Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Mild Hypochondria


I’ve found one downfall to studying pathology this extensively; I think I’ve developed a mild form of hypochondria.  While studying the skin chapter this week, I found myself not reading, but examining every mole on my body. And for that entire day, I convinced myself that I had melanoma. When I go to the pool I am practically one giant blob of sunscreen. I refuse to let a wedge resection of my ear end up on someone’s gross bench for basal cell carcinoma.  However, I guess this precaution is probably for the best – protect your skin folks!

I pretty much think I have any disease in Robbins that starts with nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, weakness, etc.  “Patient presents with fatigue after long nights of studying and nausea before taking exams and giving presentations”- No differential is needed; I’m diagnosing this case as “PA school”.

It was practically a breath of fresh air reading about testicular tumors, knowing that I will never get one (girls don’t have those parts).

Also, I’ve never considered taking up cigarette smoking and after seeing its effects I can’t imagine justifying it. Smoking can cause EVERYTHING – lung cancer, mouth cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.  I just can’t imagine willingly subjecting your body to such terrible diseases.


2 comments:

  1. I'd like to say that it passes, but it doesn't! The more you know about disease the more you are able to diagnosis yourself with everything (one of my classmates swears she has an abdominal aortic aneurysm, another may have a brain tumor, etc).

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  2. I got a good laugh out of this post because it is *so* true! I was fighting a cold last fall, and with the accidental bruises on my legs from banging it on something I had long forgotten about, the swollen lymph nodes, and feeling run down, my first thought went immediately to leukemia and all the invasive lab tests involved (bone marrow aspirations, tons of blood work..).

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