eating disorder medical leave

[ancoraimparo]

I have struggled with anorexia for over 15 years and have been in treatment and hospitalized dozens of times. I just finished my first year of med school and I was struggling a bit so I told student affairs and they are now making me take an entire YEAR off even though I worked on my health a lot this summer and my treatment team thinks I am well and healthy enough to start 2nd year.

How bad is it to take a medical leave in terms of competitive residencies? (Or even a psych residency?). How do I disclose why I took a leave? Do I need to do something "productive" during this time? Should I address this in my residency app essays or avoid the topic?

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[deleted480308]

Protect your health either way, it’s more important than school

 

[ancoraimparo]

I would avoid the topic in residency applications because a common trigger for relapse into eating disorders is intense stress. They may see it as the stress of med school caused you to relapse and be concerned that residency will be too much.

I wouldn't have told students affairs, personally. But if I were in your shoes, I would try to do something productive. It would make the leave easier to explain and, with many mental health conditions, keeping your mind active/distracted is helpful

I regret saying anything.

Since it will be considered a medical leave, would it be OK to travel, do bucket list things, etc. Or better to do research or something like that?

What if a residency directly asks me why I took a medical leave? Mental illness has such a stigma (and is very misunderstood - having anorexia has nothing to do with vanity and I am not psychotic or a danger to myself or others). I just don't know what to say in that situation....

 

[Goro]

The key thing on a medical leave is to go and heal.

I will leave it to our wise residents and attendings on how to spin this for PDs. Where's the learned @aProgDirector when you need him???

 

[DO2015CA]

I regret saying anything.

Since it will be considered a medical leave, would it be OK to travel, do bucket list things, etc. Or better to do research or something like that?

What if a residency directly asks me why I took a medical leave? Mental illness has such a stigma (and is very misunderstood - having anorexia has nothing to do with vanity and I am not psychotic or a danger to myself or others). I just don't know what to say in that situation....

You are a danger to yourself that’s why patients are hospitalized. This is not a criticism or judgement, just saying might want to change your language if you are asked to explain it.

 

[ancoraimparo]

You are a danger to yourself that’s why patients are hospitalized. This is not a criticism or judgement, just saying might want to change your language if you are asked to explain it.

How would you explain it? (Or would you explain it/ bring it up at all? What if I am directly asked about my medical leave?)

I would love to hear a program director's thoughts about this too...

 

[DO2015CA]

How would you explain it? (Or would you explain it/ bring it up at all? What if I am directly asked about my medical leave?)

I would love to hear a program director's thoughts about this too...

I would leave it as medical leave personally. Idk if they can actually ask you what medical problems unless you offer it

 

[Mass Effect]

You are a danger to yourself that’s why patients are hospitalized. This is not a criticism or judgement, just saying might want to change your language if you are asked to explain it.

Please don't speak about things you don't know anything about. People are not hospitalized for being a danger to themselves or others. People are put on involuntary hold for that. But people who are safe are hospitalized for stabilization purposes.

OP, you also need to take a breath and realize that you don't have to be psychotic to be hospitalized. You're perpetuating the stigma with language like that. A psychiatric illness is like any other MEDICAL illness. That's the point to get across if you discuss this.

When I was a med student, I remember a psychiatry attending on SDN telling the story of how he was teaching an MS-2 psych course and he asked the school if he could arrange a trip for them to an eating disorder facility. The school agreed and he had them go in groups. He gave them a tour and he noted they were being disrespectful, whispering jokes to each other, checking texts, etc. So he introduced them to a patient and took them to a day room or something so they could talk to this patient. The patient was anorexic and the students seemed VERY uncomfortable around her, as if they couldn't relate to her at all. The attending then asked the patient to tell the students what she does for a living and she told them she was a surgery resident (PGY 5, if I recall). It changed everything for these students.

My point is, you're not the first nor the last med student to face such a thing. There are med students out there with bipolar disorder, with depression, with suicide attempts, with substance abuse problems, with cancer, etc. You need to get better, take care of yourself, and THEN worry about how to explain this. Medicine these days loves resilience, insight, and motivation toward advocacy. You can weave your story into an inspirational testimony on your commitment to patients, particularly in a field like psychiatry, but also peds and family med.

