Avoiding Self-Diagnosis in Med School

[CjOz]

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Hey guys,

I can, at times, become neurotic about my health and I will lose myself in anxiety. Ex: Instead of chalking up a small episode of shortness of breath to bronchitis or allergies, I'll drive myself up the wall thinking I may have a pulmonary embolism or I'll worry that because I am tall with long extremities that I may have Marfan's syndrome. One of my fears about entering med school in a few months is that I will learn about diseases/conditions and will self-diagnose myself with them and drive myself bat**** crazy in the process. I do have anxiety and I take xanax on a PRN basis. Have any of you guys dealt with this? I'm assuming self-diagnosis is relatively common among students but I was hoping you guys had some tips on how to avoid taking it to the next level.

 

[Didierdrogba]

Hey guys,

I can, at times, become neurotic about my health and I will lose myself in anxiety. Ex: Instead of chalking up a small episode of shortness of breath to bronchitis or allergies, I'll drive myself up the wall thinking I may have a pulmonary embolism or I'll worry that because I am tall with long extremities that I may have Marfan's syndrome. One of my fears about entering med school in a few months is that I will learn about diseases/conditions and will self-diagnose myself with them and drive myself bat**** crazy in the process. I do have anxiety and I take xanax on a PRN basis. Have any of you guys dealt with this? I'm assuming self-diagnosis is relatively common among students but I was hoping you guys had some tips on how to avoid taking it to the next level.

haha, just yesterday I convinced myself that I had a spontaneous pneumothorax for some reason. I think once you start med school, there will be way too many diseases that present the same way for you to worry about. In the beginning, it was pretty unsettling, but now I just stop caring, since most diseases don't really kill you as a young person anyway.

 

[normtheniner]

Hey guys,

I can, at times, become neurotic about my health and I will lose myself in anxiety. Ex: Instead of chalking up a small episode of shortness of breath to bronchitis or allergies, I'll drive myself up the wall thinking I may have a pulmonary embolism or I'll worry that because I am tall with long extremities that I may have Marfan's syndrome. One of my fears about entering med school in a few months is that I will learn about diseases/conditions and will self-diagnose myself with them and drive myself bat**** crazy in the process. I do have anxiety and I take xanax on a PRN basis. Have any of you guys dealt with this? I'm assuming self-diagnosis is relatively common among students but I was hoping you guys had some tips on how to avoid taking it to the next level.

If anything the knowledge I've gained over the past two years has made me worry less.... Now instead of thinking my shortness of breath is the onset of an MI, I just assume its anxiety (which I've had problems with in the past).

 

[CjOz]

If anything the knowledge I've gained over the past two years has made me worry less.... Now instead of thinking my shortness of breath is the onset of an MI, I just assume its anxiety (which I've had problems with in the past).

Tell me about it. I developed anxiety after I began feeling PVC's a couple years ago. I get them during stressful/anxious times and after taking a xanax they subside. I've had em checked out several times, even worn a holter and was told everything is fine...I'm just one of the unfortunate few who can feel the palpitations. Nonetheless, they drive me crazy and make me think I am in A-fib or something. I think that is where my neurotic tendencies began.

 

[tantacles]

My tip is just to assume you're always well, and, like another student mentioned, assume that you're always reacting to stress. If you feel like you're just being neurotic, you probably are.

 

[FulfilledDeer]

I'm dealing with this right now. I'm a super lack back person. Really. Last person you'd expect to have anxiety. But right now I'm currently dealing with anxiety related to heart stuff. PVCs and musculoskeletal are probably the cause, but I feel like I have aortic dissection, aneurysm, arrhythmias all the time (so nothing consistent or that makes sense from day to day). So much so I'm seeing mental health services for help. This started even before school (by like a month). It's terrible. I don't know what to do. Honest tip: panic attacks are far scarier than you might think if you've never had one. You won't understand unless it's happened to you, but try not to judge a patient. I intellectually knew it was nothing, but I still wound up in the ED (didn't realize it was panic at the time, but I did know it was probably nothing physiological).


Having said that, knowledge is power. What helped me get over fear of flying is knowledge. And knowing more has only helped my anxiety.

