• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

PracticeBalance

Pursuing simplicity in work, home, community, and self

Header Right

Follow Me Here

  • About
  • Blog
  • Work
  • Home
  • Community
  • Self
  • Contact
  • About
  • Blog
  • Work
  • Home
  • Community
  • Self
  • Contact

From Fuel Shortage to Chronic Symptoms

December 19, 2011 //  by PracticeBalance//  5 Comments

In his book Is It Worth Dying For?,  Robert Eliot describes his experiences with stress, culminating in his own heart attack on the job.  He identifies five stages on the downward spiral to burnout: Job Contentment, Fuel Shortage, Chronic Symptoms, Crisis, and Hitting the Wall.  Here, I continue with my journey from a fuel shortage state to the recognition of some serious health problems.

The Annual In-Training Examination, a practice board exam of sorts, loomed forth.  Score expectations were high at my level of training.  All the while fulfilling clinical duties, volunteering to write case reports for publication and pioneering a new research project, I resolved to crush the exam.  My studies spilled over into the weekends and free afternoons, leaving little time for my husband or any self-care.  In my efforts to lose the weight I had gained over the past two years, I was waking up extra early to perform short bursts of exercise in addition to eating a very restrictive diet.  However, my well-intended discipline only served to lay the groundwork for major bingeing on call nights and long hospital shifts.  The activities I once loved, like rock climbing and camping, fell by the wayside… along with my friendships.
  
Some changes in my health began to surface.  I had difficulty getting moving in the early mornings, which often required me to leave the house before 6 AM.  My workout performance declined, and I felt fatigued doing basic activities – like walking stairs – that had previously not been difficult.  My skin turned sallow and for the first time bags formed under my eyes.  My clothes were tight.  Most concerning, I had not ovulated in several months.  While I chocked this up to the ongoing stress, I had just turned 35… My husband and I were discussing starting a family soon.  How could I physically or mentally become a mother under these circumstances? 

All the discrete aspects of this situation formed a hill of evidence that I was sinking.  I finally carved out time to go see a physician, who ran some lab tests.  One of my hormone axes, the one that signals estrogen, was completely non-functioning.  While this is a pattern most common to menopausal women, it can be seen in cases of extreme physical or mental stress.  Cases have been reported in professional athletes such as gymnasts and ballerinas, anorexia nervosa patients, or during very stressful states such as the death of a spouse.  My doctor said, “It’s rare, but I have seen it, and it will probably be reversible after you finish residency.”PROBABLY reversible? 

 In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown distinguishes the term courage from its colloquial synonym of heroic by pointing out its original root meaning as “speaking one’s mind by telling all of one’s heart”.  Courage is thus not necessarily about being brave in a life-or-death sense but about being openly vulnerable.  I had to find my courage for the next inevitable step… Although it was a difficult decision with complex impacts on both me and my training program, I decided to take a leave of absence from residency.
 
In my next posts, I will discuss my research to find a personal stress management plan, and I will outline many of the resources that I used to construct it! Thanks for following!

Category: UncategorizedTag: burnout, health, physician, residency, starthere, stress

Previous Post: « The anatomy of stress
Next Post: Happy Holidays from PracticeBalance! »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Aimee

    December 19, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    Looking forward to the next installation. The parts where you share your own story are very interesting to me and I commend you for being willing to share such personal details.

    Reply
  2. PracticeBalance

    December 20, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Thanks for your comments, Aimee! It's just "ordinary courage"… 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Advice I Give To Rotating Medical Students says:
    October 15, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    […] of stress management. Sleep post-call instead of doing that chronic cardio. Don’t be like me and ignore symptoms that might arise, chalking them up to simple stress. Don’t forgo medical advice […]

    Reply
  2. Life as a Series of Sabbaticals says:
    October 31, 2018 at 4:28 pm

    […] stronger than I realize. This realization, made continents away from home, has held true through medical training and cancer and […]

    Reply
  3. A Balanced Interview #1: Me says:
    November 28, 2018 at 4:26 am

    […] physical energy, and relationships. Of course, this was all complicated by the fact that I had major health issues during that period of my life as […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

 

Dawn L. Baker MD, MS is the founder of PracticeBalance. She became interested in writing about wellness as a lover of language and  outdoor athlete who experienced a major health crisis during residency training. Dawn is dedicated to discussing current practices of self-care and simplicity in the four realms of balance: Work, Home, Community, and Self. She is a speaker and author who has been featured in national syndicates such as KevinMD and Medpage Today. A wife and mother to one daughter and one whippet dog, Dawn also enjoys slow travel, rock climbing, strength and conditioning exercise, attempts at practicing yoga, and long walks with her family.

