Advice: Chronic illness and medical school - forfeit acceptance?

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azodrac

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Greetings,

I've found myself in an unusual situation and I wanted to reach out to the community for advice and guidance. To quickly summarize my situation, I took one step towards my dream of attending medical school when I was extended an offer of admission during the 2015-2016 application cycle. Before I could savor the accomplishment, I was quickly humbled by an unexpected illness. After months of uncertainty I was ultimately diagnosed with Lyme disease, the infection triggering Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the concomitant hypothyroidism. The combination of the infection and autoimmune processes gifted me with chronic fatigue, lack in mental clarity, and a slew of other fun symptoms. I was medically barred from starting school and was granted a one year medical deferment by the admission committee. I have since exhausted that year, and while I have made significant progress, I am still not fully recovered. There are concerns the rigors of medical school and residency would not be in my best interests health wise. My medical care team feels I need more time to recover and has voiced concern about starting school. The consensus is that I would be capable of pacing myself during the pre-clerkship years; however, they feel the clerkship years would be a setup to crash/relapse. Unfortunately, the school has a strict one year deferment policy and I now have two options: start school or forfeit my offer of admission. I am torn by the decision and wanted to reach out and see if anyone might be able to provide some insight. Are there any current medical students in a similar situation navigating medical school with a chronic illness? Is it manageable? Was it worth the gamble on your health?

I want nothing more than to start school; however, I am trying to set the emotions aside and do what is best for my health long term. I have no illusions regarding the rigors of medical school and the long hours that are entailed. I would need to maintain a very regimented treatment plan that includes 8+ hours of sleep per night, frequent meals (5/6 meals per day that have to be home cooked due to a severely restricted diet - AIP), exercise, and timed/regular administration of medication. I have worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices to reach this point - it would be extremely painful to have to walk away from my dream because of a situation that was out of my control. That being said, is there anyone that has had to walk away from a medical school acceptance and change paths? Did you consider other roles in healthcare? I have an engineering degree but I feel a bit vulnerable - everything I have done up to this point has been geared towards medicine.

I really appreciate any feedback - thanks!

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Greetings,

I've found myself in an unusual situation and I wanted to reach out to the community for advice and guidance. To quickly summarize my situation, I took one step towards my dream of attending medical school when I was extended an offer of admission during the 2015-2016 application cycle. Before I could savor the accomplishment, I was quickly humbled by an unexpected illness. After months of uncertainty I was ultimately diagnosed with Lyme disease, the infection triggering Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the concomitant hypothyroidism. The combination of the infection and autoimmune processes gifted me with chronic fatigue, lack in mental clarity, and a slew of other fun symptoms. I was medically barred from starting school and was granted a one year medical deferment by the admission committee. I have since exhausted that year, and while I have made significant progress, I am still not fully recovered. There are concerns the rigors of medical school and residency would not be in my best interests health wise. My medical care team feels I need more time to recover and has voiced concern about starting school. The consensus is that I would be capable of pacing myself during the pre-clerkship years; however, they feel the clerkship years would be a setup to crash/relapse. Unfortunately, the school has a strict one year deferment policy and I now have two options: start school or forfeit my offer of admission. I am torn by the decision and wanted to reach out and see if anyone might be able to provide some insight. Are there any current medical students in a similar situation navigating medical school with a chronic illness? Is it manageable? Was it worth the gamble on your health?

I want nothing more than to start school; however, I am trying to set the emotions aside and do what is best for my health long term. I have no illusions regarding the rigors of medical school and the long hours that are entailed. I would need to maintain a very regimented treatment plan that includes 8+ hours of sleep per night, frequent meals (5/6 meals per day that have to be home cooked due to a severely restricted diet - AIP), exercise, and timed/regular administration of medication. I have worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices to reach this point - it would be extremely painful to have to walk away from my dream because of a situation that was out of my control. That being said, is there anyone that has had to walk away from a medical school acceptance and change paths? Did you consider other roles in healthcare? I have an engineering degree but I feel a bit vulnerable - everything I have done up to this point has been geared towards medicine.

I really appreciate any feedback - thanks!
This is going to sound stupid, but how smart are you?

I ask because we have someone in our class in a situation similar to you who I consider very bright. He needs a lot of these diet/sleep accommodations for his disease but only really needs to review material once and scores in the top 10% almost every time.

Aside from that I'll say 1/3 of my class barely studied as much as people cry about on this site and claim that med school is much easier than they thought it would be. Some of these people go hiking on weekends, cook elaborately for every meal of every day and still find ways to just pass or get by or even do well. These people are very naturally bright and even go as far as to claim that if you aren't sleeping more than 6-7 hours a night and having to study every waking moment on weekends that "you're doing it wrong".

It really all comes down to your test taking ability and natural ability to remember details. Which is why I ask If you're smart or not. If you're the type that actually needs to sit down for 10-12 hours straight every single Saturday or Sunday to get by with average grades then I'd advise against medical school but if you have a pretty impressive track record of getting A's in college by only reviewing material once or twice then you may be able to make it through unscathed.
 
