#medicine resources
Believe it or not, if you google “pandas” this disease does in fact make an appearance on the first page. Didn’t the consultant feel silly though when he typed it in and the first thing that appears is all these pictures of pandas.
It’s a bit obscure, but it is the abrupt onset (or sudden dramatic worsening) of OCD and/or Tourette like syndromes following infection with group A beta haemolytic strep - such as with strep throat and scarlet fever. It is thought it might be an autoimmune response (“molecular mimicry” which is a term I have fondness for), similar to sequale of rheumatic fever (valve disease, chorea).
Mostly I felt like drawing a panda. I copied it from this guy.
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Chocolate is also a migraine trigger.
Also I checked travel and exercise but then thought back to the last time I did either and… well.. maybe not.
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Some associations of Dupuytrens contracture that are useful to be aware of. Some are well established (family history) and some are quite tenuous (manual labour) but are still worth asking about in a history.
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I had an ask recently for the books I use, so I thought I’d give a bit of a run down of the ones I like. All of this is very UK leaning unfortunately.
Clinical books
Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine - always useful for an overview. Seem that most consultants either love it or hate it. I like to use it when structuring my notes, but it doesn’t always go into all the detail I want.
Other Oxford Handbooks I’ve liked: Clinical Specialities, Foundation Programme.
Kumar & Clarke - I don’t actually use this as much as I should, but it’s good when trying to get some revision done when the computer is off. It’s usually much faster to google my query. Explains things really well though and has nice diagrams. I now have a mini version as well which I can see myself using more than the giant one.
Clinically Oriented Anatomy - my preferred resource. Others like Gray’s. COA has simpler pictures, and fewer errors.
BNF - always useful.
The ECG Made Easy - I learnt ECGs from this book. Went through meticulously and made notes. Obviously you need to practice (The ECG In Practice) and correlate clinically, but the Saturday I spent with this book was an exceedingly useful one.
Pre-clinical books
Color Atlas of Histology - I like histology
Langman’s Medical Embryology - makes sense of the gobbledegook that is sodding embryology (the most dreaded lectures of each module)
Anatomy Coloring Book - for procrastination. Doesn’t really matter which one you get, the amount you actually learn from doing it is limited.
Online Resources
eBNF - because who uses paper copies these days anyway? I think you need a login, can’t remember how to get that.
Passmedicine - for SBA practice. Costs £22 for the whole year, and includes SJT practice questions which will be usesful come December time….
Fastbleep - really nicely written up medical notes on different conditions, with pathophysiology etc. Doesn’t have all topics, but has a LOT.
Wikipedia - it shouldn’t be, but it is, and I have no shame.
