Considering Going to Medical School

[POFP]

Finally found out what the fuck has been wrong with me the last few years.

Low stomach acid led to malabsorption of plenty of proteins. The most important in this scenario was Choline, which is used by the body to synthesize Acetylcholine. This neurotransmitter is connected to many many things. Due to the low Acetylcholine ingredients, any times where the body is supposed to increase acetylcholine levels, it either ran out, or conserved it for more important bodily functions.

First thing to go was the sphincter muscle at the top of the stomach and bottom of the esophagus. Hello Acid reflux.

Next thing to go was my willingness to do anything. Low motivation can be caused by low acetylcholine levels.

When the brain is low on Acetylcholine, Dopamine levels become unusually high. Over time, this builds a resistance to Dopamine. Couple that with genetic predisposition to the D2A1 Allele for low Dopamine Receptors,  and you have yourself extreme Reward deficiency and ADHD. Hello substance addiction.

Next thing to go was the Sympathoadrenal response (Fight or flight response.). Low Acetylcholine levels leave you with hardly even a bump in heart rate, adrenaline, or excitement during anything from a car accident, or being pushed over to fall on the ground.

Addictive behavior led to an addiction to nicotine, naturally. Turns out Acetylcholine receptors have two types. And the nicotinic ones bind with nicotine in the system, and keep Acetylcholine from being absorbed by those receptors. This means that the small amounts of Acetylcholine I would get from my poor digestion end up not being absorbed anyways. Hello insta-nicotine poisoning and almost-diagnosis of Narcolepsy (Extremely low Acetylcholine levels and absorption leads to constant and severe fatigue, leading to falling asleep during conversations and driving).

Next thing to go was dreaming during REM sleep. Acetylcholine levels are supposed to increase during REM sleep, and assist in triggering dreaming (Or sustaining them, or whatever part of the brain is involved in dreaming. I can't tell.).

Low Acetylcholine levels also explain why drinking 3 Mtn Dews, a Monster, and Red Bull within a 30 minute period just made my heart pump loudly, instead of quickly. It felt like I was going to die in my sleep. Which would normally excite you or make you nervous. But low acetylcholine levels make it nearly impossible to stay awake.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That does sound spectacularly shitty. Glad you've found an underlying causal symptom. Has your doctor identified a cause for the low stomach acid?

I am disappoint that this post has nothing to do with actually going to medical school.

[POFP]

That does sound spectacularly shitty. Glad you've found an underlying causal symptom. Has your doctor identified a cause for the low stomach acid?

I am disappoint that this post has nothing to do with actually going to medical school.

My doctor was useless.

My doctor assumed that none of these things were connected. I assumed that most of the things were connected, but certainly didn't predict that all of it was. I decided I had to figure out what was wrong after having 2 doctors, and a Sleep specialist assume that the Adult-onset ADHD and sleep issues were totally not connected, even though they started around the same time.

So, the other day, I did some research and found out that all of the issues affecting me were connected by the Cholinergic pathways in the body. The interactions between the symptoms and other substances (Issues got worse after taking Proton-Pump inhibitors, which lower stomach acidity) fit. I did the baking soda test for stomach acidity a few weeks before and determined that my stomach acid was probably extra extra low.

Ideally, I should be able to solve the problem with some Betaine HCl with every meal. However, I worry that the prolonged Dopamine Resistance (Even if I don't have the genetic predisposition for low Dopamine Receptors) has caused permanent damage, and that I will always have ADHD and addictive tendencies.

The fact that I was able to come up with this diagnosis myself, as well as the similarity in my preferred line of work with that of Doctors, and my lifelong interest in the human body means I would probably be very happy as a doctor. Because of that, I'm considering going to medical school.

I've been going in the direction of IT Incident Management, which is kinda like the technical version of a Diagnostician in the medical field (Unfortunately, there isn't actually a job that functions as just a diagnostician in the medical field.). You gather information and diagnose problems, and then apply fixes for said problems. Although, I guess that's more similar to Problem Management.

Either way, I feel like the diagnostics aspect of it could be more important to me if it involved actual peoples' lives, instead of just their stupid Wifi connection issues. I feel like my skills would be less wasted, and put to better use in the medical field.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

As a neuroscientist I am going to be totally blunt and state that your self-diagnosis raises all kinds of red flags, especially when a quick literature search turns up no credible literature on the subject, and a Google search reveals that this particular diagnosis (choline deficiency due to low stomach acid) is popular with naturopaths for explaining Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is mentioned almost exclusively in blogs, and not in medical or scientific literature at all.

