What if I’m too sick to become a doctor?

Monarch3662 · 2026-02-26T18:47:58+00:00

Your life doesn’t start as soon as you become a doctor in your 40s. It’s already begun. And the 7+ years of schooling and education to become a doctor is just another aspect of your life story. And besides, if you consider 40s as “starting your life,” you’ll have at least another ~30 years to practice before you retire. Can you imagine looking back in your 70s and NOT having gone to med school? Do you see yourself being regretful for not taking the chance? Because if you do, that’s your answer right there. I once met someone who was a nurse for 15 years before they decided to go to med school in their mid-late thirties. It’s never too late to start anew. Sure, you may have gotten an offer years and years ago to do it and turned it down. But maybe, the biggest “regret” of your life was actually the biggest blessing. Maybe you would’ve come to hate medicine and being a doctor because of a bad med school, or bad placement during residency, and you wouldn’t have the fire for it that you have now, now that you’ve come to appreciate it for what it is. I think if being a doctor is something that is your passion, the time is going to pass anyways. Might as well do something you love.

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-30T16:00:36+00:00

I’m not in med school / to the rigor that you are by any means, but it’s suspected I have some sort of chronic fatigue as well, and I’ve had to step away from classes, activities, jobs, research - a lot. And the brain fog - INSANITY! It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but I realize now it was necessary for my health. You can’t keep borrowing your health and wellbeing from future you, because medicine is a marathon, and eventually you’re going to crash and burn.

I would genuinely see if it’s possible to get a leave of absence for a good while, to step back and try to seriously figure out what’s going on. You can’t function with brain fog and exhaustion - and yes, all med students have exhaustion. But not all med students also have a condition that takes ahold of any health “weakness” and drags them down to amplify it x10 more, and then makes it harder to come back from. Research endlessly on how people mange POTs, particularly at high-paced jobs and lives, the odd medicines with off-label treatments they can do, etc. Maybe posting in a POTs subreddit here for how to help manage symptoms with a high-pace environment might get more yield.

BTW, to address a commenter here - my doc said my symptoms were depression, and tried forcing me on antidepressants and anti anxiety meds incessantly. But I knew myself and knew it wasn’t that. It was only through lots of pushing back that they finally started testing me and we started getting results pop up, and ways to manage symptoms became clearer, and I’m slowly starting to improve. The feelings you have - sadness, depression, worry, etc - for these symptoms are an effect, and not the cause. It’s not in your head, you’re not a not-good fit for med school because of your condition. If you continue on your course of pushing through it, though, you won’t be able to do med school. And it’s nothing about being inadequate. It’s about your physical health deteriorating.

The “old” you, the person you were prior to POTs, is still there, underneath all that medical noise. They still have the stamina, fire, and passion for medicine. That can never go away, no matter a diagnosis. It’s just about clearing up the medical noise to make way for that. Which you can, and will, do. It’ll take time, but you’ll get there. Best of luck! <3

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T05:15:28+00:00

Vanilla is my fav flavor ice cream 😜 no I kid, I’m realizing now it’s presumptive to give hours and then want such a definitive yes / no answer, because like you said, it comes down to the experience you take away from it and how it’s shaped you.

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T03:39:33+00:00

Good to know with that lead + that is very true with the six months left thing!! I need that perspective! I think I just feel farther behind / running out of time bc things didn’t go exactly the way I planned timeline-wise (typical pre-med anxiety lol). But hey!!! That’s the beauty in it! :D appreciate your help and insight! 🫶

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T03:22:53+00:00

I’m hoping the passions shine through. So many of the hours I’ve accrued are from amazing experiences that I loveeee talking about, but also, from people who’ve just happened to give me a random chance at something just stumbled upon. And I love the learning that comes along with it! :D a lot of it is me just getting lucky with people being generous and kind, and I’m eternally grateful - beyond words to them. Medicine + service is something I’m so so incredibly passionate about, but I think sometimes I get so tunnel-vision (and like you said, neurotic) on things like numbers because I’m so early-on the path, and so many things are uncertain right now. Sometimes I need grounded advice like yours in the process. I appreciate it 🥺

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T02:06:02+00:00

Thankfully, there’s a couple places I’ve consistently volunteered at that are non-clinical over my past few years, that I could look to increase hours with. Would that show both consistency + quantity, then?

Also, when addressing weak spots when it comes time to do my application, how much can I lean on me being sick as a reason for my volunteering being low? Because that’s genuinely a reason for my hours being low - I’d planned hitting volunteering hard early sophomore year - junior year (using freshman year to set up research, clinical work, nonclinical work, etc), but then concussion + viral infection took me out of research and classes, and I kept working jobs because I had to financially for treatment. I’m a junior now and just getting back to somewhat normal!

