I am taking my medical college admission test on April 27,1991.
I have used the Flower’s prepration guide to review the material .
The new MCAT will test student’s problem solving abilities(******).
MCAT format (5 3/4 hrs. ):
verbal reasoning
physical science
biological science
writing samples
Can anyone give me some advice on how to tackle the MCAT problems?
You can tell me about your own personal experienc ("MCAT phobia").
Do you know any ways of remembring hard material in biology/ organic chemistry?
Help me with my MCAT review by giving me problems or suggestions.
Thanks!!!!!
Ritu Pawa
oops about myself…… I am a undergraduate pre-medical student at U of S.
I plan to go to medical college in Philadelphia . I learn about lots of
medical issues from sci.news. The article on "choosing medicine as your career"
and the debate on "fetal transplant tissue " were very informative.
In article <1991Apr11.144807.1…@ide.com> for…@ide.com (Bonnie Forman)
writes:
> Can someone please tell me what the symptoms of a
> milk allergy are in an adult?
You ingest milk and you get sick.
Seriously, there are no consistant symptoms; everybody responds
differently. It is, however, common to get mucus production and diarhea.
My symptoms are: phlem in my throat and upper respitory system, nasal
muscus, diarhea, and, for large ingestions, intestinal cramping. For me,
the symptoms take up to a day and a half to appear (very unusual), but they
always do appear no matter how small the exposure. Other people can get a
rash/hives, a swollen throat, asthma, headache, dizziness, anything. The
point is to look for a correlation.
I assume you know the difference between dairy allergy and lactose
intolerance and are asking about the former.
The only way to know if you are allergic is to cut out *ALL* forms of dairy
products (read labels: milk, non-fat milk powder, whey, youghurt, butter,
casein, sodium or calcium caseinate, cheese, buttermilk, etc) for a couple
of weeks (until symptoms are gone) and then have a small amount of a dairy
product (try to test one kind at a time). Test one every other day, unless
you have a reaction, in which case wait several days. Test each item twice
(especially if you do have a reaction; you want to be sure it wasn’t a
fluke). This is called an "addition diet." An "elimination diet" is
similar but in the oppisite order (cut out one item at a time until your
symptoms go away).
Be aware that any reaction might be due to something other than what you
think you’re testing (mold instead of milk in cheese, for example). Watch
out also for other non-obvious possible causes of a reaction. Did you
always test the butter on a Tuesday, which is the day you swim in a
chlorinated pool? Or have a stressful therapy session? Or visit the nursing
home?
Good luck,
__________________________________________________________________________
"There’s nothing wrong with me. Maybe there’s Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG) cnorman@ucsd (bitnet)
______________________________________________ cnor…@ucsd.edu (internet)
There seem to be some over-the-counter products advertised for milk
allergies. Can anyone tell me about these? Are they valid? Anyone
have experience using them? What is available?
— Cornell
corn…@csl.dl.nec.com
In article <cornell.671618943@texas> corn…@csl.dl.nec.com (Cornell
Kinderknecht) writes:
>There seem to be some over-the-counter products advertised for milk
>allergies. Can anyone tell me about these? Are they valid? Anyone
>have experience using them? What is available?
I thought this was pretty well covered in the recent discussion on Lactose
Intolerance, but obviously there’s still some confusion, so here goes what
I hope are some clear definitions:
*Lactose Intolerance is medical condition where the person lacks an enzyme
(lactase?) which is needed to digest milk sugar (lactose). The condition
is so common that we could make a case that *adult* presense of the enzyme
is the abnormal condition. It is especially common in Eastern European
Jews, Asians, Africans, etc. Symptoms vary but usually include bloating,
intestional cramping, diarhea, etc. The intolerant person often does not
react to very small amounts of dairy and reacts more to milk carbohydrate
(eg, should not react at all to butter). Of course, people’s reaction
strengths and sensitivities differ.
A lactose intolerant person can consume lactose if s/he takes the necessary
enzyme orally. Several over-the-counter products exist for this. They
were discussed in detail in this group just a few weeks ago. I believe I
have heard of L.I. people for whom these products don’t help that much. I
don’t know if that’s because their cases are severe or because they really
have an allergy instead.
*Dairy allergy is a very different condition. The allergic person’s immune
system reacts to the presence of the dairy substance. Symptoms, severity
of reaction, sensitivity, etc vary widely across people. The person will
react to all types of dairy products, not just those with lactose. While
there are treatments for the allergy, they are done with a doctor’s
supervision. I don’t know of any treatments that work (for me). The
alternative is to treat the symptoms, which can be done with a wide variety
of prescription and over-the-counter medication. The best "treatment" is
to simply (ha ha–it’s not so simple!) avoid dairy products.
*So, how can you tell the difference? Here are some handy-dandy tips (some
came from a former allergist of mine, others from my own experience). It
is my opinion that I have *both* (I know I’m allergic and L.I. runs in my
family and my genetic heritage plus I had the symptoms for a few years
before the allergy symptoms).
