asterroc ([personal profile] asterroc) wrote2006-03-21 06:19 pm
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Med student's syndrome

I swear every time I read a medical article on Wikipedia, I think I've got it. This time it's narcolepsy: excessive daytime sleepiness, rapidly falls deeply asleep, vivid dreams, dreams even with short naps...

[identity profile] meredithanne42.livejournal.com 2006-03-21 04:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I do the same thing, though not as bad as when I was a kid. When I was 10, I used to make myself sick all the time because I was so afraid of all of the diseases I thought I had. I also diagnosed everyone I knew with horrible diseases. I read almost all of this thick medical book, and when someone would try to take it away from me, I'd get really, really upset--I felt like I had to know everything that was in there!

Uh...yeah, so I was a bit messed up for a while. Eventually, I saw a doctor who helped me out, by (1) taking me seriously and (2) telling me that medical students sometimes think they have diseases when they start learning about them.

That doctor is presently in prison, accused of killing three people, including his wife...

Creepy, huh?

[identity profile] zandperl.livejournal.com 2006-03-21 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm pretty sure I heard the first part of that, but not the punchline. Oh my.

But narcolepsy is so plausible for me... :-P

[identity profile] meredithanne42.livejournal.com 2006-03-22 12:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, it's a pretty common story for me to tell.