Being a doctor?! !

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Hey everyone. I am over the moon as I am going to medical school next year and can fulfill my dream to be a doctor. I'm just a little freaked out about how I'm going to handle being a doctor. If anyone has any advice or ideas on a branch of medicine that would be suited to me I would love to know. I want more than anything to be a doctor and I just hope there is a niche there for me.Perhaps someone knows someone with Asperger's who is a doctor? Thanks!

I have AS and am studying oncology (with an eventual specialty in pediatric oncology - rare solid tumors and leukemias). For me, it's a special interest and a passion. That's the best way to go about it - don't just be a doctor for the sake of it, you have to find your niche. That's why the rotations are great: you'll never know beforehand what you just might come out loving. I used to swear up-and-down that there was no other specialty for me than oncology; now, however, if I weren't studying it, I know now that I could be a neurologist or a developmental pediatrician.

The best thing to do, outside your actual education, is to observe, I've found. If you really love reading about something - or watching it happen - or having inspirations about new aspects of something or ways to treat it - then that might be the way to go. Visit hospitals. Volunteer; move around the departments and see which ones really engage you.

As for actually being a doctor, once you've chosen your life's work and started the process of learning it, I'm no doctor yet, but I've already learned some valuable lessons working with patients. Remember everything your patients tell you - whether it's to do with their illness or their son's T-ball game (the AS memory really is good for something here!) and use it (whether in making a treatment plan or showing that you care by remembering). Always be open to your patients because you just might learn something important that you otherwise would have missed. And: they know how they feel and they know their bodies. Especially if you're dealing with a chronic or long-term condition, chances are the patient and/or the family know a helluva lot about the condition and the way it manifests in this person, and you should listen to them.

Congratulations and good luck!

My dad, who at least has a lot of AS tendencies, was an orthopedic surgeon. He liked the challenge of repairing bones.
His specialty was knee and hip replacements.

I would say to probably avoid emergency medicine, that would most likely be too overwhelming. As for anything else, well what do you like? You'll probably find an area that really interests you while you're in school, or maybe even later as an intern.

Wow thank you all so much, this is really helpful. I thought everyone would say, you can't be a doctor because you're communication skills are a bit off the wall...etc! I was thinking of surgery, but I am a bit clumsy, so probably not. I was also thinking about psychiatry but maybe I shouldn't get further into my head than I already am!! I hate and love patient contact, I either get it very wrong, or very right. Hopefully as I get more experience it will get better. I am very much a victim of not being able to see the wood for the trees. I will definitetly look into volunteering to get an idea of specialities. Thanks again.

Maybe you'll be able to find a certain type of patient that is easier to deal with. For example, kids might be a good type of patient to work with if you can be soft and funny. They're a little more predictable with what they want, and the parents are perhaps just the tricky part. But other specialties like surgery, orthopedics, anesthesiology, etc, emphasize your technical skill as much as they emphasize your bedside manner. And of course pathology and molecular medicine are pretty removed from patients altogether (though you do still interact with doctors and other staff).

Don't worry too much yet about picking a specialty. You got accepted, which means the admissions committee must think you're capable of succeeding. Just try your best to explore your options. See if you can ask questions of your professors about what their specialties are like. Try to shadow working docs and talk to senior students and residents, especially anyone who seems a little socially awkward in a way you can relate to. Figure out why they chose their specialty, and what they like or dont like about it. By the time you need to pick your own specialty you'll hopefully have a better idea of what fits. But certainly there will be something there for you. Some elements of med school might be harder for you than for other people, but you also have a lot of unique skills that those other people won't have - so it all balances out anyway.

Well I went into psychiatry 30 years ago and am recently retired. Working with the patients was no huge problem but dealing with treatment teams on in-patient units was often overwhelming. I expended a lot of energy keeping up a proper professional persona. Most people liked me and probably had no idea how hard it was. Something like radiology, pathology or a subspecialty like cardiology or endocrinology probably would have suited me better, but might not have been as much fun.

Yes I can see your point docgeorge. I usually (say 70% of the time) get on well with patients (I am in my final year of Optometry at the moment so have been forced to spend lots of time with patients!), it's the lecturers, clinic supervisors and fellow students who think I'm a bit strange. I would find psychiatry fascinating but I find it exhausting having to try my best to act "normal" all the time. After a clinic I have to zone out on my own for about 2 hours. I could become absorbed in many things, and making life a little easier would be wonderful. Quite interested in immunology and haematology. Thanks people!

I can't say for sure that my uncle was an aspie, but in terms of personality, think of Mr Spock. Surprisingly he was an excellent, small town GP. He was very concerned for his patients and his analytical skills served him very well as a diagnostician. I think he felt comfortable with the standard doctor/patient relationship, that didn't require much in the way of social skills. He retired in his seventies and spent much of this time alone, in this machine shop working on his model train collection.