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I'll tell you a bit about me and my disability (a thread) - here we go...
I'm Erin, I'm 21 and I go to medical school in Birmingham. I am a disabled medical student
I'll tell you a bit about me and my disability (a thread) - here we go...
I'm Erin, I'm 21 and I go to medical school in Birmingham. I am a disabled medical student
I have a condition called Idiopathic Hypersomnia. You may know what Narcolepsy is, and it's kind of a cousin of that. I also have severe sensory problems to do with touch and hearing.
I find both of these conditions quite hard to deal with, as a person, and as a medical student. With my hypersomnia, I fall asleep a lot. It's out of my control and I can get a sleep attack at any moment. I won't totally drop off like narcolepsy but I will need to sleep.
I also can't tell you the last time I've felt I have energy or am awake. Now I know a lot of people get exhausted from jobs and daily life. This is different. This is frequently not being able to walk from the living room to the kitchen to get a drink of water.
I'm thankful for my fiancé. He's truly wonderful and helps me with lots of things like this. I hallucinate most nights. Usually insects or animals of some kind, but it's so hard to dissociate it from reality. It wipes out the next day, maybe even more than that.
When I want to do something, I have to weigh up the consequences. A day out will mean probably a few days feeling terrible. I moved house 2 to 3 weeks ago and I'm still struggling from that
I can't really drive for more than half an hour or I risk falling asleep at the wheel. To be honest I find less than half an hour hard and my fiancé drives me when he can.
With my sensory problems, I can get quite overloaded by lots of noise, different materials etc. It's just an extra thing I wish would go away!
Next week I'll be restarting my placement. I'll have early mornings and long days, and I know I'm going to find it hard. But I know I've got to keep going because I know I can use my disabilities in a positive way to help other people as a healthcare professional 
