CC3-Everyday Okay

I still got misty eyes when my air conditioning unit stopped. It was timed to do so at exactly 9:00 in the morning. I headed to the bathroom to wash my face filled with bed sheet marks. As I was lathering soap all over my face, I can feel some water dripping from my chin into my neck. After some vigorous rubbing, I rinsed. Making sure that there wouldn’t be any trace of soap, I pat my whole face including my neck. And as I was doing so I accidentally hit my adam’s apple which kind of hurt a little. Then I started asking questions. Why do we have adam’s apple? What is its purpose? Why didn’t we have them as a child? How does it develop? Could I get sick if I bump it often? And why is it even called that way? This and many other questions about our human body could be answered through Endocrinology.

Hormones… hormones… hormones… That is what endocrinology is all about. It comes from two Greek words “endo” meaning “inside” and “krino” meaning “to separate”. Endocrinology’s main concerns are the organs of the Endocrine System. The Endocrine System is the collection of hormone-secreting organs or glands that control different physiological functions of the body through the production of hormones which are released into the blood in order to be transported to the different parts of the body. Many of the processes that take place inside our body are controlled by these “internal secretions”. And so, the dysfunction or abnormality in the hormones could greatly affect a person’s health. Therefore, Endocrinology is a very important topic in the field of medicine because it explains to us how a disease that is related to the production and secretion of hormones develops. Through this knowledge, diagnosis and treatment of the endocrine system is possible.

Feeling energized and wakeful already, I went to the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal. The carton of milk was still cold when I poured it over my cereal. As I was munching my breakfast I felt bored because the rest of my family already had breakfast like an hour ahead of me. I have this habit of reading anything that is readable when I feel bored. And that time the only readable thing available is the back of the milk carton I just poured into my bowl. I was about to pour it again when something I read stopped me. It says “contain lead”. I was about to call my mom to tell her what I just found out when I took a second look at it. I felt ridiculous when I saw that I skipped the “does not” part of the phrase. Then I told myself that it is a good thing we have toxicologists to test the food we eat for harmful substances that may be present on them like lead.

Toxicologist… a person who specializes on Toxicology… from the word itself, toxicology is the study of the different substances that may be harmful to our body. Also known as the “science of poison”, toxicology explains to us the adverse effects of chemical on living organisms. It includes the mechanism of these toxic substances which makes them harmful not only to humans but also to other forms of living things like plants.

Since it was still early to go out and take a walk I decided to watch TV. As I was zapping through the channels police sirens started blasting out of the speakers. I felt curious and so I punched in the channel where I think I saw it. It was the morning news. Like most teens my initial reaction would be to change it. But then I decided to stay for a while to see what the police sirens are for. Apparently the police had a raid on this apartment which was discovered to be a laboratory for substance of abuse like drugs. Then I remembered one of our topics in CC3 which is drug testing.

Drug testing is basically testing for different body specimens like urine and blood in order to detect the presence of drugs. When our body takes in anything, food, drink, or drugs they are broken down and released into the body with urine, sweat, blood, etc. One product of the breaking down of these substances is “metabolites”. Metabolites that are present in the specimens are what we use to detect if a person had previous exposure or intake of a certain drug. But why do we have to test for drugs? As we all know certain forms of drug may be harmful to our body. Some may cause dysfunction of the brain which may cause a person to not act normally. This could be harmful not only to the person himself but also to other people he or she maybe with. Through drug testing possible harm coming from these “drug abusers” may be avoided.

Together with Endocrinology and Toxicology, Drug testing are the three topics which composes Clinical Chemistry 3. Now, who says CC3 couldn't be applied on daily life? This blog note is an example that it can be anywhere: on the news, on your breakfast table, and even on your own body. You just have to wake up and wash that doubt and negativity about the subject off of your face.