Chronically ill aspiring med student

[Kesj]

Hi, I am new to the forums and am hoping I can get some advice from others.

 

I was severely sick with Lyme disease for 5 years. I have now been undergoing aggressive treatment for 2 years and am getting my life back. This past year I was able to complete my first full-time year at university.

 

Medical school is the only thing that I can see myself doing in the future. However, my health is still an unknown, and may forever be. There is no way to know if I will fully recover. I will not be able to participate in as many extracurriculars as other applicants (if any at all). I may also be limited to U of C as I still require help from my family. The one thing I can do for sure is keep very good marks.

 

I was wondering if there is anyone on this forum who has been in a similar situation as me and can offer me any advice as to how to overcome the obstacles of being sick and being an aspiring med student.

 

Thanks,

Kes

[phosgenic]

Hi, I am new to the forums and am hoping I can get some advice from others.

 

I was severely sick with Lyme disease for 5 years. I have now been undergoing aggressive treatment for 2 years and am getting my life back. This past year I was able to complete my first full-time year at university.

 

Medical school is the only thing that I can see myself doing in the future. However, my health is still an unknown, and may forever be. There is no way to know if I will fully recover. I will not be able to participate in as many extracurriculars as other applicants (if any at all). I may also be limited to U of C as I still require help from my family. The one thing I can do for sure is keep very good marks.

 

I was wondering if there is anyone on this forum who has been in a similar situation as me and can offer me any advice as to how to overcome the obstacles of being sick and being an aspiring med student.

 

Thanks,

Kes

 

to answer your question im going to use my sister as an example... she was diagnosed with type 1 (juvy onset) diabetes when she was around 12. seeing that this is a premed forum, im sure that most people will know that type 1 diabetes has no cure and requires constant vigilance and treatment in order for the person to stay in good health. so its kind of like you saying that your health is an unknown... but perhaps not. either way im just trying to help so... some of her stats...

 

started playing hockey when she was 11 with boys

later on played the highest level of women's hockey in ontario

had a 90 avg in high school

went to cornell u on a scholarship (though they dub it financial aid) to play ncaa D1 women's hockey

solid marks (not sure of exact numbers)

applying to meds this upcoming cycle

research publication, volunteering

 

and believe me when i say that she went through some tough times... and im sure they were a lot more difficult than i could ever imagine. she still does... but she has never let it stand in her way. she always calls diabetes the greatest thing that has ever happened to her because it has made her tough as nails, strengthened her soul and given her a passion for medicine. im not sure about lyme's disease but i do know that medicine has evolved enough that most diseases can be controlled and people can lead next to normal lives. not sure if this is the case with lyme's, i hope it is though.. it seems like it is from what youve written.

 

so to really sink my teeth into your actual question id say from her and my perspective its really all a matter of how driven you are. is your reason for pursuing meds strong enough? it may be rubbing a little salt into a wound you might have, but the fact of the matter is that not only do you have to do everything required in order to be a competitive applicant (which is an extraordinary feat in and of itself) but you also have to overcome this disease. all i can really say is that your "WHY", ie your reason for pursuing medicine, better be strong enough that it can withstand even the fiercest and longest of storms. with anything worth doing there will always be obstacles, but in your case there will be more of them and they may be more difficult to overcome than someone without your disease. i know my sister has a very powerful reason for pursuing medicine- in a nutshell, she wants to help people out who are suffering from diabetes because she knows what its like to actually have the condition and it has lit a fire in her belly. no matter what hardships shes faced (and there have been a f*ckload), she keeps driving her feet into the dirt and perpetually moving forward. whenever she faces a roadblock and becomes disheartened, discouraged, thinks of giving up hope, whatever- she always return to her WHY and it gives her the strength to keep going and overcome. all i can say is that if you can find your WHY for pursing medicine and its strong enough, you dont need anything else- i guarantee you that you will find a way to succeed and realize your dream.

 

i feel like i really didnt do her story justice at all, perhaps i'll try and get her to sign up on here so you can hear it straight from the horses mouth so to speak. (not a good idiom to use to in relation to a girl, lol)

 

anyways, i hope that you can pull a few useful points from that. i hope things continue to improve, and best of luck in the future. God bless.

[apache]

Believe me, you can do it!

 

Never never never give up. I suffered from a severe neurological condition for years before adequate treatment was found (I was put on literally every neuro drug on earth, not fun!). Even now, the treatment has rather significant side effects (episodic and visual short term memory are in the 1 percentile, on the low side), but life is much easier as the medication resolves my symptoms completely. I certainly know there's lots of things I probably wouldn't want to do in medicine as a result, but I take that into account. There's even blind practicing physicians, so anything is possible!

 

Hi, I am new to the forums and am hoping I can get some advice from others.

 

I was severely sick with Lyme disease for 5 years. I have now been undergoing aggressive treatment for 2 years and am getting my life back. This past year I was able to complete my first full-time year at university.

 

Medical school is the only thing that I can see myself doing in the future. However, my health is still an unknown, and may forever be. There is no way to know if I will fully recover. I will not be able to participate in as many extracurriculars as other applicants (if any at all). I may also be limited to U of C as I still require help from my family. The one thing I can do for sure is keep very good marks.

 

I was wondering if there is anyone on this forum who has been in a similar situation as me and can offer me any advice as to how to overcome the obstacles of being sick and being an aspiring med student.

 

Thanks,

Kes

[Kesj]

Thanks for the positive responses. As for whether I have the motivation. That is one thing I am sure of. I was severely sick for 4 years and not a single doctor would help me. Some even went to the extent of telling me there was nothing wrong with me even after I was bedridden. I discovered Lyme disease myself and eventually found one of the few doctors in canada that treat Lyme. I owe my life to him, and I want to helps others who are in the position I was.

I used to play elite hockey and got a full scholarship to Queen's but I lost it all when I got sick. It is frustrating because no matter how motivated I am there are still some physical things that will always persist and disable me. It is reassuring to know that it is possible to make it with health problems, especially stuggling with neurological problems (which are some of my worst symptoms) so thank you.

[astrogirl]

I have celiac disease, and now that I know I have it, I'm not sick all the time anymore, but I was for a while. If I accidentally eat gluten and have a bad reaction I can be sick for a week or two, but now that it's under control it really doesn't keep from doing anything (other than eating certain things) as long as I'm careful. But I do feel like having had the experience of living with a chronic illness for years and not knowing what was wrong with me and having friends, family, and doctors think it was all in my head or that I was faking it will make me a better doctor. Ultimately it was an excellent family doctor who figured out what was wrong with me, and I think that was part of what made me start seriously considering medicine as a career. I know what it's like to have everyone think that you're crazy and dismiss you, so I won't ever do that to any of my patients. I realize that sometimes people's symptoms are psychological, but that's still a real problem for them and you don't decide that someone's symptoms are psychological without even investigating other causes. Your health will be a potential issue no matter what career you choose, but I don't think it should hold you back from becoming a doctor.

[apache]

I totally understand, one of the most frustrating things was going around from doctor to doctor for years and having them say it's all in your head, or that it's just anxiety. For a while I actually though my neuro-visual probs were caused by lyme disease since there was absolutely nothing they could find and I got every kind of test/imaging imaginable. It was actually a really nice GP who spent 30 min with me after I found a really rare condition surfing on google scholar who started treatment, so I can definitely understand how one doc can make a huge difference.

 

I'm not really sure what else to say but hang in there, other people have been there before and made it!

 

Thanks for the positive responses. As for whether I have the motivation. That is one thing I am sure of. I was severely sick for 4 years and not a single doctor would help me. Some even went to the extent of telling me there was nothing wrong with me even after I was bedridden. I discovered Lyme disease myself and eventually found one of the few doctors in canada that treat Lyme. I owe my life to him, and I want to helps others who are in the position I was.

I used to play elite hockey and got a full scholarship to Queen's but I lost it all when I got sick. It is frustrating because no matter how motivated I am there are still some physical things that will always persist and disable me. It is reassuring to know that it is possible to make it with health problems, especially stuggling with neurological problems (which are some of my worst symptoms) so thank you.

[Nutrition major]

I was sick for a long time and was told that I just need to relax.

I suffered from dizziness, poor short term memory, and tiredness.

Now I know that I have sleep apnea and I am being successfully treated.

Now my memory is good but I have two degrees with low marks.

How can I convince a medical school that the healthy person that I am now is a better student than the sick person that I was?

I don't want to be like all the doctors who pushed me out the door without

trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

[dr34mXXX]

Hey Kesj, first and foremost, you are not alone in this unsettling circumstance. Like others above me, I myself is also inflicted with a chronic illness - lupus.

 

I was diagnosed in grade 12, and shortly after the news, my rheumatologist told me i should delay matriculatin into uni, or consider unis/colleges closer to home. it's about 4 years now and every waking moment of my life since then had been a continuous battle to overcome my physical limitations. Not to get in any excruciating details about what lupus did to my body, I'll tell you what my physical handicap made me lose: relationships, hobbies, sports and most importantly confidence.

 

For someone who had always wanted to be an artist (but cannt due to the joint damages I'll suffer from my disease), it was really a f*cking shiitty (excuse my language) knowing the path you've worked on as early as you were able to think has to be terminated. But like all uncertainties and unfairness we'll have eventually: c'est la vie. Some things just can't be controlled.

 

Having slowly digested the impossibility of pursuin art with my condition, my disease became a trigger for me to begin my eventual infatuation with medicine. Despite beiing told by my rheumatologist to delay going to uni, i refused. And that was the best decision I think i have ever made. Pursuing a science-based program made me understand more about my disease, enabled me to better cope with my own disease and most importantly, it gave me a chance to witness all the other impossible journeys that other patients had to walk, with diseases much more deadly than mine (when a 95 year old with terminal cancer tells you to be strong, you do what he says).

 

This year i completed my third year and applied to med with a 3.97 cGPA. The science passion triggered from my own disease made me value science research so much (I'm hoping to get my 4th publication this summer). Along with other EC involvements and commitments, I now rarely "think" about my disease and just live on. I'm waitlisted by Ottawa med this year and hopefully I can get off soon, but if i don't, a fourth year doesn't sound all that bad comparing to not being able to go to university in the first place.

 

Every time i recall on this distant memory it reminds me of a scene from Rocky (2006) when he said to his son "life isn't about how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward". Because to be brutally honest with you my friend, there's no "easier" method to juggle both a premed life and managing your own disease, it is a blow you have to internalize and accept. And before you venture into a serious consideration about med, understand that it will be a tremendously difficult process that takes as much courage and sacrifice as it takes passion (it is quite difficult to bubble those darn MCQ scantrons when your hands are blue from lack of blood). But once you know it's worth sacrificing for, it's easier to do. So, Kesj, please, please do not let a physical handicap limit yourself. We are just as human as others, and although it may be more difficult, the preseverance and mental capacity to pursue this kind of dream is rewarding in itself. Whether you get it or not, you'll strengthen as a person.

 

All the best,

[Kesj]

Wow very inspirational story dr34m. It sounds like you have been though some similarly tough battles as me, and are going through some that I may face in the future. You will be the kind of doctor that the world needs though. It sure is a shiitty situation but it makes me extremely happy to hear that you have perserved through it all. I am pulling for you to get accepted thats for sure. The world needs more doctors who have been sick and understand what it is really like to be a patient.

 

I can related to almost everything you mentioned. My illness definitely stripped me of everything I had, and there is no way to getting it all back. It is very though as half the time I am fighting my body and the other half I am fighting doctors, the ones who are actually supposed to be helping me. At least I can say that my illness has made me convinced that I need to go to medical school. I will never be able internalize my illness and move on though.. it is something I have never been able to do but it probably saved my life. Doctors 'diagnosed' me with chronic fatigue syndrome when I first became sick and if it hadnt been for always questioning what was wrong with me and questioning my symptoms I would have never found the truth and been able to get proper treatment.

Thanks for the motivation and for having the strength to share your story. I know it can be painful but it helps to know that at least a few others have battled though what I am getting ready to face.

 

Astrogirl, I also have severe dietary restrictions so I know what it is like to struggle with that. It frustrates me to hear that you werent properly diagnosed with celiac disease. It brings back all my experiences getting told by doctors that nothing was wrong with me. It might sound cliche but I hope everyone here takes their experiences and turns the medical system into a better place. I understand that some diseases are difficult to diagnose but I have met so many people being pushed aside and mistreated.

[Daisha Moore]

I was sick for a long time and was told that I just need to relax.

I suffered from dizziness, poor short term memory, and tiredness.

Now I know that I have sleep apnea and I am being successfully treated.

Now my memory is good but I have two degrees with low marks.

How can I convince a medical school that the healthy person that I am now is a better student than the sick person that I was?

I don't want to be like all the doctors who pushed me out the door without

trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

 

Whatever happened with you was really sad. But its good that you have completely recovered. Due to illness if you couldn't got good marks in degree, that's OK. But then you have to find alternative ways to build a good future for yourself. I would suggest you to prepare for MCAT vigorously. By this if you are little less in merit, can get an advantage with your MCAT results. There are few colleges also, which gives admissions on the basis of MCAT results only. Following site has information of one such college. http://www.amc.edu/Academic/Undergraduate_Admissions/index.html. You can try for this college or find similar college in your locality. But now you have to study hard for MCAT if you really want an admission in a med school.