Lactose Intolerance:
Usually appears in adulthood.
Reactions depend on type of dairy product. Less for butter and cream, more
for non-fat milk.
The animal the dairy comes from is irrelevant.
Reactions usually are those of indigestion/intestional.
It usally takes a decent amount (1/2 cup of milk?) to trigger a reaction.
The person is more likely to be of a non-Northern-European ethnicity.
Dairy Allergy:
Usually appears in childhood (may disappear as the child grows up). Of
course, mine appeared in adulthood, so this is no magic determiner.
Reactions are the same for different types of dairy product (usually).
It is possible, but unlikely, that the person is only allergic to cow’s or
sheep’s or goat’s etc milk.
The reactions can be anything.
Any amount can trigger it (unless the person is not very sensitive).
The person can be of any ethnicity.
This is all the explaination I can think of for now. I hope it is helpful.
__________________________________________________________________________
"There’s nothing wrong with me. Maybe there’s Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG) cnorman@ucsd (bitnet)
______________________________________________ cnor…@ucsd.edu (internet)
> Can someone please tell me what the symptoms of a
> milk allergy are in an adult?
Sure! I’m responding as an allergic, not as a medical
professional. And my allergy is a bit atypical in that it
wasn’t verified until I was 24. It does consistently
respond to challenge.
I get very sore ears/throat if I ingest small-moderate
amounts of milk products over a few days. The pain is not
unlike strep throat, but it includes my ears. I’ve mistaken
it for strep a couple of times in spite of plenty of real
strep episodes for comparison. The difference is that I
don’t get a fever or any other symptoms.
If I ingest a large amount of milk product at once, say, an
ice cream cone, I get severe bowel cramping and diarhoeaa in
a single episode a few hours later.
The severity of reaction depends upon other factors as well:
exposure to other allergens (as in pollen season), whether
or not I’m premenstrual (makes it worse), emotional stress
(which does not cause but can exacerbate any of my allergic
responses) and whether or not I’m on any other medication,
such as the corticosteroid injections I get during spring.
I have an adult female friend who reacts to milk with
eczema.
Hope this helps.
Cheers, Cele
— FD 1.99c
* Origin: Corriveau Platitudes, Nanaimo, B.C (89:681/233)
—
Celia Corriveau – via IMEx node 89:681/1
Celia.Corriv…@f233.n681.z89.onebdos.UUCP
In article <5…@network.ucsd.edu> cnor…@weber.ucsd.edu (Cyndi Norman) writes:
>*So, how can you tell the difference? Here are some handy-dandy tips (some
>came from a former allergist of mine, others from my own experience).
>Dairy Allergy:
>It is possible, but unlikely, that the person is only allergic to cow’s or
> sheep’s or goat’s etc milk.
Somehow I doubt this bit came from your allergist. Allergies are
usually very specific, and there is an allergenic protein in cow’s milk
that is completely missing from goat’s milk, meaning that many folks
allergic to the former have no problem with the latter (I’m in that
category). I don’t have any numbers, but I was under the impression
that it applies to a significant number of those "allergic to dairy".
Many people have never tried goat’s milk (or the yoghurt and cheeses
made from it), and so don’t know whether their "dairy allergy" is
also to goat. Likewise, if you’re not in the habit of REALLY reading
labels, there are all sorts of soy cheeses that do include casein, and
cheeses advertised as "sheep’s milk" or "goat’s milk" that are actually
a mixture of that plus cow’s milk.
This is why I am still a supporter of CSPI – the only hope for allergic
folks is to have complete, detailed labels on food!
Andrea Frankel, Hewlett Packard, San Diego Technical Graphics Div., R&D Lab
"wake now! Discover that you are the song that the morning brings…"
______________________________________________________________________________
Internet : and…@sdd.hp.com (or andrea%hp-…@nosc.mil or @ucsd.edu)
UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!andrea
CSNET : andrea%hp-…@hplabs.csnet
USnail : 16399 W. Bernardo Drive – Mailstop 61U65, San Diego CA 92127-1899
Voice : (619) 592-4664
> There seem to be some over-the-counter products
> advertised for milk
> allergies. Can anyone tell me about these? Are they
> valid? Anyone
> have experience using them? What is available?
There’s a difference between milk allergy and lactose
intolerance. I think you may be referring to Lactaid and
it’s buddies, which are to be used by people who lack the
enzyme necessary to properly digest lactose, or milk sugar.
Lactaid does the digesting for the person, and can work
quite well.
Milk allergy, on the other hand, is an immune system
response that is best treated by staying away from milk
products.
Cheers, Cele
— FD 1.99c
* Origin: Corriveau Platitudes, Nanaimo, B.C (89:681/233)
—
Celia Corriveau – via IMEx node 89:681/1
Celia.Corriv…@f233.n681.z89.onebdos.UUCP