I won't get into the details of whether you should or shouldn't attend medical school right now, as there are others here who can give better insight to your situation and it's something you'll ultimately have to decide for yourself. The one thing I will say is that I think this is one of the very rare situations where declining the acceptance and re-applying in 2-3 years should your health improve is a reasonable option. You want to make sure you're physically and mentally capable of getting through med school then residency before starting, and I think in this case other schools may actually see it as a sign of maturity and not hold a withdrawn acceptance against you in future application cycles.

Regardless of what you choose, I'm sorry to hear about your medical problems and hope everything eventually works out for you. Best of luck.
 
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This is going to sound stupid, but how smart are you?

I ask because we have someone in our class in a situation similar to you who I consider very bright. He needs a lot of these diet/sleep accommodations for his disease but only really needs to review material once and scores in the top 10% almost every time.

Aside from that I'll say 1/3 of my class barely studied as much as people cry about on this site and claim that med school is much easier than they thought it would be. Some of these people go hiking on weekends, cook elaborately for every meal of every day and still find ways to just pass or get by or even do well. These people are very naturally bright and even go as far as to claim that if you aren't sleeping more than 6-7 hours a night and having to study every waking moment on weekends that "you're doing it wrong".

It really all comes down to your test taking ability and natural ability to remember details. Which is why I ask If you're smart or not. If you're the type that actually needs to sit down for 10-12 hours straight every single Saturday or Sunday to get by with average grades then I'd advise against medical school but if you have a pretty impressive track record of getting A's in college by only reviewing material once or twice then you may be able to make it through unscathed.

This works fine for the first two years. After that, OP's requirements will not be compatible with life on the wards. The hope would be that OP is able to recover her health enough to handle the rigors of third year in the intervening two years.
 
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Sorry this happened to you :(
If I were you, I'd turn down the acceptance and take a few more years off. Maintaining that kind of strict sleep/meal/exercise schedule sounds like it would be really rough during med school. Not impossible by any means, but exhausting.
Med school can wait, but your health shouldn't.
 
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What is the school's policy on medical leave of absence? For example, if you had to take a leave during third year, how long could you take?
 
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This works fine for the first two years. After that, OP's requirements will not be compatible with life on the wards. The hope would be that OP is able to recover her health enough to handle the rigors of third year in the intervening two years.

If anything I notice people study even less in third year from being tired from the shifts or just plain lazy since the shelf exam is massively curved so that they can't really fail them. The only issues OP would have in third year is the strict 5-6 meals a day thing with a day or two per clerkship of sleep for less than 8 hours. My classmates that remember a decent amount from MS1-2 in third year are living it up otherwise.
 
If anything I notice people study even less in third year from being tired from the shifts or just plain lazy since the shelf exam is massively curved so that they can't really fail them. The only issues OP would have in third year is the strict 5-6 meals a day thing with a day or two per clerkship of sleep for less than 8 hours. My classmates that remember a decent amount from MS1-2 in third year are living it up otherwise.

Yeah, 12-16 hours days with shelf studying at the end of it is definitely living it up. On my surgery rotation it was pretty common to go from 5:30 am - 1 pm without a real meal. Your classmates' experience is not typical. 3rd year is difficult enough without medical problems on top of it. Chronic knee pain on my part made some days pretty much completely miserable.
 
Keep in mimd that a significant portion of medical students will develop additional mental health issues directly because of medical school.

You typically want to go in a healthy race horse to be able to fight through the emotionally and physically taxing turmoil of being a medical student.
 
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First off, thanks for all of the replies, it really means a lot!

What is the school's policy on medical leave of absence? For example, if you had to take a leave during third year, how long could you take?

I would be able to take an additional year, so that's an option. The catch is I'd have to start school though to receive it. I've had a couple people recommend matriculating and seeing how it goes. I'm tempted; however, I have to weigh the financial risk. All my friends recommending that route have had their medical school paid for by their family. I'd be taking out personal loans so I'd risk carrying debt without the earning potential to pay it back if I find myself in a situation I can't physically complete school.

This is going to sound stupid, but how smart are you?

I ask because we have someone in our class in a situation similar to you who I consider very bright. He needs a lot of these diet/sleep accommodations for his disease but only really needs to review material once and scores in the top 10% almost every time.

Aside from that I'll say 1/3 of my class barely studied as much as people cry about on this site and claim that med school is much easier than they thought it would be. Some of these people go hiking on weekends, cook elaborately for every meal of every day and still find ways to just pass or get by or even do well. These people are very naturally bright and even go as far as to claim that if you aren't sleeping more than 6-7 hours a night and having to study every waking moment on weekends that "you're doing it wrong".

It really all comes down to your test taking ability and natural ability to remember details. Which is why I ask If you're smart or not. If you're the type that actually needs to sit down for 10-12 hours straight every single Saturday or Sunday to get by with average grades then I'd advise against medical school but if you have a pretty impressive track record of getting A's in college by only reviewing material once or twice then you may be able to make it through unscathed.

My physician actually asked me that very question word for word last week. I mean, I'd say I'm smart enough. I maintained honors in undergrad double majoring in engineering and physics while playing a D1 sport. A majority of my engineering classmates went to medical school and many of them say engineering was harder than medical school. On the other hand, there are others that really had to apply themselves in medical to be successful. So it's difficult to gauge...
 
