I was a second year medical student, looking for inspiration and tips and references from anywhere that wasn’t SDN. Someplace where people are humble and inspiring and inspired, and tumblr was that place.

I often miss the community of medblrs on here, and try to find some on instagram. But the truth is, it’s not the same as it used to be. I know one thing for sure though, even if there’s one person out there reading this and thinking back to the same thing -- you’re not alone.

We have all come such a long way, hear’s to that!

Here’s a picture of me in my graduation gown walking outside the college I spent 7 years in) photo credit: @amanialshaali​ on instagram.

I’m still around on instagram: @suhaila.als

With gratitude,

...since I last posted on here 2 years ago!

I have since then:

graduated medical school

started & completed a year of mandatory training as an intern

started my masters degree in psychology & neuroscience of mental health

joined a psychiatry residency where I’m currently an R1

I am not very active on many platforms now, except instagram. I post there regularly about lifestyle, psychiatry, mental health, books - just anything and everything on my mind.

You can find me on instagram @suhaila.als

With gratitude,

A few weeks back, I received a package from a lovely woman my sister knows. Little did I know, this woman would turn out to be one of the most unique voices in literature I’ve come across. I finished her book in no time and I’ve been tossing and turning ideas in my head, trying to find out how I’m going to give this book a review that does it justice and is honest at the same time.

Rosehead is story about a girl *ahem, anyone singing the Nirvana song?* who believes her grandfather’s rose garden eats people. The story presents an intriguing interplay between elements of fantasy and mystery. I spent a large portion of my time reading this book stopping to think about whether I believed what was going on or whether the protagonist was making it all up. To me, it’s always an interesting experience having a seemingly unreliable protagonist - and I say seemingly, because the story unfolds beautifully.

Speaking of the protagonist, Lilith is an intelligent 12 year old girl. She is quite snarky for her age; which might seem unrealistic but I didn’t mind it. I’d rather read about unusual characters anyways. Despite her wit, I was constantly reminded that she really is just a child - through her arguments with her mother, temper tantrums and sense of adventure. I was always looking forward to her next excursion with her pet, Panther because that’s when things got really exciting.

Now on to the hard part, which is the things I didn’t like about the book. It’s hard to fault a book you like so much. That being said, I really would have liked more background in this book. I wanted to know more about her past, her “diagnosis” and her parents specially. I didn’t like that when it came to discussing what was wrong with Lilith, a few diagnoses were just rattled off (but that’s just me, I’m a med student and get irked by these things).

The book ended with a cliffhanger - which I’m not sure if it means there will be a sequel or it’s just to keep you wondering. I quite liked that the whole book kept me wondering about what’s coming next, but I would have preferred for the ending to come full circle if this is a stand-alone.

I have to applaud the author’s beautiful descriptive writing. She painted a beautiful and gory garden that I couldn’t stop picturing and I think would make for one heck of a movie. Like I mentioned before, she has quite a unique voice. I wish I could say more about the way she writes but I’m at a loss for words *pun totally intended*.

Hey there! Thanks and I’m glad you’re liking it!

It’s really hard being a college student and trying to stay healthy. It’s doable though. In terms of diet, my best advice would be to meal prep and eat out as little as possible. Integrate exercise any way you can - either spare an hour to go to the gym 3 times a week, or work out in the comfort of your home. If you don’t have that time, try to be active during your breaks (do HIIT work outs in 10 minutes for example).

I feel like time management begins with prioritization. It’s effective if you can prioritize your to-do list (what must be done today? what can be done tomorrow?) and also discipline yourself (if you need x amount of hours to finish a task, start early enough that you won’t have to keep yourself up for example). 

Since you have quiet a few things going in, maybe it would help if you allocate certain days of the week to certain activities and plan that around your classes/work schedule. That could help so you don’t stress out about doing everything in one day. 

Hey, thank you so much!

My references for pathology were the following:

Pathoma

This is an excellent reference but the issue is that the book itself will only provide you with the most high yield information so it’s criticized often for not being comprehensive enough.

I enjoyed it a lot, Dr. Hussain Sattar would integrate pathophysiology and clinical features in a way that makes sense so you understand it and can infer things without having to memorize.

