Wednesday, October 27, 2010

oh no, I forgot to pack my lunch


guess I better treat myself to yummy Thai while I'm here in KW

have I mentioned how much I love electives?

Posted by ShoZu

Monday, October 25, 2010

family medicine elective

I am loving this elective. So glad I decided to apply to family. It just keeps getting better and better.

Posted by ShoZu

Saturday, October 2, 2010

"Things will get easier, people's minds will change, and you should be alive to see it"


I know it's cliche, but our media is not doing teenagers any favours.

Ellen's talk about the teen suicides in the US that are following bullying is powerful and long overdue. Not just by her, but by adults and media in general. Everywhere they look, media is focused on teens and telling them what to do, how to look and who they are expected to be. Bullying isn't just taking place by other kids targeting children kids who are different, who may or may not be gay.

Idiots on the net are suggesting that the kids who are killing themselves to escape the bullies were mentally unstable before the bullying began, that being gay is a form of mental illness. They clearly forget how hard it is to be a teenager. It's incredibly difficult to keep your wits about you while figuring out who you are and dealing with surges of hormones. There are few teens who are mentally stable to begin with. Add bullying to the mix and it's surprising there are more episodes of suicide than there already are.

I was one of those kids who was teased about being gay before I had discovered for myself that I wasn't. To me though, this teasing meant nothing because I didn't see anything wrong with being gay, as long as they didn't call me fat or stinky I was OK.

Again, movies, TV and magazines tell us that if we do things perfectly -by wearing the right makeup, dressing in tight clothes, sleeping with whoever we please, drinking alcohol and still being brilliant at school, friendly, athletic and thin - we will have more friends than we know what to do with.

No pressure.

Hard to imagine why kids struggling to define themselves are struggling so much. Each teen is fighting this battle and has a difficult time recognizing that they have peers fighting similar battles. It results in them feeling isolated and ignored and trying to find a way to be seen. They become bulimic, goth or emo; buy crates of makeup and perfume; dress like sluts; slowly self destruct.

I've spent a few weeks with the child psychiatry team and these messages and how teens deal with them have been at the forefront of my mind. There isn't a fast solution to the problem which seems to be systemic. All I can hope for is a change in the content of the messages being broadcast to our youth.

Imagine you're a ten year old kid. Your thinking is still very concrete; sarcasm and shades of grey are completely lost on you. If someone tells you that you are too chubby you believe it. If someone tells you there's an obesity epidemic - that being fat is unhealthy - you believe that too. Then you start to pay attention to other messages from media, school, peers and adults. Foods low in calories, low in fat and sodium are healthier choices. Empty calories that you get from foods like the pop and chips you enjoy occasionally with your family are not good. Rules for eating and exercising begin to be formed in your head, all because you want to be more healthy.

Congratulations, you now have an eating disorder. Not because you think that you are too fat and need to look better, but that you are unhealthy and want to become healthier. Without countering the restrictive messages with messages of balance, enjoyment and the importance of certain nutrients like fat, this ten year old can become an eleven year old who is so malnourished, has a heart that is so wasted of muscle its SA node no longer function and an EKG tracing shows a junctional rhythm. The only option is to put this child into the hospital, provide him with nutrients at a rate that will not cause refeeding syndrome, and teach him the way to feed himself in the future - a balanced approach to be healthy.

Adults and especially health care professionals have a responsibility to keep the messages kids receive safe. Ellen is right. This is a crisis.