Stomach acidity and choline levels are very easy to check, so I would have a medical professional assess them. If you have low choline levels, that is extremely concerning because it can cause liver and kidney damage.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That said, I wholeheartedly encourage you to pursue medical school. Don't make the mistake of getting a pre-med undergrad degree, though; there is essentially jack shit you can do with one if you don't get into medical school. I recommend doing bio or chem for your undergrad.

[POFP]

As a neuroscientist I am going to be totally blunt and state that your self-diagnosis raises all kinds of red flags, especially when a quick literature search turns up no credible literature on the subject, and a Google search reveals that this particular diagnosis (choline deficiency due to low stomach acid) is popular with naturopaths for explaining Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is mentioned almost exclusively in blogs, and not in medical or scientific literature at all.

Stomach acidity and choline levels are very easy to check, so I would have a medical professional assess them. If you have low choline levels, that is extremely concerning because it can cause liver and kidney damage.

I definitely didn't find it that way. I had to look up the biological relationships between each of the issues and draw the connections myself. I instantly dismiss all of those bullshit naturopath sites the moment I see the links for them in the Google Searches.

As far as I could tell, there were no pieces of literature actually connecting choline deficiency and low stomach acid, but I suspected this was because Low stomach acidity is largely ignored and misdiagnosed as high stomach acid, because the immediate symptoms are usually identical.

Last I checked, Choline is absorbed in the Small intestine after lots of other processing and in the stomach after it's been broken down by HCl. Low stomach acid, something I already determined I likely had with some basic tests, would explain Choline deficiency, or at least low enough levels to have minor affects on several systems early on. All of these systems appeared to be showing signs of distress, so it was pretty easy to draw the connection. Then, after detailed research into the chemical reactions involved in each of these systems, it was quite clear that Choline levels were to blame for the symptoms.

I do plan on going to the doctor to have the diagnosis confirmed, but as far as I can tell, the tests they run to check Stomach acidity and Choline levels are expensive and not covered by most insurance. Meaning I could probably just test the diagnosis with Betaine HCl treatments with meals. However, the obvious problem with that is the power of the placebo affect.

So yeah, it's gonna require professional confirmation, but it's gonna cost a lot of money I don't have right now.

Also, thank you for the blunt response. These types of claims should be put under such scrutiny, so as to avoid things like naturopath blogs.

That said, I wholeheartedly encourage you to pursue medical school. Don't make the mistake of getting a pre-med undergrad degree, though; there is essentially jack shit you can do with one if you don't get into medical school. I recommend doing bio or chem for your undergrad.

Thank you. I will likely take that advice. I should've known that after some discussions with some pre-meds I had psychology with.

[POFP]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the month-long period of consistent diarrhea. I've heard that almost shitting yourself 3 times a day at work for a month straight is not exactly a sign of a healthy digestive system.

[Bathtub Jim]

It took me several years of going to different doctors before I finally got diagnosed with a semi-exotic form of rheumatism. The struggle to find out what is wrong with the fleshy meatsack is all too real, unlike the struggle to find out what is wrong with my brain, which is completely surreal.

I hope you do med school though! I'd watch out for your comments about "addictive personality" though. I'm in law school and when I came forward about some past *ahem* indiscretions, they shit their pants and get very serious. Apparently since doctors and lawyers kill themselves and abuse alcohol and drugs more they are much more serious gatekeepers than they used to be back in the day.

[POFP]

It took me several years of going to different doctors before I finally got diagnosed with a semi-exotic form of rheumatism. The struggle to find out what is wrong with the fleshy meatsack is all too real, unlike the struggle to find out what is wrong with my brain, which is completely surreal.

I hope you do med school though! I'd watch out for your comments about "addictive personality" though. I'm in law school and when I came forward about some past *ahem* indiscretions, they shit their pants and get very serious. Apparently since doctors and lawyers kill themselves and abuse alcohol and drugs more they are much more serious gatekeepers than they used to be back in the day.

Ah, thanks for the advice. I never really considered the legal implications of such an admission.

I should have, however, considering being diagnosed with Narcolepsy can allow them to take my driving license away until the medication improves alertness. Thankfully, I wasn't actually diagnosed with that. But I almost was, and had to do some research on the implications.