 

[CjOz]

I'm dealing with this right now. I'm a super lack back person. Really. Last person you'd expect to have anxiety. But right now I'm currently dealing with anxiety related to heart stuff. PVCs and musculoskeletal are probably the cause, but I feel like I have aortic dissection, aneurysm, arrhythmias all the time (so nothing consistent or that makes sense from day to day). So much so I'm seeing mental health services for help. This started even before school (by like a month). It's terrible. I don't know what to do. Honest tip: panic attacks are far scarier than you might think if you've never had one. You won't understand unless it's happened to you, but try not to judge a patient. I intellectually knew it was nothing, but I still wound up in the ED (didn't realize it was panic at the time, but I did know it was probably nothing physiological).


Having said that, knowledge is power. What helped me get over fear of flying is knowledge. And knowing more has only helped my anxiety.

Thanks for sharing. I knew I wasn't the only one out there. I sound a lot like you, I am a very laid back personas well, and while I seem calm on the exterior, my mind can be running wild. Yes, anxiety attacks are terrible and it is hard to bring yourself out of one because they are these viscous cycles that keep worsening. I think it does help to talk about it though. The doctor I work for told me about some of his male friends going into OB/GYN because they became too neurotic with self-diagnosis.

 

[DrMaximus]

Oh man, every time I get my blood pressure taken now I freak out that it's going to be high and it ends up being that high. There's so much anxiety in med school that I go crazy over every little pain I feel in my chest.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I'm dealing with this right now. I'm a super lack back person. Really. Last person you'd expect to have anxiety. But right now I'm currently dealing with anxiety related to heart stuff. PVCs and musculoskeletal are probably the cause, but I feel like I have aortic dissection, aneurysm, arrhythmias all the time (so nothing consistent or that makes sense from day to day). So much so I'm seeing mental health services for help. This started even before school (by like a month). It's terrible. I don't know what to do. Honest tip: panic attacks are far scarier than you might think if you've never had one. You won't understand unless it's happened to you, but try not to judge a patient. I intellectually knew it was nothing, but I still wound up in the ED (didn't realize it was panic at the time, but I did know it was probably nothing physiological).


Having said that, knowledge is power. What helped me get over fear of flying is knowledge. And knowing more has only helped my anxiety.

It's true, I've had myself convinced about the same types of things before. Pretty sure at one point I thought every headache I got was a brain tumor in disguise (or if it was a really bad one I'd think it was a ICH). It's weird how even though you can keep telling yourself it's nothing, in the back of your mind you're like "but it could be....". I eventually just got over it after a while.

 

[WashMe]

Most of us have been through this at some point. I just had to stop caring about whether I lived or died on a daily basis. Also, if I have some weird symptom or nagging concern, I just tell myself, "think like a normal person". That is, if Joe Blow had these symptoms, would he rush to the emergency department or run to student health? If the answer is no, then I generally don't worry about it. For their lack of medical knowledge, most people do a reasonable job of seeking medical care in a timely fashion (unless their symptoms are directly related to a behavioral choice, such as smoking or drinking, in which cases they are often in denial).

 

[CjOz]

It's true, I've had myself convinced about the same types of things before. Pretty sure at one point I thought every headache I got was a brain tumor in disguise (or if it was a really bad one I'd think it was a ICH). It's weird how even though you can keep telling yourself it's nothing, in the back of your mind you're like "but it could be....". I eventually just got over it after a while.

I think I'll just need help getting past that "but it could be" thinking. Not sure how to yet lol.

 

[FulfilledDeer]

I think I'll just need help getting past that "but it could be" thinking. Not sure how to yet lol.

The worst part, like CalvnandHobbs said, is that it's not even conscious a lot of the time. I'll just start getting wound up for no reason and then it hits me that I'm worried about it. How am I suppose to stop something I'm not even exactly doing? I mean, sometimes it just feels like something is...wrong...in my chest. Nothing specific but the thought is there. And that leads to all this anxiety. Where that feeling comes from, I have no idea.

What partially helps, if you're having a really tough time with certain diagnoses (and not just whatever it is you're reading about) is just go see someone. Not for anxiety (although that's good too), but for whatever you think you have. I don't even say that I'm having anxiety over this or that, I just present it like anyone who wasn't self-diagnosing would. Maybe they'll think it's nothing or maybe they'll send you for a test, but the feeling that you've done something proactive sometimes helps.

 

[PTPoeny]

Find an awesome PCP.

First year was the worst in this regards for me. My PCP was happy to see me and reassure me on a regular basis. It was also a good chance to ask questions about some of the practicalities as a doctor. For instance we talked about confidentiality and being a doctor. My schools policy is that medical students do not see other medical students so it was reasonable to talk about seeing a doctor as a doctor. My PCP sees one of his office mates but schedules the appointments before normal appointment times without any nurses or MAs involved.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

I avoid this by reminding myself that I'm an idiot.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

I convinced myself I had an MI, blood clot, and throat cancer in the past year.

 

[CjOz]

I avoid this by reminding myself that I'm an idiot.

I have a fiance to remind me of that haha

 

[DrMaximus]

I avoid this by reminding myself that I'm an idiot.

Genius. 👍

 

[shamwowzer]

personally, i convinced myself that i had IBS, and then i realized i drink insane amounts of caffeine; on the flip side, think about how fun it is to torture other people. i had a classmate thinking he was congenitally barrel chested in respi.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

How awesome do you feel when you diagnosed yourself and its concurred by your PCP? Reassures me I'm following the right path. 🙂

 

[Morsetlis]

I tell my immune system to man the **** up.

No sickness for the past 2 years besides gastroenteritis from shawarmas.

 

[Gooby]

I thought I had myasthenia gravis when i couldn't keep my eyes open during path a few days ago

 

[crazychadtu]

How awesome do you feel when you diagnosed yourself and its concurred by your PCP? Reassures me I'm following the right path. 🙂

I was pretty sure I had thyroid cancer and my PCP was, and I quote, 99% sure it was benign. I was right 👎. I may have won the battle, but lost the war.

 

[Dr.TurkandJD]

I was pretty sure I had thyroid cancer and my PCP was, and I quote, 99% sure it was benign. I was right 👎. I may have won the battle, but lost the war.

Hope everything is ok!

 

[JackD]

I was like that early on, where i kept freaking myself out. I actually ran to the doctor once thinking that i had an osteosarcoma. The guy clearly thought i was an idiot and I wouldn't dispute that fact. However, that was at the point when i didn't know anything about anything. I didn't understand the signs and symptoms really well, how to diagnose these conditions, how common or rare they were, who gets these things and who doesn't. Once i started to really get into learning about these things and not getting a teacher mentioning serious diseases in 30 second asides in anatomy class then i finally calmed down.

For me, the more you know about these things, the easier it is to tell yourself "this concern makes no sense" and more on.

 

[ophthope]

Hey guys,

I can, at times, become neurotic about my health and I will lose myself in anxiety. Ex: Instead of chalking up a small episode of shortness of breath to bronchitis or allergies, I'll drive myself up the wall thinking I may have a pulmonary embolism or I'll worry that because I am tall with long extremities that I may have Marfan's syndrome. One of my fears about entering med school in a few months is that I will learn about diseases/conditions and will self-diagnose myself with them and drive myself bat**** crazy in the process. I do have anxiety and I take xanax on a PRN basis. Have any of you guys dealt with this? I'm assuming self-diagnosis is relatively common among students but I was hoping you guys had some tips on how to avoid taking it to the next level.

1. Yes it's common among medical students, and you haven't even started yet.

2. After you get some clinical exposure mainly beginning in third year, a lot of it goes away. After you've seen someone with a PE you won't think you're having one as much.

3. Xanax PRN is a really horrible way to manage anxiety for anything other than a very short time. The half life is insanely short and it quickly becomes a crutch rather than a treatment. You need to have a visit with either a PCP who manages anxiety patients better or ideally, a Psychiatrist. It would be a good idea to start seeing someone to manage this stuff before you start medical school because really you can only expect your anxiety to increase once you're in this.

 

[Galatasaray]

haha, just yesterday I convinced myself that I had a spontaneous pneumothorax for some reason. I think once you start med school, there will be way too many diseases that present the same way for you to worry about. In the beginning, it was pretty unsettling, but now I just stop caring, since most diseases don't really kill you as a young person anyway.

completely unrelated but love the username. he's a beast.

 

[Kaustikos]

Not really...

I tend to be on the horses instead of zebras side of things. I've dealt with friends/classmates who have that thought process but I always try to think the easiest explanation.

When my friend is like "Omg, I think my lymph node is swollen! I went to the doctor and my neutrophils were elevated! Do you think it's cancer?"

I think the heme/onc segment was the worst. It drove people CRAZY. Considering some of the cancers are "incidental findings on lab", you can get a lil