Living and Learning with Fibromyalgia

Queen’s University student Jane Kerrison provides today’s guest post.

Jane Kerrison

I am twenty-one years old, and have been living with fibromyalgia for approximately six years, an extremely volatile illness that affects every aspect of life. Currently there is no cure. Some of the major symptoms include chronic pain and fatigue, insomnia, nausea and emotional symptoms such as stress and anxiety. I was about fourteen when I began to experience symptoms, and seventeen at the time of my diagnosis. It is rare for someone so young to have fibromyalgia.

Despite serious health struggles, I managed to graduate high school near the top of my class, and get accepted at some of the top universities in Canada. It may have been a more sensible option to postpone university for a few years until I was stronger and had a better understanding of my illness, but I was unwilling to wait. I had long been looking forward to university, and did not want fibromyalgia to rob me of my life.

Regardless of my determination, some major compromises had to be made. It was my dream to attend a university in Halifax but I knew that I could not handle being so far away from the support of my family. My experiences with fibromyalgia had taught me that I needed people nearby to care for me as I struggled to gain control over my illness.

I decided to attend Queen’s University, and have no doubt that this was the right choice. In my first year, I spent every other weekend with family. During an especially difficult time, my sister took me home with her to take care of me for a week. Without this support nearby, I doubt I could have made it through a single semester of university.

In first year, I took five classes, and barely made it through. By the end of the year, I knew that I needed to make a change; I dropped down to four classes. At this point, I had become more aware of some of the resources available to assist me. I registered with Disabilities Services, which allowed me benefits such as extra time on assignments and exams should I be in too much pain to work. By second year, I was comfortable enough to talk to my professors and inform them of my illness. With these measures in place, I was confident that I would have a wonderful and manageable year. I was wrong.

Throughout the year I struggled to keep my fibromyalgia under control, and was in a near-constant state of stress and anxiety. At the end of the school year, I suddenly experienced severe and excruciating joint pain. I sought the help of doctors, who could not account for it, and became increasingly more panicked as my condition worsened. The more they worried, the more stressed I became, which in turned caused my fibromyalgia symptoms to intensify.  At this point I was also trying to complete two summer classes. I had to drop one, and barely finished the other.

That summer, I acknowledged that if I wanted to remain in school, I had to make some even bigger changes. I dropped down to part-time, which meant that I would take three classes a year and finish in three more years instead of two. In addition to that, I modified my eating and sleeping habits, and turned more focus toward understanding my illness, as well as developing methods to keep my symptoms manageable.

Immediately I knew that I had made the best decision of my life. This past year I was able to enjoy my classes instead of just fighting to survive. I was able to devote considerably more time to focusing on my own health, became more attentive to my body, and learned many of the complexities of my illness. I worked aggressively to learn about all the resources available to me, while also acknowledging the limitations of the systems that had failed to help me the previous summer.

Near the end of the year, I became involved with a university group called InvisAbilities, which offers support and awareness for invisible illnesses: those illnesses like fibromyalgia, which are disabling but have no visible physical signs. Through this group, I have met wonderful people who have had similar experiences and struggles as myself. The friendships I have formed with these people inspired me to start a blog in which I talk about my life with fibromyalgia. I hope to provide support and understanding for people living with chronic illness, as well as their friends and family. Though it may be a struggle, I am determined to finish my last two years of university and move forward as positively as possible.

Visit Jane’s blog at http://janekerrison.ca

Tagged as: balance, chronic, fibromyalgia, flexible schedules, high performer, life, perspective, sick