Life with a Flare

I am not sure where I am going with this blog post but it will probably end up being a warning to all of those people who bite off more than you can chew like me. I also just need to try to calm my mind that feels like it is going a million miles a minute, as a result my writing may be all over the place. I am thinking writing will help. Tonight I ended up near tears because I lent my pen to someone and they returned it without the cap. On the ground crawling around for the pen cap I realized I may have over done life this week and I needed chocolate or ice cream or more likely both. I wanted to think about all the things that had lead me here so in the future I could prevent such break downs from occurring in the future. First off there is some medical stuff that is definitely going in to play here. A few weeks after being diagnosed with Sjogren's my POTS symptoms were acting up and I email rheum instead of cardio this time since we now know the cause. We decided to see ...

Another title for this post could be learn from my mistakes. My freshman year I did not inform my professors of my chronic illnesses until I am in the ER and could not make the deadline for two papers or to the respective classes the next day my first semester. Thankfully those professors were very understanding. You would think I would have learned but second semester I waited as well and found myself on the bathroom ground working on a final when I should have been in the ER because that professor was considerably less understanding although maybe she would have been had I mentioned something before that night. Anyway back to the topic at hand. From my first ER trip in college, too bad it was far from my last... First off as I mentioned in my previous post make sure you go to your campus disability office with a letter from your doctor explaining your symptoms and/or illness, what accommodations you need (my school asked if I need anything not on the list so it may have not bee...

The first few days after moving in can be overwhelming for any college student but having a chronic illness can take it to a whole new level. Here are some tips to make your first couple weeks on campus successful- Set up your medication at a close to campus pharmacy. If there is a retail chain that is both near your school and your home I suggest going there over student health. By using a chain pharmacy it makes getting refills at home or at school easier.  Set guidelines and boundaries with your roommate(s). This is a good time to have a more in-depth conversation about your health and explain your chronic illness. Communicate how that may effect living with you, such as what times/how much sleep you need, if you have to be extra careful about being sick due to being immunosupprested, allergies, etc. Before classes start walk through the campus and buildings to see where all your classes are. Make sure you know how long it takes to get to each class without having to rush ...

As I embark on my senior year in just a few weeks I realize I have almost made it. At this point in my life of balancing being a typical college student and battling for my health every day I feel uniquely qualified to advice incoming freshman on how to do college without totally neglecting your health. Things to do in the weeks leading up to your move in date- Decide on if you are going to see specialists as well as a PCP by your school or if you are going to continue to see your old doctors. Many factors may effect this such as how far away your school is to your hometown, if your new school is in a city (making it more accessible to good doctors), and how often you plan on visiting home. If you do plan on establishing yourself with new doctors you should be setting up appointments now because waiting list can be long and you want to be an established patient ASAP in case you have an emergency. If you do not plan on having a doctor near your school make sure to research student h...