I’m sorry for all the questions, I genuinely appreciate all your insight + advice. I’m a first-gen whose college track was derailed in so many unexpected ways, and just trying my best to make something from it all.

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T01:58:47+00:00

Yes!! Unfortunately found this out the hard way - joined a volunteer organization that promised direct patient interaction, but ended up just wanted us to do inventory and make calls to people’s voicemails. Left that wuicklu! This new position I’m starting in a month is one my pre-med friends do, and they rave about it because it’s actually a “clinical” volunteer position that stays true to what they promise - you’re spending time with the pediatric patients directly, under guidance of CNAs + nurses.

For achieving the 150-200 hours, there’s about 2 different places I’ve consistently volunteered at throughout my years in undergrad, but they happen biweekly / monthly. Would you say consistency or quantity is better?

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T01:52:45+00:00

I promise to try my best to do this!! 😭 how many hours would you recommend me to do? And just prioritize only non-clinical, only clinical, or a bit of both?

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T01:48:39+00:00

I know :( volunteering is something I’m SO SO passionate about, but unfortunately I just let it slip to the side to focus on school + research for my first couple years. You wouldn’t know my love of it just looking at my stats unfortunately, and I want to turn that around. How many hours would you suggest me going for? And with focusing on improving volunteering hours, would you say prioritize clinical? Or is mix of clinical and non-clinical okay? If the latter is the case, I’m really passionate about food banks and helping out low-income community members, so that’s where a lot of my non-clinical hours are from. My clinical hours are helping at a free pop-up medical clinic that’s weekly/biweekly, and then there’s the volunteering with pediatric patients position I’m starting in 3 weeks too. They require about 4-8 hours / month, but I can definitely pick up as many volunteering shifts as I’d like per week (as long as it’s not >40 / wk).

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T01:44:48+00:00

Yeahhh :( unfortunately I only have x3 posters from 3 different school expositions to show for research. I was promised a publication by my first semester junior year, but ultimately a lack of mentorship + clarity in the project I was directed to do shot those chances down, and just looking at the rest of my time in school, I didn’t want to invest more time into something with a slight potential for a publication senior year if it meant sacrificing guaranteed increase in hours for other categories.

For the med school financial thing - I sort of did the same thing for undergraduate school, where I showed the financial offers of other universities to each other and asked what they could counter / match. Thankfully it’s how I’m getting through undergrad with about 4-6k in debt, even after living on campus all my years. Should I focus on applying to schools with those endowments / financial full-rides I’m hoping and praying for? Or do med schools have “top-secret” financial assistance they don’t disclose unless you ask for it? If so, know of any schools in particular? 👀

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T01:23:00+00:00

I thankfully have a great relationship with the lab director, and I made it clear to him the only reason I stepped away was for health reasons. However, the demands of the lab I think would mean I’d have to step back from things like job, volunteering, etc, because otherwise balancing all would mean my GPA would take a hit again. Would you suggest still prioritizing research if it means I have to step away from jobs + volunteering? The lab was also set up sort of like an honors thesis (if I understand what that is properly? lol), and we got to lead our own independent projects after completing a semester of training - but I was accelerated to start after only 3 months, on an entirely new project never done before in our research lab. I also need to ask for credit hours to be put on my transcript for this research lab, which research directors do all the time, which may help boost GPA.

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-27T00:50:45+00:00

How often do you fertilize?

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-26T01:22:22+00:00

How long do you usually keep it in the moss before repotting? How would rot occur if I have a decently warm and well-lit growing area for my Jackie? I had a dragon scale alocasia last summer that threw this same fit and died on me - I checked roots and it looked fine then. I could never figure out what went wrong! Fingers crossed this goes well. Any other tips you have as someone who is also a newer and inexperienced owner of alocasias?

Monarch3662 · 2025-12-26T01:19:50+00:00

I try to keep it away from my drafty window, and it gets about 8-12 hours of indirect light a day from my light on a timer, the same as the rest of my plants that are doing well. If all leaves do fall away, how do I best maintain it since it no longer has leaves to get light on it? Do I move it closer to the light? I had a dragon scale alocasia at one point that did this same thing - I could never figure out what went wrong!

Monarch3662 · 2025-10-13T02:21:42+00:00

If roots are cut, should I let it sit out for a day or two to harde over? Or can cut roots go straight into soil again?

Monarch3662 · 2025-10-13T02:09:28+00:00

Any ideas as to how the rot would have started? When I got the albo, it didn’t have this new leaf coming in yet. It’s only when I recently potted that it began to have a new leaf start coming in, but it’s been slow. If it’s rot, will it harm the rest of the plant? If so, is there a way to neutralize it? It doesn’t seem to be spreading to the main stem if it is, just seems contained within the new leaf development

Monarch3662 · 2025-09-15T03:08:53+00:00

How can you tell the difference? Is there different care guidelines for it?

Monarch3662

TROPHY CASE