20 y/o with PSA worried about uni

Hey! I'm 20 aswell and after a very long year of symptoms, I've just been diagnosed with Spondyloarthritis and should hopefully be starting injections soon. I am about to go into my final year of University. I'm sorry you're feeling so nervous about going back to uni but I don't blame you at all. I found it really hard when I initially started getting symptoms because my uni friends had kind of seen the transition, and so I used to get asked so many questions and people are not always understanding. But, what I have found is that for every ignorant person there are 10x more people who are sympathetic and willing to listen, you just have to find who those people are. One thing I would say is that the best way to deal with this is to speak openly about your condition and be honest about when you need help etc. because then you normalise it, and hopefully it won't be such a worrying point for you. This is especially the case for when you have flare ups because it's good to have some help and support when this happens. (Also, don't panic about having a flare up, this doesn't mean you will have to quit uni again. The unfortunate thing about a chronic illness like arthritis is that flare ups are inevitable- but the silver lining is that you know they will always pass!)

It's hard to come to terms with the fact that very few people will actually understand what you are going through, but at the end of the day, as long as people are compassionate you'll be just fine. You can also find support from people who understand first hand what it's like to have arthritis on these online forums, or perhaps your uni has a disabled students officer who will be able to support you and put you in touch with people who are going through a similar thing.

I hope this helps and best of luck!! xx