USMLE Step 1

Sorry if I've been a little MIA... I've started to crack down on studying for my USMLE Step 1 board exam. For those of you who don't hang out with med students all the time (luckies), this exam is kind of a big deal and pretty much determines the rest of our lives (not to be overdramatic).

Since studying for this exam is pretty much a thrill and I have a bunch of spare time, I'm going to (try to) start up a little USMLE series to document how awesome things are for me and my fellow MS2s. It'll be like my "In Class" posts only better because it's about studying for a big exam!! Total excitement!

Anyway, let's get to today's topic: pooping. Studying for this exam has messed up my pooping schedule and after asking around, I'm not alone.

Let me explain. I'm taking, along with maybe half of my med school class, a Kaplan "Intense Prep" course to prepare for the exam. This course is about 8 hours of lecture a day, every day (with a few half days and days off scattered here and there).

You may ask, how does this interfere with pooping? No time! No time to poop!!

Let me break it down a little more: Let's say 50 people are taking the course (sounds about right) and half of those are girls. Every hour, we get a 10 minute break and most people have to go to the bathroom. There are only 3 stalls in the girls' bathroom and so there is usually a line at every break... with only 10 minutes for everyone to go. Umm... nobody wants to poop with people waiting for you! Some people go to other buildings and restrooms, but break time is limited and there are a bunch of activities to do during that time (like stand in the sun and "talk" to people/stare like zombies). Also, you can't force these things just because it's "break time."

Plus, we're all stressed, which I'm pretty sure doesn't help (I love that I'm like a 1/2MD and I'm only "pretty sure" stress and pooping/not pooping may be correlated).

My favorite part of all this is that since starting the course and our intense studying, a bunch of us have gone out of our ways to make our lives as routine as possible. And yet, while we strive for regularity in our daily lives, our bodies will have none of it.