Session 124 Living with chronic pain is hard. Living with chronic pain as a premed might be impossible. Our question today is from a premed struggling with a new diagnosis. The Premed Playbook: Guide to the MCAT (eBook version) is available for preorder on Amazon and Kindle. The paperback version will be released soon so stay tuned! To whom is this book for? This is not a prep book just to clarify. This is not a content knowledge book. But it's going to give you the information you need to know so you can better understand everything about the MCAT - when to register, how to register, getting fee assistance, how to best study for it, etc. The Kindle version is $4.99 and the paperback version is $9.99. The questions here are taken from the Nontrad Premed Forum. If you haven’t yet, please register to join the collaborative community of nontrad students. [02:50] OldPreMeds Question of the Week: "I'm a 24-year old graduate student. Currently, I'm studying for the MCAT. I got diagnosed with muscle tension related headache in December 2017 after many weeks of headaches along with sever tension in the trapezius and shoulders. I had to cease my studying and started again last week. I have tried my best to transform this condition into a positive outcome by starting to shadow pain medicine doctors, soon, doing yoga, and hopefully being able to teach yoga to underserved patients with chronic pain in my free time too. I thought the condition started getting better. But two days ago, I got a major tension in my entire back down to my knee that I could barely walk and felt so fatigued. The reality of this condition really makes my doubt my physical ability to perform as well as I would like to. I'm an active, energetic, resilient person and I cannot see myself doing anything else aside from becoming a doctor. I also consider other fields of medicine such as PA but I know I'll regret that one day or will find a way to go back to medical school, which is something a lot of PAs do. However, this condition is the toughest thing that I've ever encountered in my entire life. If any medical student or doctor here is dealing with chronic pain, can you please advise me, how you've been able to and were able to adapt to the rigors of medical school, especially the third year and then residency? I have been thoroughly researching everything but there's not much on medical students and doctors with chronic conditions. There are only some articles about doctors with chronic pain complaining about the lack of support and understanding from their colleagues and facilities and the medical system and advising about doing something else instead. If you know any medical student or doctor who's dealing with this, can you please connect me with those people of course with their agreement. I'm just very at a loss and just really need some help." [04:33] Control the Headaches First As of this recording, the poster's condition is still relatively new at about five or six months old. In the middle of being a student, studying for the MCAT, and everything else - all the stresses that come with that, it's hard to get better. Being married to a neurologist and healing the conversations she has about headaches, headaches are really painful. And there are things that need to be considered. How's your posture? Are you sleeping enough? Are you drinking too much caffeine? Are you drinking too much alcohol? Are there any other medications that may be causing any issues? Are you getting rebound headaches? These are common headache things to think about. Now, the first step is to control the headaches and to stop worrying about the MCAT. As a 24-year-old, you still have time. Honestly, I would recommend for you to take a year off from the application. Take time off. Figure out how to control the headaches. Go see a neurologist or a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) physician. Go see an osteopathic physician who may be able to do some OMM. Go see a physician and get