Intern's Syndrome

[yellowcat322]

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Anyone else experiencing a sudden onslaught of acute hypochondria? I've heard the myth that med students often get the feeling that they're getting the diseases they're learning about -- but I never thought I would actually fall victim to it, and so rapidly! I'm barely three months into med school and already I have battled Cystic Fibrosis, recurring appendicitis (although I've had my appendix removed 10 years ago -- but who knows if they took it all?!) and growing suspicions of situs inversus. The culmination point came today when I was studying microbiology. I recently came down with a common cold (or is it??) and as I was reading about anthrax, I came across this: the early symptoms of anthrax infection are often confused with a common flu!!!! This has got to stop. I;m a rational person. But my mind automatically diagnoses me with the worst case scenario. And I'm not the only one. A classmate of mine recently went to a doctor to check for Hodgkins Lymphoma that she was convinced she rapidly developed after they showed us a movie about a Hodgkins patient. I feel that by the end of my medical training I will have experienced first hand half of the medical dictionary. Anyone know the feeling? Does it get better or should I buckle in for a ride on the hypochondria rollercoaster?

 

[Agent Splat]

So far all I've come to realize aboot myself is that I eat too much and I'm going to get fat, but i don't dare eat too little lest I starve and go into ketoacidosis.

 

[superdood68]

i get afraid when i touch a aids patient with a cd4 count of 2. as much as i know nothing will happen to me, i gotta put on those gloves.

 

[robotsonic]

I'm pretty sure this happens to most people when they start med school. Fortunately, it does go away. For me it disappeared when I started third year and clinical rotations. Once I was around tons of people who really were sick and dying, I magically became invincible. When you are starting med school and reading about all of these diseases, they aren't real. Once you get to the wards, they become real, and you start to separate yourself from them. Now I never worry about having the diseases I read about. In fact, I'm probably overconfident. I wasn't even worried after being stuck with a needle. 🙂

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

Anyone else experiencing a sudden onslaught of acute hypochondria? I've heard the myth that med students often get the feeling that they're getting the diseases they're learning about -- but I never thought I would actually fall victim to it, and so rapidly! I'm barely three months into med school and already I have battled Cystic Fibrosis, recurring appendicitis (although I've had my appendix removed 10 years ago -- but who knows if they took it all?!) and growing suspicions of situs inversus. The culmination point came today when I was studying microbiology. I recently came down with a common cold (or is it??) and as I was reading about anthrax, I came across this: the early symptoms of anthrax infection are often confused with a common flu!!!! This has got to stop. I;m a rational person. But my mind automatically diagnoses me with the worst case scenario. And I'm not the only one. A classmate of mine recently went to a doctor to check for Hodgkins Lymphoma that she was convinced she rapidly developed after they showed us a movie about a Hodgkins patient. I feel that by the end of my medical training I will have experienced first hand half of the medical dictionary. Anyone know the feeling? Does it get better or should I buckle in for a ride on the hypochondria rollercoaster?

I haven't really experienced Intern's Syndrome that much, which is sort of surprising to me. I think in the wards, you are often too busy to think too much about your own ailments, so maybe your symptoms will ameliorate third year. 😛

The closest I came to this is after I was exposed to two patients with TB on my medicine rotation. I began having cough, night sweats, and weight loss -- originally I was nervous that I caught Tb, but after a few days I wrote it off as a cold. Luckily my PPD this summer was completely normal!

 

[rpkall]

Do you have to be an Intern? I think I've had all those diseases, and I'm only a first year. 👍

 

[Gimlet]

I woke up last night with a really bad headache that wouldn't go away, and all I could think was God, I hope I don't have a berry aneurysm that's going to rupture and kill me before my alarm goes off. Never would have been concerned about a headache if I didn't know anything about the Circle of Willis.

 

[njbmd]

i get afraid when i touch a aids patient with a cd4 count of 2. as much as i know nothing will happen to me, i gotta put on those gloves.

