Writing Exercise #8

Some of the most interesting things I have learned thus far in this class are the gut microbiome and its impact on the health of the individual. The various ways that the gut microbiome could influence different diseases that I initially thought had no connection to the gut was very surprising. My level of understanding stemmed from my immunology class and its impact on allergies but I didn’t realize how influential it could be on asthma, various cancers, and obesity. Other anatomy or physiology classes consisted of memorization and not of connection. Bringing together the molecular processes, physiology, and research of the microbiome has really strengthened my knowledge and connections to health. Disease states and dysbiosis was another interesting finding in this course and how the gut microbiome can impact disease risks both negatively and positively. Both my parents also have underlying diseases and diet has been a big factor in managing their symptoms and health but I never questioned why or how.

Growing up, my father had type 2 diabetes and was a very stubborn man. While his physician would prescribe him medications to manage symptoms or illness, my father would base taking his medications on how he felt. He would generally eat a well-balanced diet and then use how he felt to determine what medications or if he would take any medications at all. Different types of food also influenced flare-ups of my mother’s RA. She noticed meat, certain seafood in combination with hot weather would trigger swelling and flare-ups. I grew up with this knowledge and thought it was a common occurrence with others who experienced similar diseases. My partner also was diagnosed with RA when he was 21 years old. Over time, noticed a correlation between eating red meat and swelling. He has since limited his intake of red meat and noticed a significant difference. He also has a family friend who does research at OHSU and suggested that something he ate while in the Philippines triggered his RA to develop.

When preparing for the final paper, I will most likely use this free-write exercise as a source of inspiration and just word vomit onto a piece of paper. I will go through last week’s material and will try to write everything down that I can come with for a paper topic, reflect on my ideas, and then select one idea that I want to expand. From there, I could again word vomit and expand on one specific idea I selected and use that to start my initial research. I will then use specific library scholarly websites to search for articles and expand on my idea.