The ax has fallen

[Chris Brown]

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Hi, I'm a fourth-year medical student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. During my first-year at the college, I suffered a manic episode. The school took me back with open arms. As soon as I returned, I stopped taking my medication. And I felt fine. Four years later, I suffered another manic episode. And now, I am being dismissed from the college on the grounds that I may harm future patients while experiencing another episode. I suppose my last chance would be to ask the college if I could be granted a degree, but go into a non-patient care career. What opportunities would there be with an MD if I were not to go into a patient care career? Any thoughts?

 

[tupac_don]

Hi, I'm a fourth-year medical student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. During my first-year at the college, I suffered a manic episode. The school took me back with open arms. As soon as I returned, I stopped taking my medication. And I felt fine. Four years later, I suffered another manic episode. And now, I am being dismissed from the college on the grounds that I may harm future patients while experiencing another episode. I suppose my last chance would be to ask the college if I could be granted a degree, but go into a non-patient care career. What opportunities would there be with an MD if I were not to go into a patient care career? Any thoughts?

Nobody would dismiss you for going into a manic episode. What did you do while you went into a manic episode? Did you threaten somebody, did you fight? I mean you would have to do something drastic in your manic episode to be dismissed. If you were manic, and it made you more hyper and study more, and not really bothering anyone else, it wouldn't matter. So you must have done something for them to conclude that you could be dangerous to pts. At this point it seems like they made their mind. So I do agree that would be the best course of action. Ask them for a degree.

 

[JonnyG]

Pharmaceutical companies would pay you 6 figures to work as a researcher or in development. You may have to work three years in academia as a researcher to build up the background.

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

I'd be interested in what in particular you did during the manic episode, but also why you decided you didn't need to take your meds. If the reasons you decided to stop taking them are reasons that may cause you to stop taking them in the future also, and your behaviour is sufficiently dangerous, I'm not sure I would consider it a good idea for you to go into medicine either. I'm sure you saw as many patients as I did during psych who had a manic episode and did incredibly dangerous things (assault, stealing a car and crashing it, drugs, etc.) and later when they recovered they told me they had no idea why they did it.

 

[GoodMonkey]

a person who has one manic episode has over a 90% chance of having another. and after 2, there is near certainty that more are to follow. mania (be it bipolar I with only mania or bipolar II with mania and depression) is something that needs to be medicated for life, sorry to tell ya that. a psychiatrist prescribing your meds should have told you.

unless you want to have more of these episodes, do not stop taking your medication, even if you "feel fine." you will have more.

in the meantime, look into pharma, biotech, administration, etc.

 

[shellfish]

there's a girl in my class well-known to the administration and faculty to be bipolar. the medical school has worked with her to make sure she sees a psychiatrist regularly within the medical school. maybe if you made this type of arrangement with your medical school, they would be more comfortable. there are many students who just don't like patients period and they go into radiology or pathology.

 

[MSHell]

shellfish: in your case, the girl was willing to seek treatment and the admin was supportive of this.

In the OP's case, he stopped taking his meds. Although this could be considered a first relapse, but second manic episode... But he is in his fourth year and has done his psych rotation and has presumably seen manic patients himself.

hmmmm.....