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I won't get into the details of whether you should or shouldn't attend medical school right now, as there are others here who can give better insight to your situation and it's something you'll ultimately have to decide for yourself. The one thing I will say is that I think this is one of the very rare situations where declining the acceptance and re-applying in 2-3 years should your health improve is a reasonable option. You want to make sure you're physically and mentally capable of getting through med school then residency before starting, and I think in this case other schools may actually see it as a sign of maturity and not hold a withdrawn acceptance against you in future application cycles.

Regardless of what you choose, I'm sorry to hear about your medical problems and hope everything eventually works out for you. Best of luck.

I appreciate that. Definitely wise words. Those are thoughts I have been wrestling with myself. Unfortunately I'm a non-traditional applicant which complicates the reapplication scenario as my prerequisites will be expired in 2-3 years. Tough to swallow the idea of having to start over again.
 
If anything I notice people study even less in third year from being tired from the shifts or just plain lazy since the shelf exam is massively curved so that they can't really fail them. The only issues OP would have in third year is the strict 5-6 meals a day thing with a day or two per clerkship of sleep for less than 8 hours. My classmates that remember a decent amount from MS1-2 in third year are living it up otherwise.

Was your classmate given special accommodations during rotations? I've been informed some schools put students on a pretty cushy schedule during clerkships, which makes a big difference. My school does not do that
 
So you're not ready for the demands of the clinical years YET, so what?

If you're ready for pre-clinicals, who's to say you won't be ready for clinical rotations 2 years down the road? I'd say go for it, what have you got to lose?
 
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Having seen what this process can do to one's health, not just through school but through residency, I advise heeding the advice of your physicians. After all, you want to become a physician, they have been through what you are facing, and ultimately you want to be in their shoes advising others on their health. They advise more time; if you make a full recovery, you've been accepted once and the decision to defer your dream in favor of your health shows real maturity and should not act as an impediment to another acceptance. If you don't make a full recovery, then you might consider another path such as PA/NP etc.
 
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What is the school's policy on medical leave of absence? For example, if you had to take a leave during third year, how long could you take?

I was going to ask this as well.

If you start first year, can you take a leave of absence at the end of first year for a year or so? And again perhaps after 2nd year and step 1?

Does the school have a decelerated option? I.e. would they let you split pre-clinical over 3-4 years?
 
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If you think you can give preclinical years a shot, I'd recommend doing it. If by then you're not ready, you could potentially sign up for some masters/phd/research in between to extend the time before 3rd year kicks in.
 
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If you are capable of sitting in a chair and reading all day, I would say go for it, as long as your physician believes you will likely recover to a good functional status.
3 months in to medical school I started having severe difficulty breathing and was later diagnosed with severe persistent asthma. Not that this necessarily compares directly with your illness, but it took them 2 years to find a treatment regiment that relieved my symptoms. I was able to complete the first two years largely because in the grand scheme of things, they are self study. On clinical rotations I was very slow keeping up with my teams on rounds because I would get winded very easily. Most of my residents were very understanding (except surgery - but who cares, their surgeons no one cares what they think as long as they can cut)j/k. I have also had co-workers in residency who were diagnosed with various medical problems, and for the most part have been successful.
 
Ah yeah, didn't think about the additional degree option.

If you can decelerate and split pre clinical into 3 years, and then do an mph or something, that might buy you some more time before you're on the wards.

I didn't say this in my last post, but your situation sucks and I'm sorry you have to go through this.

I had back issues a few years ago that required surgery and then another one when the first one failed. I lost a year during that process when I was supposed to work abroad. I got dxed with hashi in med school and it was the weirdest feeling till we put 2 and 2 together. I can't imagine having additional issues on top of that. A friend of mine just got into the school of her dreams but had to take a year deferral for medical issues as well.

Tldr. Call your dean. See if there are options for slowing down preclinical or if you can buy time between that and the wards if progress isn't as swift as you'd hoped. In my mind, going through first year, evaluating, and then deciding to take a leave of absence or decelerating second year may be better for you than having to go through the entire process again, especially if you have to retake the mcat.

I know you're in a tough spot, but wanted to say that you're doing great and are giving this the thought it deserves.

Wishing you the best of luck and of health. Be well.
 
Greetings,

I've found myself in an unusual situation and I wanted to reach out to the community for advice and guidance. To quickly summarize my situation, I took one step towards my dream of attending medical school when I was extended an offer of admission during the 2015-2016 application cycle. Before I could savor the accomplishment, I was quickly humbled by an unexpected illness. After months of uncertainty I was ultimately diagnosed with Lyme disease, the infection triggering Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the concomitant hypothyroidism. The combination of the infection and autoimmune processes gifted me with chronic fatigue, lack in mental clarity, and a slew of other fun symptoms. I was medically barred from starting school and was granted a one year medical deferment by the admission committee. I have since exhausted that year, and while I have made significant progress, I am still not fully recovered. There are concerns the rigors of medical school and residency would not be in my best interests health wise. My medical care team feels I need more time to recover and has voiced concern about starting school. The consensus is that I would be capable of pacing myself during the pre-clerkship years; however, they feel the clerkship years would be a setup to crash/relapse. Unfortunately, the school has a strict one year deferment policy and I now have two options: start school or forfeit my offer of admission. I am torn by the decision and wanted to reach out and see if anyone might be able to provide some insight. Are there any current medical students in a similar situation navigating medical school with a chronic illness? Is it manageable? Was it worth the gamble on your health?

