I’m 17 and in my senior year of highschool. I personally love anatomy and it intrigues me. My father is a doc so I developed an interest early on. Despite this, I find myself uneasy and nauseous looking at things like Harlequin Ichthyosis (although I am perfectly fine with dissection and things that are “normal”). Is it common among people that are interested in the medical field to have to tryreally hard to stomach looking at diseases like that? Am I really cut out for the field despite my interest? Would I only know if I’ve tried?
My goal is to become a cardiologist, if that helps at all.
Medical school requires applicants to meet technical standards–physical, behavioral, social and ethical benchmarks. Google “technical standards for medical schools” and read a few examples. Here’s Stanford’s [Stanford University School of Medicine: Technical, Non-Academic Standards](http://med.stanford.edu/md-admissions/how-to-apply/technical-standards.html)
If you cannot perform to those standards, you should not apply to med school.
If you are actually physically nauseated (and not just engaging in hyperbole), that’s a serious problem. Physicians need to be able to behave with care & compassion toward their patients no matter what what their appearance is. If you cannot control your physical response, then you may not be able to fulfill your duties and obligations as a physician.
You may be able to overcome your physical reaction through a combination of exposure/desensitization therapy and psychological counseling. (It works for most people, but not everyone.) If you have a strong interest in pursuing medicine as a career, you should consider seeking out therapy to help you deal with this issue.
It’s way, way, way too soon–like 11+ years too soon-- to be picking out a sub-specialty. Concentrate on getting into college first.