 

[sovereign0]

Do you feel that you need a leave? Do you feel that your struggling was related to your eating disorder? Do you feel that you have adapted successfully or are continuing to adapt?

Administration is bound to be risk adverse. Your treatment team has valuable input too, but the most valuable input is yours, because nobody else can understand where you're at better than you.

Your health is more important than school. A LOA is a blemish that can be explained. A failure on your transcript is a blemish that is much harder to explain. Taking a leave is something that will probably be questioned. Most people don't have one. It's not an issue if it can be justified, but if you don't need one, don't take one. Key words being "need".

 

[DO2015CA]

Please don't speak about things you don't know anything about. People are not hospitalized for being a danger to themselves or others. People are put on involuntary hold for that. But people who are safe are hospitalized for stabilization purposes.

OP, you also need to take a breath and realize that you don't have to be psychotic to be hospitalized. You're perpetuating the stigma with language like that. A psychiatric illness is like any other MEDICAL illness. That's the point to get across if you discuss this.

When I was a med student, I remember a psychiatry attending on SDN telling the story of how he was teaching an MS-2 psych course and he asked the school if he could arrange a trip for them to an eating disorder facility. The school agreed and he had them go in groups. He gave them a tour and he noted they were being disrespectful, whispering jokes to each other, checking texts, etc. So he introduced them to a patient and took them to a day room or something so they could talk to this patient. The patient was anorexic and the students seemed VERY uncomfortable around her, as if they couldn't relate to her at all. The attending then asked the patient to tell the students what she does for a living and she told them she was a surgery resident (PGY 5, if I recall). It changed everything for these students.

My point is, you're not the first nor the last med student to face such a thing. There are med students out there with bipolar disorder, with depression, with suicide attempts, with substance abuse problems, with cancer, etc. You need to get better, take care of yourself, and THEN worry about how to explain this. Medicine these days loves resilience, insight, and motivation toward advocacy. You can weave your story into an inspirational testimony on your commitment to patients, particularly in a field like psychiatry, but also peds and family med.

Thanks chief. It must’ve seemed that I was talking about involuntary hold/force feeding by the way I worded my statement. That is not what I was referring to. If someone needs medical stabilization due to their actions then they are a danger to themselves by definition. In their original statement they are asking about how to explain it and then minimized anorexia not being a danger to anyone. The tip was to word it better if they have to end up explaining it because obviously I’ve fallen victim to poor word choice before and I was looking out for them...

 

[Mad Jack]

I regret saying anything.

Since it will be considered a medical leave, would it be OK to travel, do bucket list things, etc. Or better to do research or something like that?

What if a residency directly asks me why I took a medical leave? Mental illness has such a stigma (and is very misunderstood - having anorexia has nothing to do with vanity and I am not psychotic or a danger to myself or others). I just don't know what to say in that situation....

Technically you are delusional, which is a form of psychosis.

With regard to their asking, just say that you had a health crisis and it is resolved. You're not obliged to talk about it.

 

[MediCane2006]

Agree with what’s been posted. It’s a medical leave for an issue that’s (hopefully) resolved. You don’t need to clarify unless you want to.

It may screen you out from some residencies or it may not, there’s really no way to know. The one thing I would be certain to do is make sure you use this year to get well and get yourself prepared for the rigors ahead. All the extracurriculars in the world won’t matter if you aren’t mentally healed enough for med school and residency. Best of luck.

 

[ancoraimparo]

Please don't speak about things you don't know anything about. People are not hospitalized for being a danger to themselves or others. People are put on involuntary hold for that. But people who are safe are hospitalized for stabilization purposes.

OP, you also need to take a breath and realize that you don't have to be psychotic to be hospitalized. You're perpetuating the stigma with language like that. A psychiatric illness is like any other MEDICAL illness. That's the point to get across if you discuss this.