PB on Instagram

#gratituesday thoughts: time that used to be “just me” is now often “me and her”. Some days it’s like I don’t remember the time before her...
.
Top photo: Kalymnos, Greece
Bottom photo: St John, USVI
Take time to smell the roses
.
.
.
#practicebalance #purejoy #aspenjoy #growingaspen #lessonsfrommydaughter #stillness #holidaybustle #slowdown #slowliving #slowparenting #mamabloggers #somedocs #doctormom #toddlermomlife #freerangeparenting #freerangekids
MY TRIGGERS: what gets the prickles to come out on my skin, the hackles to stand up on my back?
.
I’ve found that I need to identify things that set me off and remind myself, so as to hopefully prevent an emotional explosion at times 🤯
.
Like if I’m hovering in a trigger area, I need to take special care and be aware 👁
.
Mine are related to feeling like a half-ass, being controlled or being indecisive. What are yours?
Dear Aspen - I think back to the times before you were here, and I can’t believe it’s only been 4 years since you came into our lives and made them so much richer. Happy 4th birthday! 🎉
“Island time is a thing... So who’s got it wrong? Maybe I’m the impatient jerk.” .
New blog post today about my experience working as a locum tenens (fill-in) doctor in the US Virgin Islands. .
It wasn’t all coconuts and gardenias, but it was a good learning experience. One I was looking to have during my #sabbatical... Read about it thru the link in my profile or below.
.
https://practicebalance.com/2019/11/locum-tenens-anesthesiology-in-the-virgin-islands/
When’s the last time you needed lots of help to do something others take for granted?
.
#growingaspen not only had her first roller skating experience today, but she also got a taste of what it feels like to be a true beginner amongst experts.
.
When you do something new and you’re just around strangers, it’s not that big of a deal... but when you do that new thing around your friends, who happen to have an ex-hockey player daddy and have been skating on in-lines since age 2, that’s a different story.
.
I’m a recovering perfectionist, always afraid to fail. I don’t want that for her.
.
She handled it so well. A few quick tears were shed - over butt bruises though, not jealousy or frustration. She used this helper contraption without embarrassment. She took input from others with grace and tried her hardest. All I could ever ask for 🥰🙏.
“It reminded me again that I need to take care of myself.... She might be my teacher, but I’m her foundation.”
.
New blog post up today about our awesome beach and snorkeling experience  in the US Virgin Islands. Learning through your child’s eyes is the most amazing experience. It enhances EVERYTHING. .
Check the #latestpost link in my profile, or below:
. 
https://practicebalance.com/2019/11/learning-through-snorkeling/
Back to #desertlife, #nofilter. November in the desert is truly beautiful. Generally, the skies are blue and clear, temperatures are 70s over 50s, and the air just feels... perfect.
.
.
.

#practicebalance #sabbatical2019 #homeiswhereyouare #worklifebalance #wellnessbloggers #physicianbloggers #mamabloggers #womenbloggers #SoMeDocs #parttimedoctor #fulltimemama #mamadoc #womeninmedicine #womeninanesthesia  #mothersinmedicine #stressmanagement #selfknowledge #selfcare #selfreflection #pursuingsimplicity #workhomecommunityself #thesimplelife #slowliving #IGetTo
We could be trying to fit in all of the adventures, and that’s exactly what we used to do when we traveled: bringing (or renting) all the gear, getting as many pitches in as possible before sundown, taking the lessons... but instead, lots of days look like this.
.
It takes so little for a toddler to be entertained, and it’s both a lesson in stillness and a joy to watch as it happens.
.
.
.
.
#practicebalance  #worklifebalance #wellnessbloggers #mamabloggers #SoMeDocs #fulltimemama #mamadoc #womeninmedicine #mothersinmedicine #stressmanagement #selfknowledge #selfcare #selfreflection #pursuingsimplicity #slowtravel #stillness #toddlermomlife #workhomecommunityself #thesimplelife #slowliving #IGetTo
Some mornings the beauty of this island is rivaled in vastness by the amount of work to do at the hospital.
.
.
.
.
#saintthomas #usvirginislands #challengeyourself #getoutofyourcomfortzone #safarianesthesia #sabbatical2019 #practicebalance #womeninmedicine #womeninanesthesia

Disclaimers

  1. The content on this site is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.
  2. The opinions and information on this site are my own and are not those of my employer.

Copyright © 2019 PracticeBalance · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme