Kaleidoscope=ADHD

I have tentatively been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The description that best describes the syndrome to my experience, is that I live my life in a kaleidoscope. Truly, my life is beautiful and I notice facets of lovliness that bypass many. But it is distracting to the utmost extreme to live like this (great, usually!) and unfortunately, in vet school this is something that does not allow me to concentrate my efforts singularly. DAMN! and so I am on the quest of finding a treatment/remedy that works to get me through this school thang in 4 years (I can't afford to retake classes! Already gonna be hundreds of thousands in debt!!!) I hear Rhodioloa rosea(Golden root) and Ginko biloba (Skullcap)help. Also going the western med way and trying some concerta.
Interesting things I learned about ADHD:

*Due to: decreased dopamine in the brain because of either low dopadecarboxylase (enzyme that makes dopamine) or too many dopamine transporters (that remove dopamine from the circulation).
*Dopamine and Norepinepherine provide modulatory influence on functions of prefrontal cortex such as working memory and attention. Dopamine works in the reward pathway, therefore you get motivation problems without it. A decrease in Norepinepherine leads to hyperactivity, distractability, and inability to focus.
*3-6% of adults have ADHD (45-75% of childhood ADHD persists)
*Diagnosable if the symptoms interfere with normal daily functioning.
*70% of adults with ADHD have comorbid disorders (I don't. Yay.)
*Nonpharmacological Treatment: environmental modifications like shopping in smaller stores to reduce distractions, enlisting the aid of calendars, lists, organizing things to help provide structure to alleviate the burden of having to remember various details.
*Pharmacological Treatment: Stimulants (like concerta, ritalin) (concerta=methylphenidate and long acting, immediate release and delayed osmotic release mechanisms)
and Nonstimulants (Atomoxetine=Strattera)
*A neat word I learned while researching this= ANHEDONIA (absence of deriving pleasure from acts that normally cause it)

Wink!

As an intro, mares in heat open and close their vaginas to let any nearby eligible stallion know she's ready. This is called "winking".
Between classes one day two of my friends and I walked to anatomy lab, J-- telling us she "dimpled" a cop (meaning she put on her best innocent, dimply smile girl face) to get away without a ticket. M--, who is from Israel and sometimes doesn't always understand colloquialisms, was aghast. We understood why she was disgusted when we realized she had confused "dimpling" with "winking".

'biner

So, a quick rundown on the etymology of the word Carabiner

Karabos (Greek)= crab, beetle
Scarab= beetle
Scaraba (French)= dung beetle
Escarabin (French)= grave digger
Carabin (French)= soldier armed with a musket
Carabine = a lightweight rifle with a short barrel
Carbine = same as above
Karabinerhaken (German)= hook for a carbine
Carabiner (English)= long metal ring with a spring clip

Mice are COOL!

When you dissect a mouse it takes less than an hour (as compared to the horse that takes 4 people a month to dissect)! When you cut through their skin, fascia covers the abdomen and you can see into it. In fact not only is the fascia transparent but the organs themselves are so tiny that you can look into and through them and see the kidney behind the intestines too! Wow!
I was looking for the jugular vein and thought I found it, but turned out I was looking at a muscle (sternomastoideus m.). An entire muscle! That means you have to have a really good imagination to be able to see the jugular. That also means that lab people that can cannulate (find/hit) the vein every time are on my amaziac list. But its a skill I'm willing to forego.

As for rats...do you realize that their testes are a 1/3 the size of a horses? A fucking HORSE'S? Okay, think about that. how many of me would fit into a horse. probably 5-10, weight wise. what about a rat? At least a thou. But it would only take 3 testes of a rat to fit into the space a horse's testicle takes up. DAMN! They're Friggin' Huge!!!! On the same token, the guinea pig's vesicular glands are huge, causing one of the highest volume/ejaculation:body size ratios around. Boars are next in line. Funny, I wonder if that's why they're called guinea "pigs".

LIST 1: things I wake up thinking

2/9: Sustentaculum tali.
2/12: Studying. Studying. Banquet. Cats. Studying.
2/14: [only got 1.5 hrs sleep] The MHC class IIs present to CD4+ helper T cells, and just a few more minutes of rest because my armpits hurt, maybe my nightgown is caught? or is that zzzzzzz...
2/16: Semteende. (Wodaabe word for patience and fortitude).
2/25: Bullous pemphigoid.
2/26: Track 8 from Iron + Wine's Our Endless Numbered Days