Sam Farmer

Dr. Anil Menon

MEDS 1001: Medical Sciences Seminar

21 April 2017

A Case Study In Stress Management

Ive probably practiced the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale enough times that I can do it in

my sleep. Please raise your arms palms facing upward and close your eyes. Please say The Sky is Blue

in Cincinnati. Please smile as best you can. is as natural to me as brushing my teeth. Having this scale

performed on me was not.

It began unassumingly enough; I developed a slight stutter midway through one particular week

in the semester when I had a large number of tasks and only a slight amount of rest the past sleep days. I

attributed it to my hectic schedule and my lack of rest and continue about my day. I remember on

Tuesday of that week, the stutter had progressively worsened. I could barely get a word out without my

words seeming to be enveloped by an unneeded vibrato. I was moderately annoyed but again disregarded

it as a product of the daily grind of college. I vowed to go to bed early that night and tuned it out to study.

At around 4:00 pm, my lab partner asked if I was angry with them. I asked them why is an amused in

slightly puzzled manner. Your face is as red as a beet, they replied. At around 5:00 pm I developed a

severe headache and my ears felt as if they had been plugged up with rubber stoppers to prevent any of

the pressure from being released. I eventually drove home and without a second thought went to check

my blood pressure to see if it was causing the headache. As I pumped up the cuff, I was puzzled to nite

that the Korotkoff sounds never stopped no matter how high I pumped the blood pressure cuff. I was

eventually able to get a reading at around 192/72. After hearing this, my parents insisted that I

immediately go to the emergency room. While in the car and more times than I can count in the

emergency room, I went through those three questions. Fortunately, the answers to them were always no.

After getting an MRI and a CT scan, I was thankful to learn that there were no structural abnormalities

with my brain indicating anything serious. The physicians concluded that the stresses I had placed on my
body were entirely responsible for my symptoms. This was surprising to me, yet it made perfect sense. I

have decided that one day soon, stress relief techniques learned in seminar will join the Stroke Scale as an

activity as ingrained as brushing my teeth.