I want nothing more than to start school; however, I am trying to set the emotions aside and do what is best for my health long term. I have no illusions regarding the rigors of medical school and the long hours that are entailed. I would need to maintain a very regimented treatment plan that includes 8+ hours of sleep per night, frequent meals (5/6 meals per day that have to be home cooked due to a severely restricted diet - AIP), exercise, and timed/regular administration of medication. I have worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices to reach this point - it would be extremely painful to have to walk away from my dream because of a situation that was out of my control. That being said, is there anyone that has had to walk away from a medical school acceptance and change paths? Did you consider other roles in healthcare? I have an engineering degree but I feel a bit vulnerable - everything I have done up to this point has been geared towards medicine.

I really appreciate any feedback - thanks!
Before you do anything else, you need to do one thing:

Find a new doctor.

I am not going to give you medical advice on SDN (other than to find a good physician), but speaking in generalities: What you are describing is far outside of the standard of care. Despite what you read on the internet, Lyme disease has never been shown to trigger Hashimoto's thyroiditis. There is some small evidence that some viral infections may occasionally contribute to it's development, but it has never been shown for Borrelia. In addition, chronic Lyme disease does not exist. Period. Every single one of the relevant medical societies has denounced this as a possible condition. There are a constellation of symptoms that may be residual after a Lyme infection (primarily joint aches), but these are not due to residual Borrelia and are not an indication for chronic antibiotic therapy.

Finally, the "AIP Diet", or "Autoimmune Paleo Diet", has no evidence for treatment of any condition. It is a fad popular amongst some naturopaths and "functional medicine" (not a real specialty) doctors. The basic concept is that most people will feel better eating whole unprocessed foods (which is true), but they take it to the extreme and make claims also without any evidence.
 
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I won't get into the details of whether you should or shouldn't attend medical school right now, as there are others here who can give better insight to your situation and it's something you'll ultimately have to decide for yourself. The one thing I will say is that I think this is one of the very rare situations where declining the acceptance and re-applying in 2-3 years should your health improve is a reasonable option. You want to make sure you're physically and mentally capable of getting through med school then residency before starting, and I think in this case other schools may actually see it as a sign of maturity and not hold a withdrawn acceptance against you in future application cycles.

Regardless of what you choose, I'm sorry to hear about your medical problems and hope everything eventually works out for you. Best of luck.
Agree 100%.

OP very sorry to hear of your situation, but unfortunately, life sometimes throws us a 90 MPH bean ball. I worry that you simply would not survive med school.
 
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First of all, I'm so sorry that you're in this situation. Obviously, none of the options you currently have are completely ideal. Is there any possibility of having a discussion with the school and delaying your M1 year further? I'm sure they have their policies and everything, but this is a medical issue out of your control. Personally, I would be pretty wary of anything that involved reapplying to medical school because you would be putting yourself in a situation where there is a risk that you wouldn't be accepted again. Overall, I think it's something that only you can answer. It sounds like your undergraduate experience was quite rigorous, so you probably have a good sense of the amount of work that will be expected from you, and you probably have a good sense of what you are able to do at this point in time. Best of luck, I really hope everything works out!
 
Greetings,

I've found myself in an unusual situation and I wanted to reach out to the community for advice and guidance. To quickly summarize my situation, I took one step towards my dream of attending medical school when I was extended an offer of admission during the 2015-2016 application cycle. Before I could savor the accomplishment, I was quickly humbled by an unexpected illness. After months of uncertainty I was ultimately diagnosed with Lyme disease, the infection triggering Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the concomitant hypothyroidism. The combination of the infection and autoimmune processes gifted me with chronic fatigue, lack in mental clarity, and a slew of other fun symptoms. I was medically barred from starting school and was granted a one year medical deferment by the admission committee. I have since exhausted that year, and while I have made significant progress, I am still not fully recovered. There are concerns the rigors of medical school and residency would not be in my best interests health wise. My medical care team feels I need more time to recover and has voiced concern about starting school. The consensus is that I would be capable of pacing myself during the pre-clerkship years; however, they feel the clerkship years would be a setup to crash/relapse. Unfortunately, the school has a strict one year deferment policy and I now have two options: start school or forfeit my offer of admission. I am torn by the decision and wanted to reach out and see if anyone might be able to provide some insight. Are there any current medical students in a similar situation navigating medical school with a chronic illness? Is it manageable? Was it worth the gamble on your health?

