November 7, 2006

• Poop!

  IF ANY OF THIS POST AMUSES YOU, YOU MIGHT BE A MED STUDENT OR HAVE ONE FOR A FRIEND

  Diarrhea is a universal human experience. Almost all persons have had acute infectious diarrhea sometime in their lives. The incidence of acute diarrhea is 5-7% annually in the US.  Chronic diarrhea ( lasting more than 4 weeks) is also common with an incidence of 5% in the US.

  For most patients, diarrhea means the passage of loose stools. This definition includes two components: loose stool consistency(pourable stools) and increased stool frequency(more than two bowel movements daily).

  Physicians often include a third component: increased stool weight(>200 g/ 24 hr.), but patients are poor estimators of stool output.
  

  Now be honest, how many of you are going to try to estimate your output
  next time you are in the bathroom? yes, this is how i combine my
  education and entertainment. weep for me now.

  On the bright
  side, i learned the japanese onomatopeia for the sound your stomach
  makes when you have the runs: gorogoro, same as the japanese
  onomatopeia for thunder. Tells you a lot about a culture when those two
  concepts overlap.

  • 8:02 pm
  • 3 Comments