anyone else still cringe when they see...

[iwannagomed]

---

Members do not see this ad.

i was watching some reality doctor shows (kinda documentary style)...

does anyone else still cringe when they see open bodies/surgery/dissection/etc?

i'm kinda getting worried that i will have difficulties in med school or as a doctor...

 

[LunaMD]

I'm in the same boat. Only I think I have it worse... I can't even stand to look at needles or get my own blood drawn!! I'm hoping that its one of those things you get used to, and fast.

 

[NYyanx28]

I used to be similar until my past summer's job at a hospital in the OR. I saw practically a dozen surgeries each day, full time for 10 weeks. You definitely get used to it once you consider that the person getting cut open is doing so in order to hopefully get healthier.

However, I still cringe at particular surgeries, including facial surgeries. It just seems so disturbing to cut at a person's face.

 

[LadyKae]

the one thing that makes me cringe is the thought of broken bones...ESPECIALLY the big ones like the femur...d;ljfa;dofjasd...those things are NOT supposed to break...

 

[sweet2th]

try having emetophobia. now thats the cat's meow

 

[Stolenspatulas]

Trauma fascinates me. I like to watch surgeries. I don't mind blood, organs, what have you.

However, I hate a needlestick (on myself). That makes me cringe (its the prick of pain...).

 

[sirus_virus]

i was watching some reality doctor shows (kinda documentary style)...

does anyone else still cringe when they see open bodies/surgery/dissection/etc?

i'm kinda getting worried that i will have difficulties in med school or as a doctor...

Don't worry the fear of failing your anatomy class will supercede your worries and prompt you to perform.

 

[munnabhai]

I used to be similar until my past summer's job at a hospital in the OR. I saw practically a dozen surgeries each day, full time for 10 weeks. You definitely get used to it once you consider that the person getting cut open is doing so in order to hopefully get healthier.

However, I still cringe at particular surgeries, including facial surgeries. It just seems so disturbing to cut at a person's face.

True dat... Last summer I shadowed a urologist and passed out when I saw the first hernia operation. She took out a frekin bag of liquid from inside the kid (noncommunitative hernia). I was really surprised at the human body's stretchiness.

The worst procedure I saw was an orchiectomy... I've become overprotective of my testicles since that day. But yea... you get used to it pretty fast.

Don't worry the fear of failing your anatomy class will supercede your worries and prompt you to perform.

LOL... I'd imagine that this would be a very strong motivating factor.

 

[leahmaria]

I can't believe I'm sharing this online, because I was pretty ashamed/embarassed of it for quite some time...I have wanted to be an ophthalmologist since I was in middle school (now I'm much more open and not focused on one thing)...I fainted during the first eye surgery I observed (I was in high school). This summer I shadowed two ophthalmologists for a few months and I got to see several surgeries. I nearly fainted watching the first one, and then I was fine from there on out....so I did get used to it.

The closest I came to fainting this summer is when a patient came in and her eyes scanned constantly (not the right word?). I had to leave the room after awhile to keep myself from passing out.

I think that all of these things you can get over with time, I got over my fainting while watching eye surgeries.

 

[pretenda]

Ill tell you what makes me cringe...The pathetic attempts at CPR you see everyday on the same shows...Hopefully people dont try to learn CPR from TV

 

[G-Money13]

Ill tell you what makes me cringe...The pathetic attempts at CPR you see everyday on the same shows...Hopefully people dont try to learn CPR from TV

I agree, the only time in real life I've ever seen CPR prerformed like that is on a DOA that needed to be declared.

 

[bwonger06]

dont worry... foleys make me sick.

no urology for me when i grow up, its just wrong but i guess someone has to do it.

 

[brbsb]

I've never had any problems with blood or injuries or watching surgeries on TV or anything like that...

However, when I was shadowing a doctor and assisted with a mole excision (the mole was about the size of a quarter on the surface and larger underneath), I almost passed out. I was fine the whole time he was cutting it off...it was when he started doing internal sutures and pulling raw skin all over the place that I got light-headed. However, I was fine the second time I did it...I assisted and didn't get light-headed in the least! The doctor told me most people will experience something like that in their first surgery (he actually passed out cold on the floor in his), so that made me feel a little better.

 

[MWK]

dont worry... foleys make me sick.

no urology for me when i grow up, its just wrong but i guess someone has to do it.

Yeah I volunteer down in the ER and I (and the male residents) still cringe at foleys...


I never had a problem with blood and guts though.

 

[Nasrudin]

The visuals pale in comparison to the smells. Smells have a wrongful way of mixing with the food you just ate on your break. Just wait until you have to do a pelvic exam on a homeless, drug-addicted, prostitute or some other nausea inducing task. I think this is the main reason adcomm's like to see real clinical experience.

