Is it possible for someone with AS to become a doctor?

Post Reply New Topic

Just wondering- I have been thinking for a long time about becoming a gastroenterologist.

Is it possible for someone with AS to become a doctor?

Personal reasons are my choices: I've had severe bowel problems since I was four years old and I want to help others so they won't have to go through the hell I was forced to live.

Interesting question, one I wanted to ask about college and psychology. I've always had an interest in psyschology and cognitve science, but never the impetus to study it for the benefit of others until I learned about my own situation. Selfish bastard that I am. But I think if you have the ability AND the motive, you can be a doctor.

What a dumbass question.

A person with AS can do whatever is within their personal abilities. It depends on the individual whether a certain career will be good or bad for them.

The woman that runs the adult Aspie monthly meeting in the little town where I live is a medical doctor. Dr Temple Grandin is a PhD type of doctor and I am certain there are many others and not rare at all.

I've asked myself that question, more specifically if I could become a doctor. I've wanted it my whole life. I'd love to be a cardiologist. I think the time required would make it a less than perfect move for me, just because I have children who need my time - one of whom is likely an aspie too. Right now I am working toward my RN, and I plan to be a cardiac nurse. I'd love to work for a large hospital, preferably a teaching one, since they're on the cutting edge of technology and I absorb medical information like a sponge. I've been reading medical textbooks for FUN since I was about eight years old.

I think with our attention to detail, we'd make very good medical professionals. They always say the really good doctors have a lousy bedside manner anyhow, lol, maybe there are more aspie MDs and DOs than we suspect?

I'll tell you a story a friend told me.
on the first day of classes at the medical school all of the students were called for a meeting, they were taken to an auditorium
to see a corpse, those who couldn't see this were told "you're not built to be a doctor"
sort of like that, it was in spanish at the autonomus university in mexico.( a free institution)
if you have the guts to be a doctor then be

I believe you can be. I know there are a couple in research, and probably providing direct patient care.

What a horrible reply to make to someones thread! So unnecessary!

I guess it depends what your job would involve on a day to day basis and how you think your AS might impact on that. In seems to me that this is one job in which a thorough knowledge of the subject would be far more important than any social skills you might lack. Even if you were communicating directly with patients. I imagine if I was ill and in severe pain I wouldn't much care what my doctors social skills were like, so long as he could make me better.

... but then it depends on your experience of AS and which parts of it are most problematic to you. What in particular makes you think you might not be able to do it?

Why wouldn't it be? I'm sure there some, and AS doesn't really correlate to intelligence (at least not negatively).

I'm actually considering this myself, though I'm still unsure about it, and not sure if I'm really motivated enough at this point. I think that anyone who can get through the premed coursework and MCAT without a major problem, aspie or not, has the academic ability to become a doctor. And in fact, AS might help for the classroom years of med school. You might be able to withstand the solitude of studying more easily or focus more deeply than your NT classmates. And if you like to talk about your interests and medicine/human biology is one of them, you can spout off all you want about it to your classmates as this will be considered studying. But there are plenty of caveats, such as:

-Are you prepared to dissect a cadaver?
-Are you prepared to spend lots of time with people who are sick, cranky, and likely to be old?
-Do you think you can handle staying awake and working for 24-30 hours straight? Then go to work the next day with minimal sleep?
Many aspies (including myself) report that they get tired easily. Believe me, 24 hours straight of work is extremely hard for a NT, just think of how much harder it could be for us.
-How is your coordination? This is important, especially for hands-on fields like surgery and gastroenterology, but comes into play in all fields, as you will be drawing blood and injecting stuff into patients. Since coordination is a problem with some aspies (but not all), watch out for this.
-Are you prepared to be in a career that involves constant exposure to bodily fluids?
And I'm sure there are more I could think of.

Anyway, its a major decision to be made. It would be great if it works out, but the last thing you want is to sail through the classroom years, then realize when you get to the clinical years that you'd rather be doing something else.

I want to help people with bowel problems......always have.

Only problem is the GPA requirement. I can get a 4.0, but its really hard to maintain a 3.8 GPA average for me especially when I am taking classes like Calculus, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Etc Etc.

Last semester I only got a 3.2.

Yes. No problem there.



Yes, they age doesn't really matter to me. I want to help people with problems like mine.



This would be much harder, but yes it would be possible.



Mine is pretty good. I am good at sports and my parents would generally agree I am good at coordination in general.


No problem either.



Yup, that would suck.

I once considered becoming a physician, a neurologist, but opted become a sociologist (professor) instead.

Speaking for myself, I would find the intensive contacts with patients to be very trying. New interns work in really long shifts. I don't think I would tolerate it well. However, many people with M.D.s eventually go into the research end.

Cheers,

Mark

Absolutely yes!

My shrink actually told me I couldn't be a doctor because I couldn't deal with people.