When I was a med student, I remember a psychiatry attending on SDN telling the story of how he was teaching an MS-2 psych course and he asked the school if he could arrange a trip for them to an eating disorder facility. The school agreed and he had them go in groups. He gave them a tour and he noted they were being disrespectful, whispering jokes to each other, checking texts, etc. So he introduced them to a patient and took them to a day room or something so they could talk to this patient. The patient was anorexic and the students seemed VERY uncomfortable around her, as if they couldn't relate to her at all. The attending then asked the patient to tell the students what she does for a living and she told them she was a surgery resident (PGY 5, if I recall). It changed everything for these students.

My point is, you're not the first nor the last med student to face such a thing. There are med students out there with bipolar disorder, with depression, with suicide attempts, with substance abuse problems, with cancer, etc. You need to get better, take care of yourself, and THEN worry about how to explain this. Medicine these days loves resilience, insight, and motivation toward advocacy. You can weave your story into an inspirational testimony on your commitment to patients, particularly in a field like psychiatry, but also peds and family med.

Thank you. I feel that the shame I feel about hiding my problem is only perpetuating stigma and I feel caught between this desire to own my story for what it is and hide it. I think that doctors are human beings who have all types of illnesses but I get the feeling that doctors are not supposed to talk about their struggles, particularly related to health.

 

[Crayola227]

My point is, you're not the first nor the last med student to face such a thing. There are med students out there with bipolar disorder, with depression, with suicide attempts, with substance abuse problems, with cancer, etc. You need to get better, take care of yourself, and THEN worry about how to explain this. Medicine these days loves resilience, insight, and motivation toward advocacy. You can weave your story into an inspirational testimony on your commitment to patients, particularly in a field like psychiatry, but also peds and family med.

This last bit is one of the finest and concise descriptions about the topic I've seen around here.

 

[Crayola227]

OP, I understand, I think, what you are trying to get at as the misunderstood basis for why eating disorders aren't often held in the same "illustrious esteem" that possibly other mental illnesses are, and feeling shame and stigma around that.

I might recommend some of my post history regarding mental health in medical school and residency, discrimination, disability, accommodations, and just basically trying get through with your sanity, health, and career intact.

I hate to add to any of this by saying, that in my view, in a lot of ways, to be a healthcare professional with mental illness is to learn how to live in secret. I'm not going to debate this issue here. Just, if you find that to be your journey, you are NOT alone. You may need to tread carefully. Advocacy and change is possible. But it's OK to make the choices you have to make to survive, whether that's choices for your personal health or the health of your career. Focus there first.

Take your LOA, learn all you can about being a physician with a mental illness or history of mental illness. You can learn how to navigate, do damage control, and damage prevention.

If you have questions, feel free to PM.

 

[IMreshopeful]

OP - it’s more important that you get your health in control. Anything else can be explained come residency time.

I have a friend who is a successful lawyer and has had anorexia for more than a decade. She’s fine. I know of someone who likely had it in medical school and she’s also doing fine.

Stick with routine therapy during the medical school year as well, not just during the LOA.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Regarding your future application for residency, all you're required to report is that you took a medical LOA. You do not need to explain what it was for, and programs are not allowed to ask. It actually is illegal for them to ask (or, more accurately, it's illegal for them to consider it in your hiring decision, and it's assumed that everything asked at an interview would have an impact on hiring). Might someone ask anyway, perhaps trying to be "helpful" or "supportive". So it's worth thinking in advance what you might say -- including that you don't want to talk about it.

Although you don't have to disclose the reason for the leave, some people do. If you don't, many programs will assume that it's a chronic psychiatric problem since most people with acute medical issues disclose them. As a PD, when an applicant discloses something like this, it's a challenge. I want to "do the right thing". But, if I take a resident who has chronic problems and then that leads to multiple long LOA's, that's a huge problem for the other people in the program. All of the work needs to get done -- anything you don't do, someone else has to do.

So, advice: I would not disclose this. Simply report it as a medical LOA and leave it at that. The most important thing you can do is get your health under control and improve your performance, that way your story can be "I had a medical issue, I dealt with it, and now my performance has improved dramatically so this won't be an issue going forward". If you continue to require multiple LOA's and extension of your schooling, that will make it much more difficult to get a spot.

