It's that time of year...

I am currently in the above state of being, hence the lack of posts. It's that time of year I suppose, where exams:

• Leave you with nothing to blog and no time to blog: The stuff I can blog about is extremely limited since my life stopped to a halt whilst missing out on various birthday celebrations and other activities: paintball, birthday meals... Anyway, I won't continue whining lest I instill an unmovable depression in my readers (and Happy or Sad, a Mood Can Prove Contagious). But colleagues of mine do get bored of their medicine at some point in time, allowing themselves to get distracted and spend a bit more time on Maltastar.com and Di-ve.com for any news concerning our future as doctors. But again, it's depressing stuff and the few it concerns have heard it all before from the fifth years who are happily leaving this country.


• Make the hay fever season worse: All throughout May, my mother has been complaining that I need to see a doctor because I'm all the time sneezing and consuming too much toilet paper. When bored of renal, I was happily browsing when I bumped into this: "Changes in immune regulation in response to examination stress in atopic and healthy individuals" Höglund, C. Olgart, Axén, J., Kemi, C., Jernelöv, S., Grunewald, J., Müller-Suur, C., Smith, Y., Grönneberg, R., Eklund, A., Stierna, P. & Lekander, M Clinical & Experimental Allergy 36 (8), 982-992. Apparently, my excess hay fever symptoms can be happily attributed to the 30th May - 16th June period.


• Make you gain the pounds: It's amazing the things science is ready to prove to the rest of the world. Physiological reasons have been discovered behind a friend of mine once saying "my sister told me third year is hard but it's in fifth year when you REALLY gain the pounds!" The reasons why are nicely summed up in this lovely graph below:

Glossary of Terms (for those not privileged to have Dr. G. Buhagiar teaching them Biochemistry):

Leptin: The hormone that's meant to suppress appetite. Hence, having too little of it ends you up spending more time with the fridge; and woe betide the fridge if you find it empty.

NPY: has the opposite effect of leptin i.e. it's the glue that keeps you bound to the fridge.

Cortisol & ACTH: They're stress hormones that make you want to get into unnecessary arguments with Adriana Crocker (the Medical School Administrator), leading the poor individual indulging in chocolate to fight away the guilt. And the pounds keep on piling.

Oh and PS; another thing that's not helping the situation: my uncle had to go to the A&E last Wednesday with crushing chest pain. It didn't come as a shocker to me since he had all the pre-requisites to get him to Mater Dei. But family remains family and it was something else to worry about. He's now been discharged but is in need of by-pass surgery.

And the leptin keeps itself supressed whilst the NYP continues to surge. At this rate, the next thing to pity after exams are the bathroom scales.