Zebra Syndrome !!!!

If as GSites, you are unaware of this syndrome "on tip of the tongue", you must have gone frenzied.

Friends... If you really did so, you suffer from one of the symptoms of this esteemed "Zebra Syndrome". So now lets run through all the symptoms before I explain why it's named so...!!!

Practically every med student gets it. You notice in your first year that you have every major illness on the face of the planet and as the agglomeration of the subjects increases, so does the intensity & it varies from student to student. So the way, we as students, can fight these irrational thoughts, is combating them with FACTS & with KNOWLEDGE...!!!! By the time, these important shields and weapons are acquired, we are almost nearing the end of med college and must have definitely placed oneself in this genus fullfledgedly.. But the fact goes that you as a GSite have been bestowed upon with this fervent desire, which doesn't let you rest and it can't filched!!!

Even as exams go by, you realize you maybe the one, remembering certain answers to rarely asked questions better than answers to commonly asked questions..

You love to read and know rare syndromes...with it's unique names.. Eg: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Alexander Syndrome, West syndrome, Williams Syndrome, Angelman's syndrome.. Seems like you maybe in love with syndromes and you may sound syndromic to others..& even labelled as "Rare museum species of the college".

The last and most important symptom to be considered, which is while diagnosing the patient..after considering the signs and symptoms.. the first thing that flashes in mind are rare conditions, for which when advised by teachers, is the diagnosis confirmed!!!! And it if indeed called so sure to this particular advise.. This syndrome hence is also named as "Med Student Syndrome".

According to MedicineNet.com, "The term 'zebra' in medicine doesn't refer to the striped African animal, but to an unlikely diagnostic possibility. It comes from an old saying in reaching medical students about how to think logical in regard to differential diagnosis.
"When you hear hoof beats on the road, think of horses, Not Zebra" unless you have been to an unprotected zebra country as in the animated flick "Madagascar2" - The Zebra on the road situation...!!!

What you eventually learn though if that symptoms to these "zebra" (rare) illness are the same as the symptoms to the some of the more "horse" (common) illnesses and it is much more probable that you have the more common illness.

So, now when, during exams, you have headache, profuse sweating, sleepless nights, palpitations, loss of appetite, mild fine tremors, nausea, abdominal pain and malaise...it's definitely NOT "Pheochromocytoma" but just an "exam anxiety".

So,
"Stop counting your zebras before the horses"
Or
"Can't think of the zebras before the horses".

P.S.: Written by Charmi Patel & Myself; sitting on the G.S.katta; before going to wards in morning; drinking cutting Bhadshahi chai.. :)