I went to a dinner lecture last night at the Riverplace Hotel down by the waterfront here in Portland. Very nice hotel with a beautiful conference room. The lecture was on migraine headaches and the newer research that shows that it’s not entirely a vascular phnomenon as was previously thought (and as was taught to me in medical school). It used to be thought that the blood vessels in the brain would go through a spasming period (which could produce an aura) and then would dilate and become engorged and congested (producing the migraine). But new studies show that the headache actually begins before the engorgement of the vessels, and maybe that is actually a response to the headache and not the cause. All very interesting… and offers some insight as to why neurotransmitter modulating drugs have helped prevent migraines for a lot of people (things like the SSRI anti-depressants and some anti-epileptics like Topamax and Depakote).
Anyway – the talk was interesting and I got to enjoy a very good dinner, starting off with some great appetizers! I love appetizers. They make me smile. They are definitely on my list of "Happy Things". 🙂
Well, as someone who has suffered from at least 1 migrane every week or two for as long as I can remember, if you find out what exactly CAUSES them, let me know.
You may find this silly, but I think the medical profession and the software engineering profession have a lot in common. Granted, you save lives, and we make computers do things, but both professions (I’m guessing from your post) require a lot of life-long learning… conferences, books, and knowledge picked up from colleages.
The medical profession is of course much more extreme, what with the amount of schooling and such, as it should be. But the general approach I’m guessing is similar.
You are so right about the life-long learning aspect of medicine. There have actually been studies done showing that the longer a doctor is out of medical school, the less efficient and knowledgable they are about how to diagnose and manage illnesses. This is somewhat entertaining since many people are more fearful of young fresh doctors and would choose a more “seasoned” professional for their medical needs, but that might not always get them the best care.
Of course if you’re talking about getting a surgery done, you want the guy who has done the most with the fewest complications… it’s in the deciding if you need the surgery at all and, if so, which technique would be the best for you – that’s where the up to date information can really help.
It’s that whole aspect of life-long learning that is a little intimidating to me – because how do I know that I’m learning the right things? I’ll just have to go to lots of conferences in sunny tropical locales to keep myself in the loop. 🙂