Written by Luke Gibson
On the first Friday of September 2024, my wife and nine year old son commenced a journey from our home in Port Macquarie bound for the Sunshine Coast. After an eight hour drive, we arrived at our accommodation and I attempted to get out of the car. I couldn’t move.
My body was in a state of paralysis. It was pain beyond mere soreness, the likes of which I had never experienced before. Somehow I made it through that three night trip, shuffling in pain, but knew something really serious was going on. I knew what muscular pain was like having completed dozens of endurance events, but this pain was next level.
Fast forward 19 days and after many blood tests and consultations with my Doctor, I was given a diagnosis: Polymyalgia Rheumatica, (PMR), with a side order of rotator cuff injury. PMR comes under the broad heading of arthritis and is a chronic autoimmune disease. Aged 52, I was dealt this blow 20 years earlier than the average diagnosis age for this condition. PMR is a strange illness: the Doctors usually diagnose it based on process of elimination, and can’t say for certain that PMR is what’s happening, it’s their best bet.
The medical fraternity also don’t know exactly what causes PMR which is unsettling. Stress is sometimes mentioned as a contributor but there doesn’t seem to have been enough studies done yet to work out exactly how much that contributes. In 2024 I was studying a Diploma in Counselling and leading up to this incident I had 13 assignments due. Being stubborn I pushed through, to my health’s detriment, so that may have had some bearing.
I was put on daily steroids, beginning at a high dosage, in an effort to reduce the inflammation. The pain was centred in the upper body, above the sternum up to the neck and into the arms, in addition to the hips. I was put on daily nausea tablets and given codeine to manage the pain levels as required. The side effects of all this were weight gain through bloating and water retention. Severe exhaustion was another side effect.
Somehow I made it through 2024, completing the Counselling Diploma, my gateway into the Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) at Charles Sturt, commencing in March 2025. I tried two subjects, but ultimately had to let one go because the workload was too much. But early on I discovered Charles Sturt’s Study Access Plan.
This unique assistance allows students with a disability or various circumstances which impact their ability to study and complete the required work, a custom designed plan. In addition to my severe exhaustion levels, and needing to move around and stretch a lot due to the pain, I am also the full time carer for our son, who was diagnosed with severe autism seven years prior to me starting at Charles Sturt.
The Charles Sturt Study Access Plan has allowed me personally to get extensions for assignments and in the online quizzes, more time to complete them. Charles Sturt recognises there may be barriers to completing tertiary study for some students, and in offering this help, makes the process that little bit more manageable.
Without the Charles Sturt Study Access Plan, I would have not been able to continue with my studies, so I’m so appreciative this help is available. Click here for more info.
Charlie blog is a SSAF funded initiative.
