Chronic Illness + College = Failure :-(

oliviabartel
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:43:59 +0000

I’m still a senior in high school but school got rough for me the beginning of my junior year (worst time to go down) when I got sick too. I have chronic migraines and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as some neurological issues that haven’t been clearly defined yet.

I can really relate to being exhausted and in pain on a daily basis. It makes it really hard to be engaged and productive outside of class as well. My grades took a slight dip, in part because I have a lot of specialists I have to see (time out of class), physical therapy (more time out of class), extra curriculars like you, a job, all things I enjoy, but find it hard to when my life has basically been being the sick kid.

When I don’t get things done or pull good grades I end up feeling like a failure too, unproductive and kind of lazy I guess. But it’s kind of just something that I’ll have to learn to live with eventually. I’ve tried a lot of things to “fix” my illness, but I’m not willing to deal with a lot of the trade offs. Seizures vs. Migraines, I chose daily migraines.

I think that with chronic illnesses and pain, it just takes time to find the magic combination of what will help fix you and work with your life. And sometimes you just have to accept the side effects and move forward.

You sound really involved and what really helped me was stepping back, laying out my schedule, realizing just how much I had going on and how that wasn’t really practical with how sick I am. So I prioritized things, cut back, and now I spend more time sleeping and resting plus a more condensed life in general. It helps a lot.

You should look into trying acupuncture or seeing a counselor and talking about stress management techniques. Sometimes it’s the little things that get me through the day. Acupuncture sounds silly, I’m not sure exactly what illness you’re dealing with, but it’s beneficial for a lot of different things. Makes total sense for migraine management because it has to do with your circulation.

Stress and anxiety could be making a huge impact on how you feel though.

I know it feels hopeless though. There are other students like you. Winter break is coming up, and it’ll be good to take a step back and sort things out for a bit.