Hi there,
You need to be putting on those gloves with everyone if you are in danger of contact with body fluids. Any patient can test HIV+ tomorrow and you would not know it. Please take care of yourself and use universal precautions and good handwashing. Watch the ID docs. If you start out with good habits, you will keep them.
njbmd 🙂

 

[marooner]

we get to visit wards and get exposed to "real patients" in our first year... and you have to show compassion to most of the patients by talking to them and shaking their hands... so i'd say yeah! i'm quite hypochondriac

 

[FMGP8P]

I'm barely three months into med school and already I have battled Cystic Fibrosis, recurring appendicitis (although I've had my appendix removed 10 years ago -- but who knows if they took it all?!) and growing suspicions of situs inversus.

What would make you think that you might have situs inversus? My understanding is that it's asymptomatic.

 

[yellowcat322]

What would make you think that you might have situs inversus? My understanding is that it's asymptomatic.

There is a chance I might have been joking about that one. But then again, if I did have situs inversus and my apendectomy scar is on my right side, then..... maybe I do have appendicitis!!!! 😱

 

[Paws]

So we just finished neuroanatomy and now I sitting here and I feel a twinge in my left distal fingertips. Wha ... My arm is resting on my elbow and my chin is in my hand as I stare at the computer and there's you know, some normal weight pressure on my elbow bones (so maybe I am tweaking a nerve?). But, oh-my-God now I am thinking quick! do I have MS? is this the early signs?? Do I have any sort of vision defect? What am I going to do if it is MS???

All block long I am thinking, maybe I have a brain tumor and I just don't know it. I don't have headaches, but maybe mine is a special kind of tumor. When I shadow my oncologist, I come home and feel my lymph nodes. One day, I was sure that my submandibular gland was a BIG lymph node, and then I realized I was way gone.

So, I am thinking maybe this is all very normal and we are all right on track!




Well, at least I am pretty sure I don't have MS ...

 

[DOtobe]

During my first year of med school I was worried I might have esophageal cancer, because I was having difficulty swallowing. Never mind the chance of that being extremely, extremely low (zero). I think everyone becomes a hypochondriac when they first start learning about new diseases.

 

[ToxicFugu]

There is a chance I might have been joking about that one. But then again, if I did have situs inversus and my apendectomy scar is on my right side, then..... maybe I do have appendicitis!!!! 😱

Lol. Don't worry. Chances are very very likely that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you, at least nothing that you don't already know about. I currently have Erb-Duchenne Syndrome. Sometimes when I've had a lot of coffee and water I become a Type 2 Diabetic (I've got a sweet tooth too, so this is particularly frightening). If I wake up too abruptly in the morning I sometimes develop a heart murmur. Wait till you get to genetics. That class is a hypochondriac's nightmare.

The "if" statement is what really gets you. Don't think about "what if" this or "what if" that. It's just a way of scaring yourself. Just don't take these fears seriously. They all go away eventually.


p.s. If you really do have situs inversus, I call first dibs on writing a case report on you.

 

[yellowcat322]

Lol. Don't worry. Chances are very very likely that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you, at least nothing that you don't already know about. I currently have Erb-Duchenne Syndrome. Sometimes when I've had a lot of coffee and water I become a Type 2 Diabetic (I've got a sweet tooth too, so this is particularly frightening). If I wake up too abruptly in the morning I sometimes develop a heart murmur. Wait till you get to genetics. That class is a hypochondriac's nightmare.

The "if" statement is what really gets you. Don't think about "what if" this or "what if" that. It's just a way of scaring yourself. Just don't take these fears seriously. They all go away eventually.


p.s. If you really do have situs inversus, I call first dibs on writing a case report on you.

Feel free to write me up. I'm sure I'll be able to find oodles of other interesting sydromes in me by then as well. You know it's not really that I'm seriously worried about having any of these diseases; in the end I'm always good at rationalizing the infinitesmal likelihood of coming down with the exact disease you happen to be studying at the moment, especially when it occurs with .001% frequency in the population. But it just amazes me how susceptible we are to this syndrome. I mean I've known that this happens to med students and I always thought I would be too rational to succumb to it, but it totally sneaks up on you and you can't help it at all. Brain you are strange -- I'm going to kill you a little bit with some beer.

 

[rayofsun]

I mean I've known that this happens to med students and I always thought I would be too rational to succumb to it, but it totally sneaks up on you and you can't help it at all. Brain you are strange -- I'm going to kill you a little bit with some beer.