I want nothing more than to start school; however, I am trying to set the emotions aside and do what is best for my health long term. I have no illusions regarding the rigors of medical school and the long hours that are entailed. I would need to maintain a very regimented treatment plan that includes 8+ hours of sleep per night, frequent meals (5/6 meals per day that have to be home cooked due to a severely restricted diet - AIP), exercise, and timed/regular administration of medication. I have worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices to reach this point - it would be extremely painful to have to walk away from my dream because of a situation that was out of my control. That being said, is there anyone that has had to walk away from a medical school acceptance and change paths? Did you consider other roles in healthcare? I have an engineering degree but I feel a bit vulnerable - everything I have done up to this point has been geared towards medicine.

I really appreciate any feedback - thanks!
Before you do anything else, you need to do one thing:

Find a new doctor.

I am not going to give you medical advice on SDN (other than to find a good physician), but speaking in generalities: What you are describing is far outside of the standard of care. Despite what you read on the internet, Lyme disease has never been shown to trigger Hashimoto's thyroiditis. There is some small evidence that some viral infections may occasionally contribute to it's development, but it has never been shown for Borrelia. In addition, chronic Lyme disease does not exist. Period. Every single one of the relevant medical societies has denounced this as a possible condition. There are a constellation of symptoms that may be residual after a Lyme infection (primarily joint aches), but these are not due to residual Borrelia and are not an indication for chronic antibiotic therapy.

Finally, the "AIP Diet", or "Autoimmune Paleo Diet", has no evidence for treatment of any condition. It is a fad popular amongst some naturopaths and "functional medicine" (not a real specialty) doctors. The basic concept is that most people will feel better eating whole unprocessed foods (which is true), but they take it to the extreme and make claims also without any evidence.

Yeah OP should definitely get a new doctor for sure before deciding on anything else. Good medical education exercise though!
 
First off, thanks for all of the replies, it really means a lot!



I would be able to take an additional year, so that's an option. The catch is I'd have to start school though to receive it. I've had a couple people recommend matriculating and seeing how it goes. I'm tempted; however, I have to weigh the financial risk. All my friends recommending that route have had their medical school paid for by their family. I'd be taking out personal loans so I'd risk carrying debt without the earning potential to pay it back if I find myself in a situation I can't physically complete school.



My physician actually asked me that very question word for word last week. I mean, I'd say I'm smart enough. I maintained honors in undergrad double majoring in engineering and physics while playing a D1 sport. A majority of my engineering classmates went to medical school and many of them say engineering was harder than medical school. On the other hand, there are others that really had to apply themselves in medical to be successful. So it's difficult to gauge...

Based on the above, I'd say that you're both smart enough and experienced enough with time management to do fine. I'm no genius and I was able to, compared to what people write here, party like a rock star during medical school. And that was before all the study aids that people use now. I worked out 6 days a week, dated, went on vacation, etc. Basic time management and knowing how best to memorize material go a long way.
It's a tough decision, but I'd go for it. You can always take a leave of absence after your first or second year. Residency will be harder, but that's 4 -5 years off.


--
Il Destriero
 
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I appreciate that. Definitely wise words. Those are thoughts I have been wrestling with myself. Unfortunately I'm a non-traditional applicant which complicates the reapplication scenario as my prerequisites will be expired in 2-3 years. Tough to swallow the idea of having to start over again.

I get where you're coming from. Schools may be accommodating and taking a year off to do research or some other scholarly activity could provide a bit of a break before clinical years, but if you were to start and have to drop out it's very likely there would be no second chance. Again, I'm not trying to push you one way or the other. I'm just saying that if you're gung-ho about becoming a physician, make sure your current health is adequate enough to deal with the stress of medical school before you jump in.
 
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Before you do anything else, you need to do one thing:

Find a new doctor.

I am not going to give you medical advice on SDN (other than to find a good physician), but speaking in generalities: What you are describing is far outside of the standard of care. Despite what you read on the internet, Lyme disease has never been shown to trigger Hashimoto's thyroiditis. There is some small evidence that some viral infections may occasionally contribute to it's development, but it has never been shown for Borrelia. In addition, chronic Lyme disease does not exist. Period. Every single one of the relevant medical societies has denounced this as a possible condition. There are a constellation of symptoms that may be residual after a Lyme infection (primarily joint aches), but these are not due to residual Borrelia and are not an indication for chronic antibiotic therapy.

Finally, the "AIP Diet", or "Autoimmune Paleo Diet", has no evidence for treatment of any condition. It is a fad popular amongst some naturopaths and "functional medicine" (not a real specialty) doctors. The basic concept is that most people will feel better eating whole unprocessed foods (which is true), but they take it to the extreme and make claims also without any evidence.


Yeah OP should definitely get a new doctor for sure before deciding on anything else. Good medical education exercise though!

I appreciate the concern and advice - I was completely ignorant of the controversy surrounding the treatment of Lyme disease prior to getting sick despite seeing it treated in clinic at work. All I can say is that I was one of the unfortunate souls that experienced lingering symptoms following standard treatment and fall into the Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome subset of the patient population (Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome | Lyme Disease | CDC). I have been fortunate to have had the guidance of great medical mentors, providing support both in my aspiration to attend medical school as well as during my recent illness. These mentors include both an orthopedic surgeon and an infectious disease specialist - I never received chronic antibiotic therapy. I refer to myself as having a chronic illness because I have been symptomatic in some form for close to 2 years and am no longer acutely ill. I was not inferring that I believe I have "chronic Lyme." My care has been coordinated by my primary care provider and I have been referred out to specialists as needed (endocrine, neurology, etc.). Extreme and dangerous treatments outside of current standards (i.e. chronic antibiotic therapy, IV abx, etc.) have never been proposed or considered. AIP was suggested, and while it is a PIA and outside current standards, I saw no harm in eating a ridiculously healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, and meat.

