More vocab

Sometimes I think we make up words just to make ourselves sound smart. I think during anatomy they said we learned 7000 new terms. It worked out to be about 100 new things a day. Well, how about a few more words to drop at your next cocktail party?

hematochezia- bright red blood streaked stool. thats right, we actually have a word for that.

prostatism - lower urinary tract symptoms.

meconium - first stool of an infant.

and today's personal favorite...

dyspareunia - painful intercourse. this is a symptom of irritable bowel syndrome.

Why do we have a word for an infant's first stool, or a word for "painful intercourse"? I guess it's because as future doctors, we like to sit around and talk about poop and sex. at least this way we can discuss it at the dinner table and it sounds grown-up.

Vocab Lesson

Occasionally in medical school we learn cool new vocab words for a condition or symptom. For example, the ever popular condition of coughing up blood as seen in every episode of House is called hemoptysis.

Todays cool word:

Trichobezoar - hairball Yes, these are occasionally found in the GI system, they are indigestible, and can cause problems.

Todays lesson: Don't swallow hair.