Quoted: Tremor and Medical School

[NotAProgDirector]

About me:
20 yo
undergrad sophomore
pre-med path

Since as long as I can remember, my fingers and hands always seem to twitch involuntarily. It's never kept me from doing things, but it's enough for me to be asked on several occasions if I was nervous or what was wrong with my hands. Even more so when their focus is on something I'm holding. You really have to be paying attention to my hands to notice it.

I've never really thought about it in regards to medical school, until the other night when I was talking about school in general with some friends. The topic of surgery came up in regards to me, and someone made the mention of my hands always shaking.

I know one of the requirements for MD candidacy is the possession of fine motor skills, or something similar to that effect. I know this would essentially knock me out of any kind of surgical specialty, but what about non-surgical specialties? More importantly, as a pre-med, how would this effect me getting into medical school? I'd rather just be straightforward about it than kind of ignore it to whatever school I'm applying to or interviewing with.

There are many fields of medicine where a small tremor will have no bearing on your competence. All medical schools have a statement describing their minimum requirements, which will include some statement about manual dexterity. You should be able to look many of these up online. I doubt a minor tremor would be severe enough to prevent you from getting into medical school.

It could affect your performance in medical school. You will need to do a surgical rotation which will require some time in the OR. They never give you anything really critical to do, but it could be an uncomfortable situation depending on the severity. Same could be said for sewing lac's, placing central lines, etc. None of this is a "deal breaker" but will be something to keep an eye on. Some fields, like pathology, it might not matter at all (except for needle biopsies).

SDN cannot offer an opinion on your possible diagnosis. You should see a physician.

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[aRnonymous]

I actually have something very similar which I was extremely concerned with. My hands are simply "shaky". I have a hard time holding them still, and like you, they occasionally twitch.

Tildy note: I have edited out the rest of this post as it provides specific medical advice which is not appropriate on SDN. The OP could PM this member if they wish.

 

[exgatr]

I don't have a chronic medical condition, so I can't completely sympathize with your problem, but I can speak hypothetically.

You have to realize that this "twitch" will probably keep you from being a surgeon, but there are still a TON of other specialties that you will be suited for. You should just take your problem into account when choosing. Many people choose their specialties based on money, lifestyle, or interest, you just have another criterion by which to make a choice.

As for your surgical rotation, I wouldn't worry too much. It would have to be a real hard-core *%&$ surgery attending who would mark you down for your problem. Just let him know that you realize you have a limitation and will do your best to work through it.

 

[Jesus DO]

Hello

I think that people will not hold your involuntary handmovements against you when applying to programs. It is hard for me to imagine that they would do such a thing. At my school, there is one MD who has congenital hand malformations on one hand. She is not a surgeon, but in another field of medicine. She is teaching students and taking care of patients very well. There are faculty members with type 1 and 2 diabetes holding department positions as well.

And this is at a small school. At a larger school, I would imagine that there would be many faculty members who have medical problems or handicapps as well.

Also, during your surgical rotation you might also find that many of your fellow students will have tremors and shaking fingers and hands too. I know I did.

I wish you the very best

 

[SpineKing]

Do your hands twitch when you try to do something specific? I have known of surgeons whose hands twitched when they were at rest, but when they performed some specific action they were as dexterous as anyone else.

 

[Indryd]

I have a damn gnarly intention tremor that hasn't slowed me down. 3rd year student at one of the "big" schools.

 

[iddoc2010]

Outside of the surgical specialties, your tremor shouldn't affect you at all. It certainly shouldn't have anything to do with your ability to get into medical school. My husband has an essential tremor and made it through med school and now, most of the way through an internal medicine residency, without significant difficulty. The only problem he had is sometimes people would assume he was nervous because his hands would shake. He learned to be up-front and just tell people he has a tremor so they didn't assume it was due to nervousness or lack of confidence. Beyond that, it hasn't been an issue. Even if he'd chosen a surgical field, I don't think he would have had difficulty in most of them. Something like vascular or plastics that requires very fine motor coordination might have been difficult but ortho or general probably would have been fine. How much difficulty you'd have with surgery depends on the degree of your tremor and its prognosis, but for non-surgical specialties, you should be just fine. If you haven't yet been to a doctor about your tremor, you should see one, just to learn what type it is and if it's likely to progress as you get older; that may influence your choice of specialty down the line.