Has anyone gotten really sick while in med school or know someone who has?

[tennisgrl25]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm wondering if anyone has had a personal experience with getting sick during med school and had to take time off or know someone else who has.

It seems mostly everyone agrees that the first 2 years of medical school are the worst along with Step 1 and things get better after that. I finished all that and then got sick during my first clinical rotation.

I started feeling tired all the time and getting headaches frequently. Simultaneously my blood pressure started getting really low all the time- standing during rounds, in surgery, while in clinic waiting for patients. I could hardly concentrate on anything patients or attendings would tell me. My focus was always on the lightheaded tired about to faint/ out of it feeling. As if that wasn't enough my muscles started aching too. I went from working out 3-4 times/week to not having the energy to at all :/

Needless to say...it's pretty impossible to survive rotations or learn anything feeling like that all the time. I've never felt so awful in my life for such a long time.

I took time off, it's been about 6 months so far and i'm starting to get better and hoping to feel well enough to go back in a few more. Just worried about this happening again...part of the most exhausting part of rotations was being on the fixed schedule even when tired or not having gotten enough sleep. And..that's not about to change.

Has anyone else developed chronic fatigue like symptoms from the med school schedule or know of people who did? I'm talking purely physical symptoms, nothing psychological. (although it's always an assumption advisors and doctors make if you seem to have vague symptoms that they can't figure out) How long did it last and how did you get back to top condition and prevent it from recurring? Was your school understanding and accommodating?

 

[ir0nsoul]

are you sure you are getting enough food? I've had issues when if i stop paying attention to what i'm eating, or i miss a couple of meals, i start feeling similar to what you have described.

 

[MIAYO]

are you sure you are getting enough food? I've had issues when if i stop paying attention to what i'm eating, or i miss a couple of meals, i start feeling similar to what you have described.

Yeah, may be low blood sugar. But, who are we to say. You should see a physician about this if you have not already seen one.

 

[tennisgrl25]

Well calorically speaking I was eating enough and my diet would have been considered healthy. But you're right, I mean diet and not eating enough nutrient dense foods and frequently enough probably did play into it along with just being tired in general from having studied for boards and waking up ridiculously early everyday. When I'm really tired, I feel too sick to eat and then I'm not good when I miss meals. But I think I went like that for too long, so simply eating a good meal and getting some extra rest wasn't enough to get better. So it was kind of a downward spiral that I'm recovering from now. Medical students don't have the healthiest lifestyle. My pcp was telling me about all the students in his class who developed high blood pressure and diabetes while on rotations and in residency too. I can believe it given the junk I see residents eating. Mmm ice cream for dinner.