Surgery with epilepsy

[ibjudo]

I’ll cut to the chase.
Will a medical school accept me with epilepsy? I’m seizure free for 4 years since 2015. Full time employed as an RN with a bachelors in nursing. Interested in pursuing a surgical career . Will I be able to enter an OR with my diagnosis?
My seiures are not due to a lack of sleep stress or photosensitivity. It’s called juvenile myoclonic epilepsy Or JME. So far mri and eeg all clean ...
all the time.
Also when applying should I disclose to medical schools about my diagnosis? Would that prevent me admission?
Thanks

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[DrFortiusNatando]

I’ll cut to the chase.
Will a medical school accept me with epilepsy? I’m seizure free for 4 years since 2015. Full time employed as an RN with a bachelors in nursing. Interested in pursuing a surgical career . Will I be able to enter an OR with my diagnosis?
My seiures are not due to a lack of sleep stress or photosensitivity. It’s called juvenile myoclonic epilepsy Or JME. So far mri and eeg all clean ...
all the time.
Also when applying should I disclose to medical schools about my diagnosis? Would that prevent me admission?
Thanks

I do not think it is beneficial for you to disclose your diagnosis when applying. Your medical history is protected information, and should not keep you from practicing medicine based on your 4 year sz hiatus, and therefore not ADCOM's business. And keep in mind that even though you have a good amount of clinical experience as an RN, you might change your mind about your clinical interests once you do your clinical rotations. Moreover, your seizure illness may change for the better (or, unlikely, for the worse) before you need to make a clinical career specialty decision. Good luck to you, the odds are in your favor that you will be much better as the years go by. Once accepted, if still concerned about possible seizures or side effects of any meds you might need to take when you start school, you can register in the "Disability" or ADA Office, which will ensure that you can access any reasonable accommodations that you might need.

This is just my recommendation for you, specifically. As a practicing RN, you will have plenty to talk about in your application and in your II. Of course, if this illness truly defines who you are and how you got there, by all means, take the risk. I do think that people learn a lot from the patient experience from being patients, but I do worry that esp if the committee does not understand or believe that the sz are for the most part, behind you, they will get distracted and any conversation about you in an ADCOM meeting could decompensate into arguments about whether people with sz should be surgeons. (Remember, I have gone to many ADCOM meetings...)

 

[mcmcmc613]

I’ll cut to the chase.
Will a medical school accept me with epilepsy? I’m seizure free for 4 years since 2015. Full time employed as an RN with a bachelors in nursing. Interested in pursuing a surgical career . Will I be able to enter an OR with my diagnosis?
My seiures are not due to a lack of sleep stress or photosensitivity. It’s called juvenile myoclonic epilepsy Or JME. So far mri and eeg all clean ...
all the time.
Also when applying should I disclose to medical schools about my diagnosis? Would that prevent me admission?
Thanks

I'm just about wrapping up my cycle, and I have this exact same form of epilepsy. I made it a big hallmark of my application, and my diagnosis (and how I grew from it) was a huge part of "why medicine" for me. I'm really grateful to have had an incredible cycle (as of now, I've been accepted to 4 T20 schools), and I'm even more grateful that I was able to do so while being open and honest about my condition and how it impacts me every day. Please PM me if you want to talk any further!

 

[ibjudo]

Thanks for replying. The only side effect I experience is weight gain. But to anyone who has been diagnosed with epilepsy it does change you. I went through nursing school without any sort of accommodations and no one even new except for 1 professor whom I trusted. But being a patient , living with this , I can tell you so much more than a doctor can from any text book out there. This disease is unlike any other . If you don’t take your meds , 1 moment you are here the next you could be under a truck or without an arm after a seizure. Then there are the social implications like moody side effects which I used to have on different meds which cost me ALL of my friends so yes I have no friends now. At least when you have cancer people empathize and give smiles hugs and all sorts of things , here it’s the opposite.
So I would say it definitely shaped me as a person and as a healthcare professional. My goal to get in to Harvard to study under most brilliant people so maybe I can give hope to the future generations with this disease because I know better than anyone.

 

[heybatterbatter]

This is an inspiring thread to see on SDN! I too have epilepsy, and while I did not mention it in my personal statement, I made it the focus of my greatest challenge essays. I am happy and grateful to say I have had a very successful cycle. You should focus on what you hope to bring into the lives of your patients because of your condition, and offer thoughtful reflection on the unique strengths of physicians who are also patients.

On that note, I would stay away from talking about how hard it is to have epilepsy. You want the focus to be on how you have overcome your condition, the mental state you have put yourself in to stay positive and keep going. Talking about medication side effects and the stigma of epilepsy can be a slippery slope and make adcoms focused on the negatives of this disease rather than your strengths as an applicant. Keep it big picture, inspire adcoms with your obvious resilience and grit, and you will be fine!

 

[Crayola227]

I smell a troll

 

[ibjudo]

You better get your nose checked

 

[ibjudo]

I smell a troll

 

[ibjudo]

This is an inspiring thread to see on SDN! I too have epilepsy, and while I did not mention it in my personal statement, I made it the focus of my greatest challenge essays. I am happy and grateful to say I have had a very successful cycle. You should focus on what you hope to bring into the lives of your patients because of your condition, and offer thoughtful reflection on the unique strengths of physicians who are also patients.

On that note, I would stay away from talking about how hard it is to have epilepsy. You want the focus to be on how you have overcome your condition, the mental state you have put yourself in to stay positive and keep going. Talking about medication side effects and the stigma of epilepsy can be a slippery slope and make adcoms focused on the negatives of this disease rather than your strengths as an applicant. Keep it big picture, inspire adcoms with your obvious resilience and grit, and you will be fine!

How did you not mention it on personal statement but mentioned it on the greatest challenge ? Did that affect your application ?

 

[SteyrFWB]

Many people have seizure and takes seizure medication for their daily life/work.

Three out of our current nine supreme court judges take seizure medication, and are doing their vehement argument without cognitive dysfunction.

Good story to tell how it affected you, and how you grew from it.

Won't hinder your application at all.

 

[curbsideconsult]

Three out of our current nine supreme court judges take seizure medication, and are doing their vehement argument without cognitive dysfunction.

Even if this is true, none of these justices (not judges) are making life and death decisions with scalpels in hand.

 

[heybatterbatter]

How did you not mention it on personal statement but mentioned it on the greatest challenge ? Did that affect your application ?

My desire to be a physician does not come from my experiences being a patient. I am intellectually driven by the field, and have found that no other area of work marries my love of science and people better than medicine. That's why my personal statement does not include anything about my own personal health--because it is not the reason I am going to be a physician. Rather, as a life event that I have had to endure, I have gained strengths and perspective that I believe would serve me well in any field of work, especially one where I work with patients. That's my personal narrative though, not saying it's the only way to frame this for your application.

 

[OddNath]

An epileptologist colleague of mine has epilepsy, had a surgical resection of a lesion, and takes her seizure medication. Up to you if you’d like to mention it or not.

 

[Tenk]

My med school roommate had epilepsy. One night she called me name kinda weird and I walked into her room and she was just staring off into space. Then she started shaking and I’m like wtf are you doing? Then I’m like oh... Oh... OH!!! Long story short though: she’s a surgeon.

 

[Ad2b]

I smell a troll

There have been many here as of late but the OP is definitely not trolling. Older threads from 2018 state the same thing...

At OP, congrats on continuing your journey!