 

[GrignardsReagent]

You realize that anorexia is going to destroy your bones among other problems? Why don't you stop with the first world problems and eat something? People abroad would be dying to be in your position where they actually have access to food.

Wow..... I hope this is a troll but if not I really worry about you and your future patients. This post is one of the more ignorant/ insensitive things I have ever read on this site.

 

[IMreshopeful]

You realize that anorexia is going to destroy your bones among other problems? Why don't you stop with the first world problems and eat something? People abroad would be dying to be in your position where they actually have access to food.

If this is a joke it’s a pretty crappy one. Enjoy the permaban

Edit: apparently this guy is a real person who is applying EM. I hope you have more empathy for your real patients bub. Either way, buh bye

 

[ancoraimparo]

If this is a joke it’s a pretty crappy one. Enjoy the permaban

Edit: apparently this guy is a real person who is applying EM. I hope you have more empathy for your real patients bub. Either way, buh bye

Regarding your future application for residency, all you're required to report is that you took a medical LOA. You do not need to explain what it was for, and programs are not allowed to ask. It actually is illegal for them to ask (or, more accurately, it's illegal for them to consider it in your hiring decision, and it's assumed that everything asked at an interview would have an impact on hiring). Might someone ask anyway, perhaps trying to be "helpful" or "supportive". So it's worth thinking in advance what you might say -- including that you don't want to talk about it.

Although you don't have to disclose the reason for the leave, some people do. If you don't, many programs will assume that it's a chronic psychiatric problem since most people with acute medical issues disclose them. As a PD, when an applicant discloses something like this, it's a challenge. I want to "do the right thing". But, if I take a resident who has chronic problems and then that leads to multiple long LOA's, that's a huge problem for the other people in the program. All of the work needs to get done -- anything you don't do, someone else has to do.

So, advice: I would not disclose this. Simply report it as a medical LOA and leave it at that. The most important thing you can do is get your health under control and improve your performance, that way your story can be "I had a medical issue, I dealt with it, and now my performance has improved dramatically so this won't be an issue going forward". If you continue to require multiple LOA's and extension of your schooling, that will make it much more difficult to get a spot.

Thank you for your feedback.
It means a lot to me.

I just found out that my school would be willing to call it an "administrative leave" as opposed to a medical one - so I can say that I wanted to take time to do a research year or study for STEP? Or take care of "personal matters"? What would be the best reason to give for my year off? And what would be the best thing to DO in this year (other than make sure my health is at 110% upon my return?). I do have to re-take anatomy because apparently I just found out that I failed it because I didn't make all the required sessions since I was in the hospital for a lot of it.... :-(

 

[sloop]

You are a danger to yourself that’s why patients are hospitalized. This is not a criticism or judgement, just saying might want to change your language if you are asked to explain it.

Wait, what?

There are many justifications for voluntary psychiatric admission and most of them are not danger to self or others. Mainly it is therapy or medication titration needs that are best accomplished in an inpatient setting. The main point here is that the situations where voluntary admission is clinically indicated and for which insurance will pay are far more varied than those situations where a patient would meet criteria for involuntary admission.

 

[sloop]

Thanks chief. It must’ve seemed that I was talking about involuntary hold/force feeding by the way I worded my statement. That is not what I was referring to. If someone needs medical stabilization due to their actions then they are a danger to themselves by definition. In their original statement they are asking about how to explain it and then minimized anorexia not being a danger to anyone. The tip was to word it better if they have to end up explaining it because obviously I’ve fallen victim to poor word choice before and I was looking out for them...

I don't think this is true, though. I've treated a lot of people with intractable and serious depression who are nonetheless not suicidal with ECT, for instance, in the hospital. These people are usually there because the treatment is best accomplished as an inpatient (they don't have somebody to come get them, take them home, and monitor them after outpatient ECT, for instance).

What you're saying is kind of that medical conditions are serious, which I don't think is particularly meaningful. Of course many conditions, if not appropriately treated, can endanger people. However, the chronic risk of a condition is a very different thing from the acute risk. Anorexia is possibly the most dangerous psychiatric condition that exists, from a chronic perspective, and people shouldn't minimize that. That's a very different thing from talking about being a risk to self or others. You can make excuses all you want but "danger to self or others" is specific psychiatric terminology which means a particular thing to psychiatrists—namely that someone is high acute risk for violence, suicide or death/injury from self-neglect.

The fact that anorexics tend to be high chronic risk but arguably lower acute risk (dangerous to self), is precisely why, in most states, it's much harder to civilly commit these people than other psych patients.

 

[Robin-jay]

It's incredible....there's about 3 people in this thread alone I'm shocked were accepted to medical school in the first place.

 

[mehc012]

If this is a joke it’s a pretty crappy one. Enjoy the permaban

Edit: apparently this guy is a real person who is applying EM. I hope you have more empathy for your real patients bub. Either way, buh bye

If they weren't saying stuff like this now, I wouldn't be surprised if they were by the time they became an attending. All of the worst statements I've ever heard about mental illness or psychiatric patients, have all been while working in the ED, from the ED docs. This is one of the (admittedly several) reasons people often don't ask for help with any injury related to mental illness.

I mean stuff like, while referring to a 12yr old boy in for a suicide attempt (using methods unlikely to succeed) "If they want to die, I wish they'd just do it properly so I wouldn't have to spend my time patching them up. What a waste of time."

 

[IMreshopeful]

If they weren't saying stuff like this now, I wouldn't be surprised if they were by the time they became an attending. All of the worst statements I've ever heard about mental illness or psychiatric patients, have all been while working in the ED, from the ED docs. This is one of the (admittedly several) reasons people often don't ask for help with any injury related to mental illness.

I mean stuff like, while referring to a 12yr old boy in for a suicide attempt (using methods unlikely to succeed) "If they want to die, I wish they'd just do it properly so I wouldn't have to spend my time patching them up. What a waste of time."

Well I think it’s more than ED docs. We have plenty of empathy fatigue on the IM side as well. It’s probably a little worse in the ED because they truly encounter the worst of the worst cases but I think compassion is something that I think really is lacking as a whole amongst a lot of doctors. The dickhead who said that about the 12 year old though in your story...that’s particularly bad.

 

[Mass Effect]

Thanks chief. It must’ve seemed that I was talking about involuntary hold/force feeding by the way I worded my statement. That is not what I was referring to. If someone needs medical stabilization due to their actions then they are a danger to themselves by definition. In their original statement they are asking about how to explain it and then minimized anorexia not being a danger to anyone. The tip was to word it better if they have to end up explaining it because obviously I’ve fallen victim to poor word choice before and I was looking out for them...

I'll repeat: please don't speak about things you know nothing about. You are implying something that simply isn't true. If it were, then every diabetic who goes to Wendy's would be involuntarily committed to a psych hospital, every CHF patient who enjoys a big Thanksgiving dinner would be involuntarily committed, every CAD patient who doesn't stick by the diet and exercise plan would be involuntarily committed post-MI. Your statements are inaccurate, uninformed, and naive.

 

[Crayola227]

Thank you for your feedback.
It means a lot to me.

I just found out that my school would be willing to call it an "administrative leave" as opposed to a medical one - so I can say that I wanted to take time to do a research year or study for STEP? Or take care of "personal matters"? What would be the best reason to give for my year off? And what would be the best thing to DO in this year (other than make sure my health is at 110% upon my return?). I do have to re-take anatomy because apparently I just found out that I failed it because I didn't make all the required sessions since I was in the hospital for a lot of it.... :-(

I think we could use advice from @aProgDirector about how it reads as admin leave vs medical.

 

[michaelrack]

Wait, what?

There are many justifications for voluntary psychiatric admission and most of them are not danger to self or others. Mainly it is therapy or medication titration needs that are best accomplished in an inpatient setting. The main point here is that the situations where voluntary admission is clinically indicated and for which insurance will pay are far more varied than those situations where a patient would meet criteria for involuntary admission.

Actually, the majority of voluntary psych admissions are for danger to self/others (usually to self)- I estimate at least 75%. Other reasons for hospitalization include severe psychosis or need for specialized treatment (initiation of ECT).

I work at several different inpatient psych wards/hospitals
None of the hospitals have an eating disorder program, but severe anorexia is certainly also an indication for hospitalization

 

[mehc012]

Actually, the majority of voluntary psych admissions are for danger to self/others (usually to self)- I estimate at least 75%. Other reasons for hospitalization include severe psychosis or need for specialized treatment (initiation of ECT).

I work at several different inpatient psych wards/hospitals
None of the hospitals have an eating disorder program, but severe anorexia is certainly also an indication for hospitalization

From what I've seen, it's also not uncommon for 'voluntary' admission to start out as involuntary...it's sometimes easier to get somebody to agree that they need help than to go through the process to extend the length of an involuntary commitment. I've seen instances where the entire first session with inpatient psych is dedicated to convincing the patient that they should sign themselves in to stay for a while (Note: I personally think that this is a terrible way to introduce yourself to a patient, but it happens).

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I do have to re-take anatomy because apparently I just found out that I failed it because I didn't make all the required sessions since I was in the hospital for a lot of it.... :-(

This changes your story quite a bit. So now you've failed a course, and you're taking an LOA for a year. Calling it an administrative LOA changes one major point -- now, anyone can ask why. Everyone will assume it has something to do with failing the course, because most people who fail a course just take it again and pass, without an Admin LOA. It's going to be important to explain the situation, else programs may infer that you had some professionalism problem that resulted in the failed grade.

Regarding the above quote, we're back to the core of the matter. You need to get your health under control so that you don't require multiple hospitalizations -- in fact, you need to be healthy enough so you don't require any hospitalizations. With an eating disorder that's severe enough to require inpatient treatment, that's difficult. This is not a disease that responds well to medications, and tends to be triggered by stress -- something that medical school delivers regularly.

So, you can definitely do research during this year to maintain some productivity (which would be good). But your main goal is to get your health stable. If your health continues to impact your ability to attend school, perhaps this is not a good career choice for you

 

[sloop]

Actually, the majority of voluntary psych admissions are for danger to self/others (usually to self)- I estimate at least 75%. Other reasons for hospitalization include severe psychosis or need for specialized treatment (initiation of ECT).

I work at several different inpatient psych wards/hospitals
None of the hospitals have an eating disorder program, but severe anorexia is certainly also an indication for hospitalization

I never said or meant to imply that most people who are hospitalized are there for reasons other than risk of harm to self or others. Show me where I ever said that. Of course the majority of people in the hospital are there for risk of harm to self or others.

What I said is that, of the numerous reasons that would justify a psychiatric hospital stay, risk of harm to self or others is just one of many.

My hospital does have an eating disorder program, so I clearly know that it’s an indication for inpatient hospitalization. I don’t know who you’re arguing with here, but it certainly isn’t me. That said, these people are possible but quite difficult to civilly commit and when we go to court with one of these patients we usually anticipate a pretty significant chance of losing the case.

I work at what is basically a quaternary care psychiatric hospital so I definitely see a lot of people admitted for reasons that aren’t acute risk of harm. A lot of these people aren’t really “acute” at all, but are refractory to all other treatment, may have an episodic illness that is often severe, some are just very motivated to “fix this” and are self-pay, etc.

The fact is that, to justify inpatient admission, it’s not at all necessary to prove that someone is an acute risk to self or others. The only thing that is necessary is to prove that inpatient hospitalization has a therapeutic benefit that could not be achieved in another setting. Really, this is actually the implied argument even when you say that someone is an acute risk of self neglect or harm to self or others (that hospitalization means restricts these people in a way that can’t be accomplished without 24 hour nursing care).

 

[michaelrack]

I never said or meant to imply that most people who are hospitalized are there for reasons other than risk of harm to self or others. ).

