruit juice is a CYP3A4 inhibitor (the enzymes in our bodies are categorized under an umbrella of "CYP" enzymes, to which there are numerous families of them, including 2D6, 1A2, 3A4, for example). Many drugs are metabolized by the CYP3A4 enzymes, like birth control, for example.

So if you were taking birth control, a 3A4 substrate (meaning 3A4 metabolizes birth control (estrogen) so it's not always hanging out in your body) and grapfruit juice, a 3A4 inhibitor, there would be increased levels of estrogen in your body. If you inhibit the actions of the metabolizing enzyme, you have higher levels than normal of the drug you are taking in your body. This is really concerning if you are on a drug with a narrow therapeutic index that could put you into toxic levels easily. Anyways, enough nerdy talk, now you can see why there is science behind the things pharmacists tell you (even "take this medication with food" has science behind it, to which I may post about later).

The second week of exams consisted of a "performance based exam" which was a 3 hour exam testing us on our pharmacist skills. We would watch a video of a person asking a pharmacist what they could do to treat a wart, cold sore, and teething (3 separate videos) and we would have to recommend non-pharmacological therapy and pharmacological therapy based on their medical history, medications, allergies, etc. Basically you have to recommend something and explain why, scientifically, that would help this patient. There were other parts of the test such as being able to find scientific literature from medical databases (very difficult to do when timed), and pharmaceutical calculations. There were about 9 pages of material (front and back) we had to complete. When I was handing in my papers I was flipping through them to make sure my name was on all of them and WHOOPS! I completely skipped one of the pages. My heart skipped and fluttered and my blood pressure rose. How could I have over sighted this?! I scribbled some answers down quickly as I scanned the patient case, but man, I sure felt angry with myself.

The next test was an Integrated Organ Systems test. This included material from my favorite teacher so far, Dr. Carpenter (and Dr. Thomas, the Auzzie who is more entertaining than all the teachers combined- he dances in front of class, and plays music, and says "ka-pil-lary" instead of "cap-il-lary." Gotta love him!). This material was over the pulmonary, renal and gastrointestinal systems.

So can you see why I got no sleep? There was so much testable material that even if I wanted to sleep, my mind would be racing over all the material I hadn't mastered yet, and I would have to get up and study to put my mind at ease. And I bet you're thinking how did you physically get through those two weeks?

1- Eric. He's my #1 support and helps me out so much when my life gets crazy. He takes Ella on her bike rides and cooks for me and cleans the house. He'a amazing.

2- Friends. My school friends are there to help each other out with great study sessions and company when you're at the library 'til the wee hours of the morning.

3- Caffeine. In the form of RedBull and RockStar in my fancy wine glasses as shown below.