All in all, while the experience has been unfortunate, it has provided a great opportunity for insight and reflection. Without derailing the thread, I will add that in assuming a patient role under these circumstances, I have had the opportunity to observe and learn some valuable lessons. Many diagnosticians operate using very specific algorithms. With the burdens and time constraints of modern medicine, if a patient does not fit neatly into that algorithm and the current paradigm, many practitioners are at a loss. It's a lonely feeling and it's a disservice to patients that have to experience it. There is still a lot that is unknown and progress needs to be made to better understand the mechanisms at play (for many conditions).
 
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If you think you can give preclinical years a shot, I'd recommend doing it. If by then you're not ready, you could potentially sign up for some masters/phd/research in between to extend the time before 3rd year kicks in.

Ah yeah, didn't think about the additional degree option.

If you can decelerate and split pre clinical into 3 years, and then do an mph or something, that might buy you some more time before you're on the wards.

I didn't say this in my last post, but your situation sucks and I'm sorry you have to go through this.

I had back issues a few years ago that required surgery and then another one when the first one failed. I lost a year during that process when I was supposed to work abroad. I got dxed with hashi in med school and it was the weirdest feeling till we put 2 and 2 together. I can't imagine having additional issues on top of that. A friend of mine just got into the school of her dreams but had to take a year deferral for medical issues as well.

Tldr. Call your dean. See if there are options for slowing down preclinical or if you can buy time between that and the wards if progress isn't as swift as you'd hoped. In my mind, going through first year, evaluating, and then deciding to take a leave of absence or decelerating second year may be better for you than having to go through the entire process again, especially if you have to retake the mcat.

I know you're in a tough spot, but wanted to say that you're doing great and are giving this the thought it deserves.

Wishing you the best of luck and of health. Be well.

That's a good thought - I'll touch base with the dean and look into the options. Thanks!
 
First of all, I'm so sorry that you're in this situation. Obviously, none of the options you currently have are completely ideal. Is there any possibility of having a discussion with the school and delaying your M1 year further? I'm sure they have their policies and everything, but this is a medical issue out of your control. Personally, I would be pretty wary of anything that involved reapplying to medical school because you would be putting yourself in a situation where there is a risk that you wouldn't be accepted again. Overall, I think it's something that only you can answer. It sounds like your undergraduate experience was quite rigorous, so you probably have a good sense of the amount of work that will be expected from you, and you probably have a good sense of what you are able to do at this point in time. Best of luck, I really hope everything works out!

Unfortunately not - I already spoke with the dean and they have a strict one year deferment policy. I would have to start school before I'd be eligible for an additional year.
 
That's a good thought - I'll touch base with the dean and look into the options. Thanks!

Unfortunately not - I already spoke with the dean and they have a strict one year deferment policy. I would have to start school before I'd be eligible for an additional year.

Good luck with this. I think doing this may be your best shot. I understand the financial cost may be high, but your other option would be to give this up temporarily or indefinitely, you know?
 
I'd be amazed if the deferral policy couldn't be more flexible for medical concerns
 
I'd be amazed if the deferral policy couldn't be more flexible for medical concerns
From their side: why keep deferring? They have a lot of candidates, and making an exception doesn't really do anything for them. When you're one in 100 million, they can probably make something happen. Most applicant won't fit that, and most schools, residencies, and employers don't have that much reason to bend their policy (however arbitrary).
 
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Greetings,

I've found myself in an unusual situation and I wanted to reach out to the community for advice and guidance. To quickly summarize my situation, I took one step towards my dream of attending medical school when I was extended an offer of admission during the 2015-2016 application cycle. Before I could savor the accomplishment, I was quickly humbled by an unexpected illness. After months of uncertainty I was ultimately diagnosed with Lyme disease, the infection triggering Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the concomitant hypothyroidism. The combination of the infection and autoimmune processes gifted me with chronic fatigue, lack in mental clarity, and a slew of other fun symptoms. I was medically barred from starting school and was granted a one year medical deferment by the admission committee. I have since exhausted that year, and while I have made significant progress, I am still not fully recovered. There are concerns the rigors of medical school and residency would not be in my best interests health wise. My medical care team feels I need more time to recover and has voiced concern about starting school. The consensus is that I would be capable of pacing myself during the pre-clerkship years; however, they feel the clerkship years would be a setup to crash/relapse. Unfortunately, the school has a strict one year deferment policy and I now have two options: start school or forfeit my offer of admission. I am torn by the decision and wanted to reach out and see if anyone might be able to provide some insight. Are there any current medical students in a similar situation navigating medical school with a chronic illness? Is it manageable? Was it worth the gamble on your health?