Lecture slides (annotated with my notes from lecture)

Robbins Basic Pathology

What I would do is

Before lecture: do the pathoma video (ie listen and annotate on the book)

Before lecture: print the lecture slides

During lecture: annotate the lecture slides with class notes

After lecture: 

Add any additional class notes to pathoma OR

Make my own summary using pathoma and class notes (if the topic was long enough to warrant that)

Refer to Robbins for anything I don’t understand/feel I need extra info about

Go over pathoma or my own summaries

As for pharmacology, I was blessed with an amazing professor. I rarely ever needed to refer to anything other than her lecture slides combined with my class notes. On the rare chance I did want extra information; I’d refer to Katzung’s Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. Some of my friends swear by SketchyPharm but I never got into it.

I found studying pharmacology easier when it was in the context of disease. So my advice would be not to try to memorize drugs, indications, contraindications and side effects; rather try integrating these things with the disease(s) those drugs are related to.

I love writing notes. I actually enjoy the process of summarizing pages of textbook information and ending up with a concise few pages that I can refer to for studying. One of the questions I’ve seen in my inbox quite a few times is whether I prefer to write or type my notes. It’s interesting to me because I actually recently switched back to mainly typing notes after writing for such a long time.

Because I’ve done and still do both, I figured there must be a reason I can’t choose one over the other. To solve this dilemma, I decided to make a pro/con list for each and share it as a way of answering these questions.

Handwriting

Pros

Engaging my senses in the learning process by writing increases the chances that I’ll remember what I’m noting down.

It’s faster for drawing things out - specifically processes and flowcharts.

Cons

It takes me more time, specially because I try to be very neat.

Typing

Pros

It almost always takes me less time.

It’s easier to back up/share notes this way.

It’s a more convenient way of adding in pictures.

It’s easier to edit later on.

Cons

Using a tablet/laptop provides easier access to distraction.

Staring at the screen for too long gives me a headache.

There’s nothing like the feel of pen to paper... But I found that eventually, I still need to spend time revising by going over my notes whether I’ve handwritten or typed them. So it seems like a better use of my time to finish my summaries faster in order to be able to start “actually studying”. So why not do the thing that saves time? 

My biggest reason for switching back though has been the following. In my last two years of medical school, I’m teaching myself a lot of theoretical information from books. But I also go to the hospital and see those cases, so I’m constantly learning new information and making new links that I didn’t make before (as in, when I was learning the information from a textbook). Because of this, I end up having to annotate notes a lot. At first it didn’t seem like an issue. But eventually when my notes were all over the place, it was starting to become disorganized and I didn’t like that. But that’s just me!

And as always.. Disclaimer: I do things this way because of my own priorities. By no means am I claiming everybody should do the same or that it’s perfect. I’m just providing ideas and I hope they help :)

At the risk of giving you dubious advice, I’ll still give you my opinion.

Very few of the people I know in medical school actually enjoyed high school. You’re not alone in that, I promise.

Intelligence and privilege are great things to have. But what I found makes a good student is hard work, self care and consistency. I sucked (I mean really sucked) at algebra, but here I am. I didn’t consider myself intelligent either. But what I had going for me is my curiosity and eagerness to learn. Everybody has something going for them, and it’s not always the same thing. Please don’t compare yourself to other people.

Having a support system is important. You asking this question shows that you’re trying to connect. Please do that more often. With people in your life like family, with a guidance counselor in school, with people in your community, with the studyblr and medblr community. There are people who want to help you and support you, it’s tricky finding them but I believe you can.

You are doing things that inspire you and that’s great. Keep reminding yourself of where you want to be, so that the stepping stones you need to get through don’t seem so bad.

I’m not sure when you left this message so I’m terribly sorry if this reply is very late. I didn’t want to leave this question unanswered though because it is important. At the same time, I feel like I wish I were more qualified to answer this. Hopefully some of it was still useful! Input from medblrs is welcome.

Hey! That’s great, good luck with your senior year :)

If you’d asked me this question 2 years ago I would have told you time management and prioritization.

While those two things are important, being a student in the hospital has taught me that in addition to that you have to be flexible. You have to learn to make the most of your time when your schedule is constantly changing.

All the things in my bio are things I love doing. But I have to accept that I can’t do those things every day. I cook dinner every other day because I have to eat but it’s been a while since I’ve baked cookies.

Lastly, you have to accept that you won’t always have the time. In addition to the things I do, I also want to take foreign language classes, kick-boxing classes and dedicate more time to photography and visual design. But I have to accept that there are certain goals that are more time-sensitive and they require my attention now.