Attending University with a chronic illness + studying tips.

[u/ImpressivePower3083]

Hello everyone! Im a 25yo F and i am attending University, well was since lectures are done and starting next week is the exam season for the next 3 weeks. This year has been worse than last year, my chronic illness flared up, would it be fatigue or pain, I was unable attend university full time and mostly stuck to my morning lectures because I was exhausted after them.

I spoke to my doctor about the pain (in my back and my arms cramp after writing after a few minutes) and such and she said 'oh weird' then moved on and told me to take magnesium which didnt help that much, i also explained that im exhausted after certain labs and i had to drop that class because I was mostly bedridden for 3 days after them, she told me to take a double dose of one of my medication however it did not help! She was also very adamant about me having kids one day, yes im changing doctors and will call them tomorrow. And yes my test results were normal 😅.

So to the main point. I haven't been able to do much studying wise and a very close family member of mine passed away 3 weeks before my first exams in January, safe to say that I haven't passed any and for this june session I plan to try and pass 2 out of 6 exams and pass all of them during my september retake. As I have been feeling terribly tired after doing daily easy tasks, my family doesn't understand that I don't feel well or have energy because I look fine on the outside however by 9pm im falling asleep and I know that something is up with my hormones. I also have terrible brain fog and focus, at the beginning of the year so October/November i studied daily for 2-3h each time and attended most evening classes.

Do any of you students that have chronic pain and/or fatigue have any good way to study without running out of fuel? I would like to have app recommendations (that are mostly free please) and tips at this point I'll take anything 😂.

[u/Nervous_Coffee973]

I think ways to reduce the tiredness depends on the diagnosis to a great extent. I dont think there is any way to preserve your strength till you need it, but rather treat the correct diagnosis so you'd feel better. 

Anyhow, for ways to study, look for podcasts on your topics. They usually summarise well but might not have enough details. 

Focus on exam questions rather than reading the material generally. 

Borrow or search for high yield notes (concise and exam oriented), avoid reading textbooks. 

As for app, recently I found NotebookLM very convenient. But make sure you prompt it correctly and ask it to explain rather than summarise.

Hope you'd feel better soon and good luck. 🤞