Re: Seeking to become an amature microbiologist....

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Before "diving" into the world of microbiology, restoring your health somehow may need to be a first priority and that's going to take diligence.
"

As a suggestion this would be my very first step. I believe you've been given very good advice. Please let me expand a bit why:

Anyone could study Microbiology, in my opinion. However, not everyone can achieve deep and useful results with it. Why? I would say that because in order to achieve those results, more than the theory and the practice are needed. For example, for me Microbiology is pretty much like Math in that it demands great precision, abstraction and discipline. If you're good at Math, probably you'd make a good Microbiologist in the theory and the practice of it. However, the True understanding of Microbiology may go beyond just the Theory and the Practice, so more than Math may be required [if that's even really possible].

For this understanding [always in my opinion], a very sharp mind is required. It is needed because there are many processes that need to be understood [many of them biological processes], and there are many details that must be considered if you don't wish to end up sick or dead from some of the subjects of your study. [Don't forget for a single second that in Microbiology you're dealing with the Forces of Life and Death itself at a very minute level].

Now on to a state of 'sickness'. A person that's sick can't think very clearly no matter how smart or skilled that person is, and especially when the person has an illness 'lodged' in the abdominal cavity. I say this because it's already known that the enteric system [the abdomen and its parts] seems to act like "a second brain", meaning that a lot of what you figure out with intelligence may depend on the status of your bowels:

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"...Ever get a gut feeling about someone, or anxious butterflies in your stomach? That's because you have a second brain in your bowel, according to Michael Gershon, M.D...."

(from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19990501-000013.html
)
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Then, with all of this in mind, how could anyone hope to think sharply and to take care of all the details necessary in Microbiology with a persistent state of ill health?


Therefore, due to all the above, the advice "Get back your Health FIRST" is an excellent advice, in my opinion.