Pursuing a Biomedical Sciences Degree

I made a significant decision over the last couple of months: to start pursuing a formal education in the ‘Biomedical Sciences’. It’s not something I’m doing on an impulse or whim; rather, it’s an idea that’s repeatedly gnawed at me as years have gone by.

I was born with a series of genetic abnormalities (mostly haematological), and over the years, I’ve been exposed to conditions (acute and chronic) that are either unexplained in the medical literature, or where so little research has been done that I am perhaps the only container of knowledge and experience with the capacity to share.

Dealing with these issues has been detrimental to my primary area of work, simply from the loss of time, and it pains me that without ‘officiating’ my experience to society, then it may all add up to no quantifiable or purposeful benefit in my professional life.

In pursuing an excellence in biomedical sciences, I will learn to understand myself, and improve the self-study, data crunching and visualization methods I’ve developed to analyze my issues.

To speak of a recent catalyst; over the last few months, I’ve been tracking the reappearance of a post-covid-milk-protein-intolerance that first appeared in 2020, only after a mild case of exposure (taking six months to mostly, but not completely, resolve), which has now returned in great strength, following a recent COVID vaccination.

I was originally hesitant to consider or mention the vaccine link when observing and sharing data about the episode (with close friends or select members of my audience). This hesitation is born from an understanding of the sheer volume of misinformation surrounding the function and use of vaccines, which (as someone with a suppressed immune system), I fully understand are an essential component of modern healthcare; perhaps the closest thing to magic that we collectively take for granted.

However, in a recent conversation with a local general practitioner, I mentioned the timeline of events and how the most recent vaccination seemed very causal, and they were immediately keen to inform me of a series of post-covid trials they had participated in running. They discussed the use of high antihistamine doses to measure the effect on post-covid symptoms (sadly they make no difference for me), but also noted that the trial acknowledged the existence of what they coined as ‘COVID echoes’. It is recognized, they stated, that difficult-to-diagnose symptoms presenting from an original COVID exposure are sometimes seen to return post-vaccination, hence the echo.

They further noted that while most members of a particular trial stated their returning symptoms were milder than the first exposure, one man stated that his were much worse.

“That’s interesting”, I conveyed, “because mine is far worse than the first time.” To which he sounded concerned.

Combining my dietary/activity-based data crunching and a generalized knowledge of the human body, I have a couple of speculative theories; one that focuses primarily on mast cell dysregulation, and another that shifts the focus to antibody molecular mimicry (an attempt to connect the symptom profile of both a live and deactivated version of a virus).

The only reason I would suggest the latter is to resolve my main curiosity: the vaccine provides a stronger case of symptoms than the live virus itself, combined with the delayed response of a few weeks post-vaccination before the symptoms sharply appeared, which if speculatively drawn out on a graph of expected antibody increase, would directly coincide with the increase to specific protein intolerance. But of course, it is important to note that correlation does not necessarily imply causation.

As such, this is where the limit of my knowledge lies. With personal data tracking, I can find potential patterns that may or may not have already been identified in medical literature, but I lack the formal and complete understanding of the biochemical interplay between immune function, cell biology, hepatic clearance, diet and general virology, to know if any of my theories have any shred of validity.

I have the space, and studio environment, ready to receive equipment to help me gather more useful biological metrics to measure the conditions (haematology, histology), but I lack the correct knowledge to make the most of the endeavor.

I also have the 3D design and fabrication skills to create new tools from scratch, but lack an overall direction.

These limits make me less capable at discovering answers, and the only realistic way to accredit a proper understanding of human biology is via the slow and certain paper route of formal education: certification, diploma, degree, and onwards.

Personal investigations alone are not the only reason to pursue the degree. I am also keen on opening freelance 3D visualization services for medical and science-related clients in the future, and deepening my education will offer an opportunity to develop new workflow tools/resources and visual styles that will be essential for the service.

Finally, I’m a prolific data-hoarder when it comes to personal issue tracking. This means I have minute-by-minute descriptions of uncommon conditions and events, everything from hemiplegic migraines and corneal neuralgia, to vestibular migraine/BPPV/PPPD and much more. Though the count keeps changing, I believe there are a few-hundred-thousand words worth of notes, and spreadsheets packed with data, but nowhere to put them.

I have, at multiple times, thought about ways to format and present the data online, in case it becomes of future interest to medical researchers. However, without an ‘official’ reason to do so, it would look strange having personal medical reports being randomly shared by a YouTuber, whose forward-facing brand is generally unrelated to medical science. Officiating an interest in biomedical sciences provides a reasonable excuse and angle for sharing this information.

All in all, I’m excited to begin, and I hope that the probabilistic interplay of reality allows me to enjoy the experience without yet another debilitating mystery condition taking hold.