That's one way of interpreting your post, which I quoted directly

 

[sloop]

That's one way of interpreting your post, which I quoted directly

Indeed that is one way of interpreting it. It’s also incorrect.

The subject of my post was the “justifications [for hospitalization].” The plural I was referencing was the different justifications one could have for inpatient treatment. Never was the subject of any sentence in my post the individual cases of those people who are hospitalized or the comparative number of people in the hospital for various reasons.

 

[ancoraimparo]

This changes your story quite a bit. So now you've failed a course, and you're taking an LOA for a year. Calling it an administrative LOA changes one major point -- now, anyone can ask why. Everyone will assume it has something to do with failing the course, because most people who fail a course just take it again and pass, without an Admin LOA. It's going to be important to explain the situation, else programs may infer that you had some professionalism problem that resulted in the failed grade.

Regarding the above quote, we're back to the core of the matter. You need to get your health under control so that you don't require multiple hospitalizations -- in fact, you need to be healthy enough so you don't require any hospitalizations. With an eating disorder that's severe enough to require inpatient treatment, that's difficult. This is not a disease that responds well to medications, and tends to be triggered by stress -- something that medical school delivers regularly.

So, you can definitely do research during this year to maintain some productivity (which would be good). But your main goal is to get your health stable. If your health continues to impact your ability to attend school, perhaps this is not a good career choice for you

Your views on this issue mean a lot to me. Thank you.

I think that it would be better for me to call it an admin leave vs a medical leave and state that I needed to re-take anatomy - which my med school only offers in the fall - so I had to take the year off. Because of this, I can talk about the research, etc I did during that time.

Most of all, though, I think the point about my health means the most. I wouldn't be in this situation if it were not for my eating disorder. I have a lot of life goals that are wholly incompatible with being anorexic, not the least of which is being a physician. Just like the pulmonologist who smokes, I think that I would be hypocritical telling patients to eat well and take care of themselves when I myself struggle with those things a lot.

 

[ancoraimparo]

I feel for you. My best friend has a daughter who is AA, is currently a Pre-Med, majoring in Nutrition, and is wasting away. She has been hospitalized many times as well. I have provided all of the medical and psych literature I can find on this topic to my friend to help him understand his daughter. She is really gunning it and her GPA is 4.0, but her self-care is very sad.

What would you tell a Pre-Med with AA if she wanted to attend medical school? I thought for sure she would not be accepted due to her health issues but seeing your post answers that question

I would tell her to go for it but ONLY if she is in solid recovery from her eating disorder for at LEAST one year. She also needs a strong support system and outpatient team/ follow up upon starting school who is going to hold her accountable. I wouldn't wish upon anybody the type of 1st year of med school I had battling with my illness.

 

[Kgizzle]

Regarding your future application for residency, all you're required to report is that you took a medical LOA. You do not need to explain what it was for, and programs are not allowed to ask. It actually is illegal for them to ask (or, more accurately, it's illegal for them to consider it in your hiring decision, and it's assumed that everything asked at an interview would have an impact on hiring). Might someone ask anyway, perhaps trying to be "helpful" or "supportive". So it's worth thinking in advance what you might say -- including that you don't want to talk about it.

Although you don't have to disclose the reason for the leave, some people do. If you don't, many programs will assume that it's a chronic psychiatric problem since most people with acute medical issues disclose them. As a PD, when an applicant discloses something like this, it's a challenge. I want to "do the right thing". But, if I take a resident who has chronic problems and then that leads to multiple long LOA's, that's a huge problem for the other people in the program. All of the work needs to get done -- anything you don't do, someone else has to do.

So, advice: I would not disclose this. Simply report it as a medical LOA and leave it at that. The most important thing you can do is get your health under control and improve your performance, that way your story can be "I had a medical issue, I dealt with it, and now my performance has improved dramatically so this won't be an issue going forward". If you continue to require multiple LOA's and extension of your schooling, that will make it much more difficult to get a spot.

Although this an honest answer, it makes me sad to think about

 

[ancoraimparo]

Although this an honest answer, it makes me sad to think about

Me too.