I feel really stuck in life. What should i do!?

Hello

I understand what you are going through. I have a friend back in college who was in the same situation as yours. She was sick so often that she missed most of our classes which leads to her failing. What she did was she along with her parents talked with the school and explained her condition. They made a Home school program for her so she can still continue with schooling while she's at home recovering from her sickness. It was a very good system.

Coordinate with your school maybe they can also provide you with a special learning approach to correspond with your condition. Don't be too hard on yourself, you said it yourself, it's not your fault. Instead of feeling guilty you should be proactive and make amends to your missed lessons. Study while resting, just read books and self-learn in the meantime.

Have a cold bath every morning, first thing. Guaranteed cure.

This might help.

Sorry but this is way too pie-in-the-sky advice and way too Pollyanna-ish. You have no idea what this person's health issues are as they never stated the specifics. They never said whether it was properly medically diagnosed.

This mind-over-matter philosophy is a folksy bit of guidance when you're dealing with some random non-threatening or minor ailments. Again, this is poor advice, not knowing what ailments this person has.

I would agree so far where if your health issues are already properly diagnosed and are minor, it's wise not to give in totally and let the ailments take over your life. Find a way to work around these minor ailments and be productive and happy.

Welcome to A2K forum. You have my sympathy.

At age 18, you're hardly stuck. This is only a temporary situation..and with some discussion with college administrators and some make-up work you can get caught up again and be on track. Don't panic as you can overcome this temporary setback.

See your doctor, get something in writing that explains what the situation is. Then go and see someone in student welfare services. Your situation is not unique, they're used to dealing with students who have all sorts of health issues. They'll be able to liaise with your tutors and work out a solution, be that more time with assignments, catch up work to do over the break or whatever. You really need to talk to someone otherwise it may be put down to laziness.

Agreed - and a little fatigue (or whatever the issue is here and there) can sometimes be an early warning of something rather serious. Best to have it checked, just in case.

My daughter is having to repeat her final year at Uni. Last year was a washout, she was clinically depressed and lethargic, fortunately she got it sorted, (still on antidepressants) but is doing very well. Most problems have a solution.

I wish her well; hope everything continues working for her.

Regarding the OP, I have a friend in her 30s who has Guillain-Barré Syndrome which is a weakness/fatigue type of disease, see: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/detail_gbs.htm

Of course I don't presume to diagnose the OP but the bottom line is that sometimes continued and increasing fatigue is a symptom of something.

some folks should NOT go to college right after HS. Ive taught college and I had several instances of students with unspecified symptoms that would go away during Interim Semesters or during summer. These symptomoligies always interfered with their college careers

Ive seen where, after several good bouts of counseling from a concerned professional t the college, sometimes along with a few years in the world in which we take time to become more self assured adults and then you think about transferring back. Such an approach may be what you need.
Youre way beyond any "drop add" cutoff dates at most US colleges so you may wish to try to negotiate for some "Incompletes an do a home completion of this semester. Then, it may be better for you to take a few semesters "sabbatical" and do some other work or do some classes at a community college where they will aid in transferring credits to your ultimate college .

DOING NOTHING about this is actually a bad path to follow. Get acting and make some plans that allow you to gradually take up college as you are more able to assume the required role of an independent student. (Im assuming that a college degree is what you really want)
Dont feel bad, its quite common and colleges should all be dealing with stuff like this and ADD issues (where a really intelligent student has trouble making grades, or other minor but lingering psychological-internal problems.

Our bodies each have unique trigger mechanisms that warn us that we are out of a "comfort zone", and often qe must learn how to deal with that.

Good luck, see your assigned counselors NOW. They are not unaware of these problems

I completely agree with farmerman's comments, he's nabbed what I think and has said it better than I would have.

Lethargy can have many "mothers"*, as others point out - actual ill health, and also depression, or even long time not-much-curiosity because of not learning to be curious when growing up... but what farmerman is saying happens fairly often.




*That's a takeoff on Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers, by Les Blank.
http://lesblank.com/films/garlic-is-as-good-as-ten-mothers-1980/

Cold baths cure all that. When you get stripped and look at that bathful of greenish water, you know you're not going to be faced with anything more difficult all day. Or the next. In three days, you'll be cured.
Comment to Ragman, this youth is 18. No health problems/ medical conditions preventing brisk remedy likely.

Personal endorsement: this worked for me.

Why can't this person have undiagnosed depression? Or Hodgkin's Lymphoma? Or any of a thousand other causes for fatigue? They aren't necessarily just lazy and need a good talking to - regardless of their age.

I remind all that this site does not permit medical diagnosing.

Usually the teaching staffers of each college or department will have frequent get togethers with the university med and counseling staffs to enable the teachers to spot and assist kids who are going through all kinds of problems or undiagnosed illnesses.
Being able to spot a problem is not giving med advice and using the training we get from the med and counseling staffs , to "get the kids in-here to seek some help", is a proper mode of intervention.

Any time I had a kid miss more than 3 classes in a single unit, could with poor peformance (even though a kids pst records were great) Id be busy with contacting them or trying to determine whats going on. Id have my grad assistants (who usually teach labs and handle testing for the larger intro courses) also make frequent roll checks..

I think McTag's trying to ply us with some dark humor. I also think hes not aware of how many new college students are less able to handle the stress of merely leaving their home for an extended period of time and being totally independent. If I were McTag, Id cut the young lady some slack and try to recall what his major angst was composed of when he was 17 or 18.

I didn't accuse anyone of being lazy.

I can only say, when I had depression causing lassitude, my DOCTOR advised the cold bath treatment, and it worked.

So I offer the benefit of advice through personal experience. I imagine a medical examination of the OP showed nothing treatable, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Fear of the unknown, I suppose. Same as now for today's youngsters.

When you can face that bath filled with cold water (no central heating in those days, note), and get in it up to your neck, then you realise that you can face anything. And it gives you a hell of a boost.

And if you can thereby stay off pills and medication, what a boon.