All right.
So here’s an interesting question:
I was a paramedic a while back. Since then I’ve been in another unrelated field.
But when I was a paramedic, I never had a problem with blood or cadavers or surgeries or whatever.
But, recently, since I’ve been considering med school, I’ve passed out/almost passed out in two situations.
The first was, no joke, in the movie theater for 127 Hours when he amputates his arm. The second was in a cadaver lab for a potential med school.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand what has changed, and why it’s affecting me so much now when it never affected me before.
It’s incredibly frustrating that this apparent vasovagal response seems to be completely out of my control…
Any ideas? Is there a way to overcome this? If so, how? Or am I screwed?
It’s kind of weird. I’ve watched a bunch of surgeries through the windows of the ORs. The first time I was invited actually in the room, it was a whole different deal. I didn’t pass out, but I did actually feel lightheaded for a moment.
I can’t offer any thoughts on the movie, but I think that maybe in the actual presence of surgery, or a cadaver, you’re not just getting the visual, but the olfactory as well. Anyone can tell you that is a very powerful sense for bringing up things in your mind. Maybe that has something to do with it.
I know when I was first invited in, the OR nurse even told me to be careful, as it is apparently really common when actually in the room, vs watching it on a monitor.
All I know, is I do NOT want to be the one that goes down that first day in med school…
- PhillyPhil Said:
So here's an interesting question:
I was a paramedic a while back. Since then I've been in another unrelated field.
But when I was a paramedic, I never had a problem with blood or cadavers or surgeries or whatever.
But, recently, since I've been considering med school, I've passed out/almost passed out in two situations.
The first was, no joke, in the movie theater for 127 Hours when he amputates his arm. The second was in a cadaver lab for a potential med school.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand what has changed, and why it's affecting me so much now when it never affected me before.
It's incredibly frustrating that this apparent vasovagal response seems to be completely out of my control...
Any ideas? Is there a way to overcome this? If so, how? Or am I screwed?
"Lets take the down the wall.
"No leave the wall, remember you must always leave the wall"
Lyric from the "Fantasticks"
Completely speculative and off the cuff and being a former paramedic myself, I would guess that you are emotionally invested in being a doc and the idea of med school, getting in, doing well, doesn't scare you a little (as it does most of us). I would say it is a physical manifestation of an emotional fear.
Very first time I saw a rather vividly filmed surgery on TV I felt nauseous after seeing all that blood. Didn’t happen after that.
Fast forward several years. About 3rd session in anatomy lab - I opened the human tissue disposal box to get rid of some stuff and its whiff of air hit me. That, plus the sight of everything we had taken off so far, made me nauseous again.
Had to leave the lab to get some fresh air and clear my nostrils. Was fine after a couple of minutes and it hasn’t happened since.
It’s been a few months since anatomy and I have a suspicion I might get that way again on the first time I go there now.
This will pass. When there is emotion in the situation things change. I can stick people with needles and debride wound tissue but I have a very hard time giving blood, I just don’t feel well.
I nearly passed out once in medical school while watching one of my really good friend’s son circumsision. After that was able to perform them fine on total strangers.
Many guys in my medical school had a hard time dissecting the male genitals although no problem with the rest of the body.
Distance yourself from situation like it is a cartoon.
Good luck
I may be off base here, but I think it is due to the fact that now you are considering medical school, you have a greater “connection” with the experience.
I’ve been a nurse, watched open heart surgery, done deliveries as a midwife, sutured… but once I’d decided to go to medical school, I almost passed out watching a circumcision. Because for a minute my mind went to picturing that I would have to learn to do it (some midwives do circs but I don’t)…and I came over all woozy. I think imagining myself allowed some fear in there with visual of the procedure. (based on what we’ve been learning on automomics, perhaps the adrenaline raised my BP and HR, and then I had a reflex increase in parasympathetic input to the heart resulting in reflex bradycardia and vasovagal response)
My encouragement is a doc who sewed up a foot laceration on me when I was a teen. I got a little queasy, and mentioned that this bothered me since I was interested in going into medicine. He said that when he was in med. school, they observed surgery every Saturday in an operating theatre, and he passed out with the first incision, repeatedly. He said he overcame it by having a hankerchief with ammonia in it, on his knee. He’d start to keel over, the fumes would revive him, he’d watch a little more, fade out, jerk alert, etc. That way he actually got to see some of the procedure.
I figured if he could get past such a strong reaction, it was possible for anyone:)
Kate
Anyone who’s spent time in an OR, ER or anatomy lab probably got a little woozy at first. There comes a point, quickly, where you will focus on the work and not the emotional response. After I nearly lost it on my first c-section assist, an OB resident gave me a tip that’s always worked; keep moving. Keep your knees a little bit flexed, do some isometrics with your toes, anything to keep the venous return going. In addition to vagal response, standing still for hours on end gowned/gloved/masked will also make the lights go out.
Thanks for all the great and varied responses!
Especially like the story about the doctor passing out repeatedly at the first incision.