hi please help - vinividivici

[ArchivalUser]

im interested in autism ....do i have to do paeds or psychiatry for it....thanx

[ArchivalUser]

also what fellowship do i have to do

[ArchivalUser]

Autism, I think is considered a pediatric illness because it is diagnosed in that age group. There is an organic cause for the illness and it is not considered a psychiatric condition although pts with autism might need psychiatric help.

I am not familiar with the fellowships in peds.

[ArchivalUser]

I came, I saw, I conquered (the meaning of your name).

Anywayz...pediatric psychiatry is the best bet. Pediatrics and the do a fellowship in Psych...I think.

But your interest is so specific that you may be interested in research. In this case you do a residency in either peds OR psychiatry and then also to a Physician Researcher pathway.

Are you currently involved in any research with Autism? What do the MD's you work with say about your question? Which medical school(s)/residency program(s) are considered leaders in the reserach/management of autism? Call up or email a couple of them with your query. Maybe they can get you in touch with an attending who has the same interests as you.

[ArchivalUser]

thanx so much vitriol102 and king of mischief

im not ivolved in research but basically my dream is to open a kind of centre for these kids and take charge of the medical side....far fetched but i really really want it!!!

how will i get to know which med schools are into autism....i would love to do research too but not sure how to go about it...could you please advise me....thanx a million

[ArchivalUser]

Noble idea vinivi......You would definitely make this world a better place to live if you can accomplish anything remotely close to what you said.

You can look for articles through search engines (google, yahoo) and databases (pub med) and look for the authors and where they are working. Start emailing them, most of them will respond if you show a genuine interest. They can even guide you how to proceed.

[ArchivalUser]

Hey Vini Vidi Vici,

You have a passion for this medical condition. It's admirable. I too have a passion for medicine, but I'm not sure where and how to focus it...

back to you...I think I get a better picture of what you're saying. You want to start a medical clinic which is specific for Autism. As you know, there is no cure for this condition. There are, however, treatments which are specific for some of the common conditions associated with this disorder. Honestly, I'm not sure if there is a large enough autistic population to provide a group of patients which be able to sustain your clinic. So far, they say that autism affects 1 in 1000 with about 400,000 prevalence in the whole US. No doubt, you'll have to situate your clinic in a large city within the US. With that said, there need to be further epidemolgoic studies, to fully aapreciate the scope of this condition.

In the above paragraph, I was just mentioning that inorder to open a clinic, you'll need to have a large enough group of patients to run it...that's all I was saying.

As for reserach, well, Autism still remains one of those idiopathic conditions. If you're looking to understand this condition, then most likely, you'll need psychiatry or neurology. In my opinion (just a thought), a deeper understanding for this disease will one day come from Neurology.

Currently, the treatment modality lies in behavioural therapy and medical therapy. Both of these can be learned through Psychiatry.

So, when you are deciding how to proceed with your passion, the above two paragraph's into consideration. Research them further and define your goals specific for what you want.

Finally, you dream is still a few years away. You'll need to be a fully license MD before you can open up a Clinic and personally treat children with Autism. Before you do that, you should look into what you need to do to get there. So, far, I think you need a residency in Peds later specializing in Ped Psych/Neuro.

I found the following website for you with many links which may lead you to the answer for your question:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/autism.html#cat28

Please keep me informed as things come up and what your final decision is.

GL

[ArchivalUser]

thanx soo much...you really dont know how much these replies helped me...people always laugh when i tell them this...
maybe vitriol ill open the centre for children aith all kinds of learning disabilities too...
decided on paeds and then paed psych.....
will start emailing rite now
thanx a lot...may all your dreams come true too