Motivation for this blog

This is an excerpt from an email I sent to my friends, who then suggested blogging my frustration:

Before I actually came to medical school, I used to think that medicine & science were very noble pursuits. But now I’m here and it seems so mundane and trivial. The public perception of science/medicine is very different from their actual practice. I’ve had the same thoughts about science/medicine since college.
Medical school and graduate school haven’t changed them, and I don’t think getting a PhD is going to change them either.

I spend my days studying seemingly relevant problems (obesity in mice), but – for most of science – the end results are usually miniscule, just a drop in the ocean. And I wouldn’t mind that aspect so much if I actually thought I was doing some good with my time, with my efforts. But I’ve had this nagging feeling since I started medical school (3 years ago) that the problems I am – or will be – addressing
simply are not that relevant….
As a physician, I will spend my time helping people feel better. When I applied to medical school, I had hoped to treat people in a particular way, developing therapies to address the underlying causes
- not simply treating the symptoms. But now I’m here, and I realize how much I am at odds with the system. Biomedical science – and the practice of medicine that springs from it – is rooted in reductionism,
and I don’t think it’s getting us anywhere. Sure, it’s given us vaccines and penicillin, but I think it has also reduced our awareness of complex interactions (namely between people and their environment).
One issue that illustrates the point – and the one that I care the most about – is food. Scientists and physicians have spent the last century whittling down the list of dietary necessities to a list of
vitamins and minerals, and then industry took these key ingredients necessary for life and started manufacturing foods. Half a century later, you have generations of people plagued by diseases of excess
(obesity, heart disease, diabetes).

Here’s another one: all those antibiotics that were developed in the past century have led to a decrease in infant mortality and an extension of life span. People were less likely to die of TB or pneumonia. Antibiotics became commonplace. They are still prescribed haphazardly for colds, stomach aches, etc. when there may not even be a bacterium to kill. Half a century later, you have generations of people suffering from autoimmune diseases (asthma, eczema, allergies, ad infinitum). One theory behind autoimmune diseases is that, during your development, your immune system was not exposed to enough foreign antigens, leading to an inability to distinguish between “self” and “nonself” tissues. So when you’re exposed to a mild irritant, you get a wide-spread flare up of some sort (rash, inflammation). And medicine doesn’t know what the hell to do about these disease: they just give you a f-ing shot of steroids. Eventually, science figures out where it screwed up (though it never admits it). It’s only now beginning to realize it’s shortcomings. It’s finding out that those basic list of vitamins & minerals are needed to live, but, to live WELL, you need alot more. There’s been a surge in the past decade of research on phytochemicals – plant chemicals – that benefit humans. Lycopene in tomatoes (for prostate cancer), lutein in green leafy vegetables (for your eyes), and all those compounds in green tea, soy, and turmeric that slow aging, prevent cancer, and make you lose weight. Unfortunately, the media construes this research in the simplest way: they keep publishing “updated” lists of foods you should eat.
And there are all sorts of things that we are currently doing that have had little forethought. For example, in vitro fertilization bothers me because (1) the people who get it are wealthy, (2) they have defective eggs/sperm/reproductive organs, and (3) they are contributing unnecessarily to overpopulation. The fact that science only caters to the rich and to the developed countries of the world bothers me…… it’s a big part of the reason why I feel that like I’m wasting my time. In regards to (2), recent research is finding that IVF leads to an increased risk of birth defects. We don’t have the data (yet) to examine what the long-term consequences to the gene pool are (due to IVF)….. my budding geneticist instincts tell me we are weakening our reproductive fitness.
As for (3), science/research caters to our selfish desires. The National Institute of Health drives research in this country, so that means science is funded by tax dollars, which means it caters to our personal interests. People want babies that look like them, that have their genes (regardless of the fact that we’ve exceeded the carrying capacity for the earth). So, money is given to scientists to develop In Vitro Fertilization. If people have heart disease because they have poor diet & exercise habits, then money is given to scientists to find “cures” for this “disease.” However, the disease is a consequence of your actions. If the pharmaceutical industry now comes in with a pill to fix it, then you are relieved of your responsibility, of your accountability. Then we, as a society, further fail to grasp the concept of cause-and-effect…… we then exercise even less self-discipline and less forethought, ultimately leading to the downfall of our civilization.
And THAT is how I feel about what I do.

Everything I see is a testament to how little we know, and how much faith we put in our limited knowledge. It bugs the crap out of me. I can’t help but feel that doctors and scientists are ruining the world with their arrogant belief in what they think they know. So I still feel lost…… and I don’t know what good I will do,
though I desperately feel that I need to do something.

There’s also the thought that I should just jump through the hoops, become a rich doctor, and then use my exorbitant income to fund projects/organizations that I believe in. But I don’t think I would be happy living vicariously….