I want nothing more than to start school; however, I am trying to set the emotions aside and do what is best for my health long term. I have no illusions regarding the rigors of medical school and the long hours that are entailed. I would need to maintain a very regimented treatment plan that includes 8+ hours of sleep per night, frequent meals (5/6 meals per day that have to be home cooked due to a severely restricted diet - AIP), exercise, and timed/regular administration of medication. I have worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices to reach this point - it would be extremely painful to have to walk away from my dream because of a situation that was out of my control. That being said, is there anyone that has had to walk away from a medical school acceptance and change paths? Did you consider other roles in healthcare? I have an engineering degree but I feel a bit vulnerable - everything I have done up to this point has been geared towards medicine.

I really appreciate any feedback - thanks!

The important point here is that if you decline the acceptance, know that you are not barring yourself from a career in medicine. As others have said, do not feel pressured into taking the acceptance because you feel like it's your only shot. Focus on your health and wait until you are at your best. If you're at your best now, go ahead and start. If you aren't, stick it to the school and their ridiculous 'one year deferment only' policy. You will do just fine as a re-applicant.

You seem grounded and intelligent - I commend you for being able to separate your emotions from this decision. I wish you good health and the best of luck.
 
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From their side: why keep deferring? They have a lot of candidates, and making an exception doesn't really do anything for them. When you're one in 100 million, they can probably make something happen. Most applicant won't fit that, and most schools, residencies, and employers don't have that much reason to bend their policy (however arbitrary).

This highly school-dependent, I can guarantee my institution would give this student as much time as they need and do not have this mentality. There are real examples in the current classes.
 
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Hey there, OP. Sorry you're going through this (and sorry the school hasn't exactly been the greatest supporters of your road to recovery.)

My opinion: Don't turn down the acceptance. PM me. I have chronic health issues and would be happy to chat with you about how to successfully navigate your medical school.

Are there any current medical students in a similar situation navigating medical school with a chronic illness? Is it manageable? Was it worth the gamble on your health?

Yes. Yes. And f*** yes.

I would need to maintain a very regimented treatment plan that includes 8+ hours of sleep per night, frequent meals (5/6 meals per day that have to be home cooked due to a severely restricted diet - AIP), exercise, and timed/regular administration of medication.

Doable.

Keep in mimd that a significant portion of medical students will develop additional mental health issues directly because of medical school.

You typically want to go in a healthy race horse to be able to fight through the emotionally and physically taxing turmoil of being a medical student.

Agreed about developing mental illness, but I know many students who were not in tip top shape upon entering and have still been wildly successful.
 
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Feel free to PM me as well. Chronic (mental) illness that I've worked with the school very openly on.

As an aside in response to an earlier comment, being a somewhat beaten down race horse has resulted in my handling the ups and downs of medical school with a significantly higher level of ease and good humor than my classmates who came in clean as a whistle. Med school can be harder with a serious illness, but it's not harder THAN a serious illness.
 
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I appreciate that. Definitely wise words. Those are thoughts I have been wrestling with myself. Unfortunately I'm a non-traditional applicant which complicates the reapplication scenario as my prerequisites will be expired in 2-3 years. Tough to swallow the idea of having to start over again.


I've only encountered a few schools who consider the pre reqs expired after a certain amount of time. The bigger issue would likely be your MCAT expiring.
 
Greetings,

I've found myself in an unusual situation and I wanted to reach out to the community for advice and guidance. To quickly summarize my situation, I took one step towards my dream of attending medical school when I was extended an offer of admission during the 2015-2016 application cycle. Before I could savor the accomplishment, I was quickly humbled by an unexpected illness. After months of uncertainty I was ultimately diagnosed with Lyme disease, the infection triggering Hashimoto's thyroiditis and the concomitant hypothyroidism. The combination of the infection and autoimmune processes gifted me with chronic fatigue, lack in mental clarity, and a slew of other fun symptoms. I was medically barred from starting school and was granted a one year medical deferment by the admission committee. I have since exhausted that year, and while I have made significant progress, I am still not fully recovered. There are concerns the rigors of medical school and residency would not be in my best interests health wise. My medical care team feels I need more time to recover and has voiced concern about starting school. The consensus is that I would be capable of pacing myself during the pre-clerkship years; however, they feel the clerkship years would be a setup to crash/relapse. Unfortunately, the school has a strict one year deferment policy and I now have two options: start school or forfeit my offer of admission. I am torn by the decision and wanted to reach out and see if anyone might be able to provide some insight. Are there any current medical students in a similar situation navigating medical school with a chronic illness? Is it manageable? Was it worth the gamble on your health?

I want nothing more than to start school; however, I am trying to set the emotions aside and do what is best for my health long term. I have no illusions regarding the rigors of medical school and the long hours that are entailed. I would need to maintain a very regimented treatment plan that includes 8+ hours of sleep per night, frequent meals (5/6 meals per day that have to be home cooked due to a severely restricted diet - AIP), exercise, and timed/regular administration of medication. I have worked extremely hard and made many sacrifices to reach this point - it would be extremely painful to have to walk away from my dream because of a situation that was out of my control. That being said, is there anyone that has had to walk away from a medical school acceptance and change paths? Did you consider other roles in healthcare? I have an engineering degree but I feel a bit vulnerable - everything I have done up to this point has been geared towards medicine.