I didn't just think this way about myself, but also about everyone else around me. My family thinks I'm going to med school for them, so whenever they had the minutest symptoms of anything, I thought of the worst case scenarios. Meningitis, ankylosing spondylitis, DVTs......u name it.

 

[Callogician]

Hypochondriacs are always wonderfully creative.

Lower left quadrant abdominal pain = situs inversus + appendicitis

 

[goodies]

haha. I'm glad I'm not the only one!!

I actually have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. I made a list of symptoms that have been bothering me that I need to ask my doc about.

One of the things on my list is lately I've been noticing excessive thirst, hunger, polyuria, fatigue.. I feel like I must have diabetes!!!

In genetics, we learned about how mothers who have had multiple miscarriages have a high chance of having chromosomal rearrangements. My mom had a lot of miscarriages. Ever since, I've been feeling more "predisposed" to all diseases because I was the first child she had after her multiple spontaneous abortions... so I must've inherited some chromosomal translocation....

The last time I had a blood test, my doc gave me a copy of my test results. After I learned about each of the tests on the list (ie. bilirubin, ldl), I've been referring to my test quite frequently to check whether or not I'm normal. I had this test done in May 2005. I feel like I need another test to make sure nothing is wrong with me.

And for some reason, I don't know about you guys... but ever since I started med school, I have been constantly feeling like one of these days I'm going to die of some terminal disease. And the symptoms I notice everyday just keep adding up.... that's why I have a long list now... and am forcing myself to see a doc! And now I wonder if I have psych problems cause I sound pretty crazy.

AND I'M ONLY A FIRST YEAR MED STUDENT!!!!! I used to be normal.

 

[NR117]

Remember that just because you're a hypochondriac doesn't mean you can't be sick too! 😀

Seriously though, when we were learning about heart murmurs, I thought for sure that I had a systolic murmur! My fellow med students said "Yeah and last month your lymph nodes were enlarged!" Sure enough, when I got a physical some years later my GP hears the same and orders an echo and guess what - I have a pretty impressive mitral valve prolapse!!! I was RIGHT about that systolic murmur!

 

[yellowcat322]

Remember that just because you're a hypochondriac doesn't mean you can't be sick too! 😀

Seriously though, when we were learning about heart murmurs, I thought for sure that I had a systolic murmur! My fellow med students said "Yeah and last month your lymph nodes were enlarged!" Sure enough, when I got a physical some years later my GP hears the same and orders an echo and guess what - I have a pretty impressive mitral valve prolapse!!! I was RIGHT about that systolic murmur!

You have just given all hypochondriacs on this thread free reign to worry their pants off🙂.

 

[0T6]

I've managed to stay free of it for 2 months but this week we started in on lymphomas. I've been battling a cold/cough for a week now and I've got cervical lymphadenopathy, about 1 cm, and palpable inguinal nodes. If they're still here next weekend I'm gonna cry.

 

[closertofine]

I've managed to stay free of it for 2 months but this week we started in on lymphomas. I've been battling a cold/cough for a week now and I've got cervical lymphadenopathy, about 1 cm, and palpable inguinal nodes. If they're still here next weekend I'm gonna cry.

you know that infection is by far the most common cause of swollen lymph nodes, right?

But I can't say I'm immune either...I've been waking up with night sweats a lot lately, and as it just so happens, we've been studying thyroid problems (plus someone just told me that the heating system in our building seems to be on a bit too high sometimes) 😛

but I still feel like maybe I should see a doctor 😳

 

[Tiki]

A couple of days ago, I was percussing myself before I went to sleep (it sounds so dirty... 😉 ) trying to hear the differences between tympany, resonance and dullness and I felt my abdominal pulse for the first time. It freaked me out and I went to bed thinking I had an abdominal aortic aneurysm, despite the fact that the condition is common in elderly men.

 

[emack]

I have a visible pulse in my abdomen almost all the time. 😕

 

[Paws]

... and I went to bed thinking I had an abdominal aortic aneurysm ...

Dude! I just did the same thing the other day. I for some reason was feeling my stomach while I was studying and I could feel this huge pulse. I thought: oh, to have come so far and then to be felled by a sudden aortic aneurism! It was really hard to say to myself: stop it! just stop it!!

🙂