 

[wannaGETinDR]

The visuals pale in comparison to the smells. Smells have a wrongful way of mixing with the food you just ate on your break. Just wait until you have to do a pelvic exam on a homeless, drug-addicted, prostitute or some other nausea inducing task. I think this is the main reason adcomm's like to see real clinical experience.

uughgh. Just thinking of it makes me want to vomit. Smells are the worst.

 

[MahSpoon]

Most operations aren't too bad and I've been in a fair share of delivery rooms and seen c-sections. I actually like to watch some of the things on orlive.com

The only thing that creeps me out is when someone breaks a bone and it's sticking out of their body...yikes!

 

[mintendo]

There was a scene from House (season 1 I think) where I think they had to inject something into a patient's brain, only they decided to do it through the eye!!!

That was without a doubt the most disturbing scene I have ever seen.

 

[Mandelbrot]

I've never actually seen one, but just reading about a spinal tap freaks me out.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

i was watching some reality doctor shows (kinda documentary style)...

does anyone else still cringe when they see open bodies/surgery/dissection/etc?

i'm kinda getting worried that i will have difficulties in med school or as a doctor...

You'll probably get used to it by the time you hit medical school because you'll have to. Quite a few med students I've talked to mentioned how they were extremely sick the first time they worked on the cadaver but by the end of the first week it became second nature. When you see something enough times, it won't bother you as much.

For me, it is quite the opposite of your situation. Watching surgeries gets me extremely excited. I'm not sure what it is but seeing the insides of a person is pretty sweet.

 

[junebuguf]

There is a great touring exhibit called 'Bodies', you should check it out to get a primer on anatomy. I think the way the acquire the cadavers is kinda sketchy, but its still really cool. There are two preparations in particular, one detailing virtually every blood vessel in the body and another of the entire nervous system which will blow you away.

 

[Mandelbrot]

There is a great touring exhibit called 'Bodies', you should check it out to get a primer on anatomy. I think the way the acquire the cadavers is kinda sketchy, but its still really cool. There are two preparations in particular, one detailing virtually every blood vessel in the body and another of the entire nervous system which will blow you away.

I think you're talking about "Body Worlds" where they preserve the bodies using plastination. I concur, I went to it last summer and it was definitely worth the 10 bucks or whatever it cost.

 

[dopaminesurge]

I'm not really moved by most blood/guts/skin diseases, but I really, really can't stand vomit.

I'm actually a little worried about that.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

I'm not really moved by most blood/guts/skin diseases, but I really, really can't stand vomit.

I'm actually a little worried about that.

That's what emetophobia is. I have it too. It really sucks.

 

[Mubash'shirah]

The visuals pale in comparison to the smells. Smells have a wrongful way of mixing with the food you just ate on your break. Just wait until you have to do a pelvic exam on a homeless, drug-addicted, prostitute or some other nausea inducing task. I think this is the main reason adcomm's like to see real clinical experience.

Ew the smell🙁
We had a couple of homeless guys come into the ER last summer. I had a headache from holding my breath everytime I had to check their vitals.One guy was drunk and had soiled himself on the way over too.👎

 

[joj884]

I've seen plenty of surgeries and wounds in the ER and I really like the documentary medical shows etc. etc. but finger injuries kind of upset me. I don't know why but a contorted and boken finger makes me cringe way more than watching open heart surgery.

 

[45408]

The visuals pale in comparison to the smells. Smells have a wrongful way of mixing with the food you just ate on your break. Just wait until you have to do a pelvic exam on a homeless, drug-addicted, prostitute or some other nausea inducing task. I think this is the main reason adcomm's like to see real clinical experience.

mmmmm, cheese on the taco.


as for me, I hate teeth/eye injuries, like a baseball bat to the mouth or something. That's no problem though - as long as you don't go into dentistry or ophtho, you aren't even qualified to do anything in those areas.

 

[SilkandSteel]

I like blood. 🙄 I know, I'm strange. But it actually fascinates me. I enjoy watching surgeries and even giving blood.

I do agree about the smells, though. I have a really sharp sense of smell and it bothered me a couple of times when I did clinical work, but I got over it.

The one thing that really gets to me, though, is Nip/Tuck. I don't care if you're pulling out innards or poking at internal organs, but if you take a hammer to somebody's nose I'm going to cringe. Any sort of knifework on the face just gives me the shivers. And yet, I continue to watch. It's like not being able to look away from a car crash, a kind of morbid fascination.

Anyone else feel that way?

~Silk and Steel

 

[sweet2th]

so for my fellow barf-phobic (emetophobes)...what do you plan on doing?? I get a rapid heart rate when someone gets a nasty cough near me and may be nearing the barf territory. hypnosis worked a little, but not nearly enough that i am comfortable in all situations! any suggestions would be helpful 🙂

 

[musiclink213]

For me, I'm pretty much ok with anything, unless it's my own body. I hate the sight of my own blood adn the freaky things my knee does because the ligaments are torn gross me out. But if it's on somebody else, fine. Even if they have the same knee problems.

