Hi jasgall
I suffer from chronic migraines and I'm in my second year of college. Every day is a struggle. When I wake up, if I'm not in pain, I know it's only a matter of time until I will be. My illness can be managed to a certain degree. I can avoid some of my headache triggers like certain foods, loud noises, dehydration, excessive stress and strong smells. But my primary trigger is fluorescent lighting, which is everywhere. All in all I don't have much of a life.
College is difficult. All of my professors know about my illness but some of them dismiss it as "just a headache".
I try to keep my eye on the prize. I do my best to remember that one day I will graduate and things will start to improve.
Hang in there!

During My sophomore year I was diagnosed with a rare muscle disease. At the time I could not walk or eat well. It took about two years to be able to get back to some level of normal. When I was very ill I let my professors know what was going on. At first I did not even have a name for what was wrong with me, but they seemed to understand and recognize that something was not right with my health. I tried to keep up with the pace, but they were supportive and flexible when I could not quite do it all.
At my University there is also an office of disability services. They provide counseling and also help professors understand when students with special issues need specific types of help.

I have major depression. It got so out of control that it led me to leave school a few times. I'm going back to try again. How do I deal? I wish I had an answer there. My way of dealing was to give up but that was the worst way. If your condition is under control, then it gets easier.

I also have major depression, and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in Feb 2012. I work full time and had been pursuing a BAS since 2009. I had to drop all my courses after a bad flare up of symptoms during Summer 2013. While dropping courses here and there is nothing new, I couldn't complete the semester at all. I tried to go to community college this fall semester, but ended up dropping both courses I was enrolled in there too.

Having to drop courses almost every semester I've been in school has brought my student loan debt up to a ridiculously high amount for only 57 completed credit hours. I can no longer afford to keep taking out loans, nor can I seem to continue working full time and go to school. This means the end of my educational dreams, at least for now. My husband has been unable to work due to his own health issues, so it's imperative my job (and accompanying medical insurance) take priority over my studies. When I don't have the energy to both go to work and make it to evening classes, work must come first.

Do you have career or family obligations that compete with study time?

Yes, I graduated in 2011 with my B.A in Social work and Criminology, but was Dx in 2010 , after being sick for a long time. I finnally started having seziures and ended up in a car accident when I was driving the week of finals b/c the pressure in my brain was so high, and they did a spinal tap. It was also effecting my vision.

My professors were all very sweet about it, as long as I kept them in the loop. I was even allowed an extension on my finals. They said I could take them after break if I wanted and take an "I" if I needed to.

I pushed through it, with only being able to see out of one eye.
Sometimes my mom would take me to class.

They were really nice /understanding if I didnt get all my reading done, being that I could only see out of one eye for a while.

You can take a medical leave of abscence if you need to.. not sure how that effects your loans but I believe it gives you an "I" which doesnt effect them.