I really appreciate any feedback - thanks!

I can only speak to my experience but maybe it will give you some insight. I started getting progressively more ill in medical school and was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in the middle of third year (turns out a lot of other health problems I had had since my teens could be attributed to the CF). I had to take a leave of absence and started a whole host of new treatments and medications. I limped through the rest of third year, and really haven't spent more than a few weeks at a time having decent health, and my performance has suffered because of it. I am forth year now and have decided to finish the MD but not to pursue a residency because I am unable to keep up with clearing my airways, getting enough rest, eating enough, avoid infections, etc... and I decided the risk of being colonized with more dangerous bacteria is not worth being in the clinical setting (I already am colonized with two strains of pseudomonas now). It just wasn't worth it anymore, I was really just hastening my deterioration physically and my mental health suffered too. I don't know what school you are going to but I found that mine did not really offer the support I needed even though there are individuals who are well meaning; there just wasn't the infrastructure to help students with chronic illness. After med school there might be residencies that are more friendly to your plight, like psychiatry perhaps, but keep in mind nothing really gets much easier until after residency is over and many residencies will be pushing 80 hours/week. The parameters you need with regard to sleep, treatments, exercise, etc, are similar to what I ought to be doing and I have found I am NOT able to during clerkships. I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling with this, it can be really hard to give up on a dream. I wanted to be a surgeon and I loved being in the OR, but now I feel very lost and hopeless. I wish you the best of luck; message me if you have any questions.
 
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A lot of the advice is positive but unrealistic imo. 8+ hours sleep with 5/6 home cooked meals and daily exercise? I have no idea how anyone could do that during residency, maybe med school.

not trying to be negative, but that sounds like it would be tough to pull off. Exercise daily, but you'd have to sacrifice less sleep, over 8 hours with exercise and working as an intern while cooking 5-6 meals..I dunno about that.
 
Please contact my friend Alix Mayer; she writes a blog called 'mednauseum' about her recovery from Lyme. Years and years and years of recovery. Wishing you well.


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A lot of the advice is positive but unrealistic imo. 8+ hours sleep with 5/6 home cooked meals and daily exercise? I have no idea how anyone could do that during residency, maybe med school.

not trying to be negative, but that sounds like it would be tough to pull off. Exercise daily, but you'd have to sacrifice less sleep, over 8 hours with exercise and working as an intern while cooking 5-6 meals..I dunno about that.

Can be done in some fields - optho, PMR, derm, pathology, rad onc comes to mind.
 
Can be done in some fields - optho, PMR, derm, pathology, rad onc comes to mind.
Maybe, but most of the fields you cited are extremely competive. And pmr and path take someone uniquely interested in those fields.

If ops health requires that maintenance to stay at a reasonable level of productivity, I just think it will be extremely hard to maintain that. Some element of the things listed will have to be sacrificed eventually, only 24 hours in one day. For example, I'm working 7 days next week while studying for step 3. I don't think I could do the things op listed.
 
Maybe, but most of the fields you cited are extremely competive. And pmr and path take someone uniquely interested in those fields.

If ops health requires that maintenance to stay at a reasonable level of productivity, I just think it will be extremely hard to maintain that. Some element of the things listed will have to be sacrificed eventually, only 24 hours in one day. For example, I'm working 7 days next week while studying for step 3. I don't think I could do the things op listed.

Psych is also fairly chill. Every field needs some interest...
 
Psych is also fairly chill. Every field needs some interest...
I am in psych. The first two years at most psych residencies aren't what I would call chill..compared to surgery sure but in general still a lot of work and reading
 
I am in psych. The first two years at most psych residencies aren't what I would call chill..compared to surgery sure but in general still a lot of work and reading
Even many of the other fields listed above (derm, ophtho, and PM&R for example) require a prelim year. There do exist some chill TYs, but most people still have to do a full medicine year.
 
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I would recommend checking your school's Technical Standards - the essential physical/mental functions you need to have to successfully complete the program. Honestly compare your level of function against them.

And get free of the clutches of naturopaths and quacks
 
I would recommend checking your school's Technical Standards - the essential physical/mental functions you need to have to successfully complete the program. Honestly compare your level of function against them.

And get free of the clutches of naturopaths and quacks

Wow I know naturopaths doing great things.
One in my area is helping create a liquid vitamin. Anything that absorbs through the Gi by itself is better than pill form:) why are you against naturopaths?


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Probably because they diagnose people with fake diseases like "chronic Lyme disease," subject them to potentially dangerous treatments that have not been tested in RCTs, and deprive them of a correct diagnosis of their illness.

Also, I'm sure there's more to the story about the vitamins, but there are already many liquid vitamin formulations...
 
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Probably because they diagnose people with fake diseases like "chronic Lyme disease," subject them to potentially dangerous treatments that have not been tested in RCTs, and deprive them of a correct diagnosis of their illness.

Also, I'm sure there's more to the story about the vitamins, but there are already many liquid vitamin formulations...
I am sure this one from the naturopath is designed for optimal absorption based on your blood type and homeopathically dosed.
 
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