But the one thing I really can't stand is the sound of people coughing up phlegm. It's just not natural. Every time I hear someone coughing up phlegm and then spitting it out, even into a napkin, I turn a little green myself.

 

[dopaminesurge]

so for my fellow barf-phobic (emetophobes)...what do you plan on doing?? I get a rapid heart rate when someone gets a nasty cough near me and may be nearing the barf territory. hypnosis worked a little, but not nearly enough that i am comfortable in all situations! any suggestions would be helpful 🙂

Hypnosis, huh? I don't know what to do, really. It's just gradually gotten better over the years, to the point where I was able to, like, watch the JAckass movie without being moved, and I can hear it in another room, and my mom can throw up on the airplane next to me and I just don't look, but it's fine. Living in Berkeley, on Telegraph, helped too... Lots of vomit puddles in the street I eventually habituated to. But to actually, like, be intubating someone who throws up on me? Oh, christ...


Also, I haven't personally puked in 8 years. I wonder how long that will go on.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

so for my fellow barf-phobic (emetophobes)...what do you plan on doing?? I get a rapid heart rate when someone gets a nasty cough near me and may be nearing the barf territory. hypnosis worked a little, but not nearly enough that i am comfortable in all situations! any suggestions would be helpful

I haven't done anything to get over it yet, but I guess I have to. I freak out if someone around me sounds like they might get sick that way (I can't even type the word. LOL). At the hospital, I usually start breathing really fast and try to help them the best I can without getting sick myself. I think I've gotten better at it since I began volunteering, but I still have a mini panic attack when it happens.

I also really freak out when I feel nauseous. The only thing worse than someone else getting sick around me is me getting sick. It's the end of my world.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Also, I haven't personally puked in 8 years. I wonder how long that will go on.

DON'T!!!! In the year 2000, I told my friend I hadn't gotten sick (that way) in 7 years and three days later, I got sick. I never say it anymore.

Wow, I'm really glad I'm not the only pre-med who faces this phobia. I know it's a rare phobia so I assumed it was non-existent among us pre-meds. I feel much better now.

 

[dopaminesurge]

DON'T!!!! In the year 2000, I told my friend I hadn't gotten sick (that way) in 7 years and three days later, I got sick. I never say it anymore.

Wow, I'm really glad I'm not the only pre-med who faces this phobia. I know it's a rare phobia so I assumed it was non-existent among us pre-meds. I feel much better now.

Heh. Vomit is yucky.

I'm not superstitious, so it doesn't worry me much. An emetophobe I met at the psych ward where I worked told me she spits in the toilet every day as homage to, you know, the vomit gods or something. Ahh, yes. I don't know if it's as far as "phobia" for me, but I was never the good friend who held anyone's head over a toilet, then cleaned up for them. Nope, that wasn't me.

 

[Nasrudin]

mmmmm, cheese on the taco.


as for me, I hate teeth/eye injuries, like a baseball bat to the mouth or something. That's no problem though - as long as you don't go into dentistry or ophtho, you aren't even qualified to do anything in those areas.

Yeah, i know what you mean. Certain injuries have a way of jolting the subconcious mind in a way I can't understand. I cleaned one wound on a surfer whose entire heel was flayed open and dangling from his foot. Not particularly gross but just sort of shockingly wrong looking. Teeth too. Yikes. I think its some kind of strange phenomenon like the way fingernails on a chalk board cause a chill in your spine.

 

[BellyDancingDoc]

mmmmm, cheese on the taco.

OMG, ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew 😱

Congrats, Prowler, that's the most disgusting thing I've heard in at least 6 months...

 

[Dr. Pepper]

The visuals pale in comparison to the smells. Smells have a wrongful way of mixing with the food you just ate on your break. Just wait until you have to do a pelvic exam on a homeless, drug-addicted, prostitute or some other nausea inducing task. I think this is the main reason adcomm's like to see real clinical experience.

Other than facial surgeries, the smell of vomit is enough to take me down.
-Dr. P.

 

[sweet2th]

Hypnosis, huh? I don't know what to do, really. It's just gradually gotten better over the years, to the point where I was able to, like, watch the JAckass movie without being moved, and I can hear it in another room, and my mom can throw up on the airplane next to me and I just don't look, but it's fine. Living in Berkeley, on Telegraph, helped too... Lots of vomit puddles in the street I eventually habituated to. But to actually, like, be intubating someone who throws up on me? Oh, christ...


Also, I haven't personally puked in 8 years. I wonder how long that will go on.

