My major health issues really started in my second year of medical school.
Having completed my first year, I was relatively pleased with my first semester results but disappointed in my second semester. So… I decided to work extra hard in the first semester of second year. I would pull all-nighters, drink excessive amounts of coffee, eat junk food at crazy hours of the night and frankly just overexert myself.
As it was approaching exam time I started noticing that I was having fluctuating lower abdominal and back pain, bloating, bouts of diarrhea and constipation with random swelling of my feet. “What was up with that?” I thought to myself.
Anyway, I pushed passed it to complete my exams and eventually went to the doctor. He suggested that I may have something called irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or a gluten intolerance but I’d need to do some diagnostic tests and a trial in diet change.
Going into second semester of second year I became very discouraged because my exam results were disappointing. “What was the point of working so hard?” I thought to myself.
I hardly went to classes and decided to keep myself busy with extra-curricular activities. Also, I had to make a huge change in my diet like cutting out gluten and caffeine particularly plus I was experiencing some emotional challenges.
That semester I lost a lot of weight and I think I also lost my passion for medical school.
Before I knew it, exam time was around the corner and I had to cram a whole semester worth of information into my brain. Honestly, I was preparing myself for failure but I still studied as much as I could.
I distinctly remember that during some late night study meetings with friends, all of sudden I would have these awful bouts of coughing with no other flu-like symptoms. Coughing and urinary frequency alone (yeah how weird was that?)
Anyway, after exams I went to the doctor again and she confirmed that I had a urinary tract infection (UTI). Well, I took antibiotics and felt better for a while but then third year happened…
Third year was a difficult transition as we started our clinical rotations at the hospital. There was a lot of stress and anxiety surrounding interacting with difficult patients, presenting to insensitive senior doctors and balancing the practical and theory of medicine.
It felt like I’d get the flu during every rotating specialty and then I started having these episodes of chest pain/tightness, shortness of breath and palpitations. Sometimes it was so bad I thought I was having a heart attack. Again, I went to the doctor and had a few heart tests done which were normal. Looking back, I now know that I was probably having anxiety attacks in those moments.
Oh yeah, did I mention that my urinary frequency was back? However, there was no UTI this time. Despite all the tests done, the doctors just couldn’t pin point the issue so I was just diagnosed with overactive bladder syndrome related to stress and anxiety.
I was getting tired and frustrated. I was seriously reconsidering my decision to pursue medicine as a career. Would this all be worth it in the end?
To be continued…
Yours truly,
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