I go to University of Illinois at Chicago. I have had a long a terrible first year due to Medical and Family Issues.
I would like to note that my Family issue can be very hard on people so I won’t be giving the full detail of it. I have Hyperthyroidism, an issue where my thyroid gland is producing too much hormones causing my body to over heat, over work and tire itself out. It comes with a long list of issues, including anxiety and trouble sleeping. Especially my hand tremors, it makes it so hard to write carefully. What mainly has been affecting me was anxiety and in extreme cases depression. I’ve been diagnosed in Freshman year of High School, I’ve been on methimazole for the remaining time of my high school year at the exact dose which allowed my thyroid to stay normal, until the end of my high school year I changed doctors to my current doctor (my previous doctor took patients under 18, I turned 18 by the end). My current doctor decided to up my doses because she says that if I some how get pregnant or am willing to become pregnant taking methimazole for my thyroid will cause a series of issues to the baby and its best to see if metimazole will even cure me. So she upped my doses to see if that will do anything, and this is like the beginning of first semester in college. My thyroid flares up and I go up in numbers of thyroid hormones meaning my thyroid is hyper again. She opted to use the same amount as my previous endocrinologist but my thyroid is no longer reacting to it. So were in a level in between, I am still hyper at this moment and it’s the end of my first year and because of this fluctuating and tiresome levels of my thyroid I needed to go to the doctor often because my liver enzymes were decreasing.
My medical issue ties into my family issues, because of my wonky fluctuation of my thyroid hormones my already current anxiety worsens. In my 7th grade, I had come home to my mom yelling about how poorly I did in a test I forgot which subject. About 30 or 40 or so minutes into my conversation with my mom, mainly about her asking me to do better or I get my phone taken away, we get a call from my uncle saying my cousin had told her someone molested her. She took a pee test at school, I do not know why they were doing pee test when shes in elementary school, they told her her pee test came back a little abnormal and she freaked out. She told them and they opted to call the organization to tell them what happened to her. I will not give the rest of the detail, but it scared me for life because her molester was one of our family member. I won’t say anymore, but that has always impacted me as a person. After my hyperthyroid flared and my anxiety deepens, I become so overwhelmed and just drowned away in medical appointment and anxiety. Fast foward to now and after dropping my first semester and dropping 2 of my classes this semester, I am in trouble for not completing 67% of my courses. My medical withdrawal still counts for not being completed despite it being for medical reasons.
I know this is a long and tedious amount of information, it could be a bit overwhelming too. I just want to know if my issues can be accepted for an SAP appeal. I need to get a police report for that incident and I will have all my documentation from my endocrinologist. I overthink things and stress about it. This is one of my main reason for all my lack of sleep and anxiety now and I just want to know what others think before I submit my appeal.
You are going back and forth about things that happened far in the past…and things that are happening now.
To be honest…the college isn’t going to care about what happened to you in 7th grade.
You did a medical withdrawal? Are you positive?
Your school has a policy on SAP which you must meet. Every school has an appeals process. They will want to know what your issue was…what you have done to change it…and what you will continue to do when you return to college. All stated succinctly.
And NOT things that happened 6 years ago.
Please make an appointment ASAP with your academic advisor to find out what to do next. They should be able to guide you. If not, try the dean of students Office.
Part of getting an appeal accepted is telling them how things are going to be different if you are allowed to continue. What is going to be different for you? Is the new medication working? Are you getting counseling for things that happened to you 6+ years ago?
This summer I will be getting surgery, it’s a permanent fix for my medical issue since I am basically removing the source of the problem. I will be removing my thyroid and replacing it with a life long medication which has no side effects. I have been going to therapy, but not as much until recently. Due to my medical issue I have been over thinking things, becoming more stressed and more anxious. Prior to my flare up with my thyroid I hadn’t thought of my issue from 6+ years ago, not nearly enough to have it impacting my school life or anything. It was just a scar, but now I feel more like it’s a constant issue like it had just happen recently.
I am conflicted about bringing this up in my appeal, since I’ve been hearing it won’t do much. I might just stick with my medical issue. I am going to meet with my advisor and I can ask her opinion.
I suggest you refer only to the medical situation and discuss only how it impacted your grades in college and the surgery this summer. Also discuss a plan for tutoring and or improving your study skills and time.
In my opinion (which is tainted as the victim of incest from ages 5-9), mentioning trauma as a relative of the child and perpetrator sounds more like an appeal for sympathy than a legitimate reason for poor performance in college many years later. I’m sure it bothers you but I doubt it would impress anyone reading your appeal.
Which documents should I provide with my appeal, I will be getting surgery soon on June 4th. I know my past trauma will not be a good reason to add to the appeal so I will not be adding that, but I don’t only go to my therapy session for that reason. I have a severe case of anxiety and sleep deprivation which I also go in for, should I ask for documents from my therapist to support my endocrinologist documentation on my anxiety due to my Hyperthyroid?
Also what documents should I ask from my endocrinologist? What medical issues I have, how does it impact school along with mentions of my surgery and how I can improve the next semesters?
I signed up for tutoring over the summer for my classes I’m behind on, should I mention that and would I need documents for that?
Sorry for the loads of question but I end up worrying about every little detail. I know that I can’t put all of these in one appeal since an appeal should be straight forward and to the point. I just do not want to risk losing my financial aid because of a terrible year of hyperthyroidism flare ups.