I can't watch Jackass, I can't be in the same room as a puker (unless my ipod is blasting in my ears), I can't deal with seizures of any kind, I'm still scared to fly due to a barfer, and haven't barfed in 17 years! Seriously kids, I'm doomed!!!!

 

[dopaminesurge]

I can't watch Jackass, I can't be in the same room as a puker (unless my ipod is blasting in my ears), I can't deal with seizures of any kind, I'm still scared to fly due to a barfer, and haven't barfed in 17 years! Seriously kids, I'm doomed!!!!

Hmm... If it's that bad, you may want to get therapy before entering medical school, or you'll be in a constant state of anxiety during your clinical years, internship, etc.

 

[sweet2th]

Hmm... If it's that bad, you may want to get therapy before entering medical school, or you'll be in a constant state of anxiety during your clinical years, internship, etc.

or just a steady dose of klonopin wafers!!!!

 

[45408]

OMG, ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew 😱

Congrats, Prowler, that's the most disgusting thing I've heard in at least 6 months...

:yum:

 

[FemalesCANTDriv]

wow... i thought i was the only one with emetaphobia going to med school... ya i eat peppermints alot... it helps... plus i sorta do what dopaminesurge does... these days i just try and look at vomit so much that it is like second nature... i figure we will get over it once we get there... and even if we dont completely get over it, i mean we just have to get over it to a certain point... its not like anyone loves vomit... we just have to not have such an irrational fear... holla

 

[munnabhai]

Most operations aren't too bad and I've been in a fair share of delivery rooms and seen c-sections. I actually like to watch some of the things on orlive.com

The only thing that creeps me out is when someone breaks a bone and it's sticking out of their body...yikes!

like the dude in Naruto who can grow bones out of his body and shoot bones out of his fingertip and Naruto is getting pwnt till Gaara comes to the rescue?

DON'T!!!! In the year 2000, I told my friend I hadn't gotten sick (that way) in 7 years and three days later, I got sick. I never say it anymore.

Wow, I'm really glad I'm not the only pre-med who faces this phobia. I know it's a rare phobia so I assumed it was non-existent among us pre-meds. I feel much better now.

I havent barfed in about 13 years.... Last time I barfed was when I was 6 or 7 and that was cuz i had a huge piece of mushroom pizza.... I h8 mushrooms 😡

There was a scene from House (season 1 I think) where I think they had to inject something into a patient's brain, only they decided to do it through the eye!!!

That was without a doubt the most disturbing scene I have ever seen.

Word... I closed my eyes when I realized what they were going to do... I guess I am a bit sensitive when it comes to eyes and testicles.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

i was watching some reality doctor shows (kinda documentary style)...

does anyone else still cringe when they see open bodies/surgery/dissection/etc?

i'm kinda getting worried that i will have difficulties in med school or as a doctor...

Sometimes, when they are doing things like pumping fat...

 

[45408]

I havent barfed in about 13 years.... Last time I barfed was when I was 6 or 7 and that was cuz i had a huge piece of mushroom pizza.... I h8 mushrooms 😡

wow, I guess a lot of you guys don't drink a whole lot 😛

 

[sweet2th]

oh i drink a lot...but its all mind over matter. i do a lot of pacing and mental aerobics. you can train your medulla to not induce vomiting with years of practice.

 

[tthorst]

oh i drink a lot...but its all mind over matter. i do a lot of pacing and mental aerobics. you can train your medulla to not induce vomiting with years of practice.

Yep -works for me. I've talked myself out of vomiting several times on account of drinking. 😉 I'm also relieved to know that I'm not the only person here who is afraid of vomit. Oh - I'm sure having children and being around those who are ill will help with this problem...I hope. 😳

 

[junebuguf]

I just threw up all day on the first. It was bad. I dont usually drink much, and I didnt even drink that much on new year's eve, but the mixture of margaritas, martini & rossi and chivas regal was too much for my puny liver to bear. Couldnt even hold down water. I woke up out of my stupor yesterday to find several burn holes in my shoes. Guess it must have been from the firecrackers.

 

[Pose]

The only thing that really bothers me to look at...burn patients. Like extensive burns, or facial burns...Full thickness.

Then again, I can hide it well, and it doesn't necessarily stop me from dealing with the person. It just freaks me out inside.

Otherwise, I haven't come across something that's bothered me in the ED. I throw in about 20 foleys a day in every nasty penis or vagina imaginable. Likewise, I've been involved in some sketchy traumas and codes, and those are fine. I've been **** on, pissed on, vomited on, and I've dealt with some smelly people. But those damn burn patients, man.

 

[djacobs583]

Are you guys kidding, I can't get enough of surgical operations in fact i don't think they show enough, sometimes you can even see what they are doing. how they cut open, pulling the skin back and dive in. I get goose bumps just thinking about it........👍