Getting a new doctor - Uni experiences | Part 2

'When I moved to uni I had to explain PKU to my new doctor'

Something which worried me on moving to university was how my prescriptions of food and juice deliveries would work. I guess one way of avoiding this worry would have been to continue with the usual arrangements at home and bring whatever I needed back to uni with me each time I visited, and this system might work well for some people (I guess it depends on how far you plan to venture from home). For me though, it just wasn’t convenient because I didn’t know how often I would be travelling back home and I didn’t like the idea of running the risk of being left with no supplement or food at all.

Arranging prescriptions for my low- protein food was sometimes frustrating. It was at first a little difficult adjusting to a new doctor’s system, because whereas at home my local pharmacy had known me for years and kept my regular orders on repeat, at the university’s doctors I was a completely new patient. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but when I registered at the university health centre, for some reason unknown to me, none of my records were kept on their system. This not only meant that all of my previous prescriptions had been erased but my doctor also had no idea that I even had PKU. I arranged an appointment where I had to explain what PKU actually was, which may surprise some of you but this wasn’t the first time I’d encountered a doctor who had no idea that PKU existed. Of course I don’t blame the doctor, it’s nobody’s fault in particular, but only due to a lack of awareness in general. When I think back to this, it just reminds me of why I really began this blog in the first place and how important it is that we try our best to raise awareness, because it is essentially helping to educate the next generation of doctors.

Every time that I needed food on prescription I had to take a list into the health centre and, this might sound silly, but I felt like I needed to explain every time that I had PKU, just because the staff didn’t know me like they did back home. It all just felt like a lot more hassle to me and it’s definitely one thing I won’t miss about uni. I’m looking forward to returning to the comfort of my own pharmacy again.

About mid- way through my degree I discovered that I actually only had a mild form of PKU, which granted me a lot more freedom with my diet and meant that I didn’t have to eat low - protein food if I didn’t want to. This took away some of the stress of prescriptions for me. However, I still had to order my supplements through this system.

Additionally, another little worry I had was how my supplement deliveries would work out, but this really proved to be an unnecessary concern because it all ran smoothly. The company delivered to my student accommodation with no problem, just as they would have done to my house back home. They would leave it with the office on site where I could collect it from when I was ready, so if I was out at a lecture for example, being around for the delivery wasn’t an issue. But I would still suggest double checking this with your student accommodation as different places might have an alternative system.

Whilst I am on the subject of supplements, I also want to mention here that I requested permission to have a mini fridge in my room to store my Coolers in because I didn’t feel comfortable storing them in the communal fridge. Again, getting permission wasn’t an issue but I would still suggest checking anyway.

I’ve said it before, but PKU shouldn’t be a setback. I think it’s important to realise that there are always little things you can do to make yourself feel slightly better about it. Even something as simple as having a fridge in my room at uni made me feel more at ease. Perhaps even if you’re able to find your potential flatmates on a uni Facebook page it might be worth starting up a conversation, so when you do eventually meet things will be less awkward and it could make that inevitable questioning about your PKU run slightly smoother.

I’m definitely not the only person with PKU to go to university, and I don’t usually admit to things like this, but this time I will allow myself to say that I’m proud of myself for making it through. There’s certainly nothing stopping you from achieving the same thing.

If you're yet to read the first part of this post, you can here: https://thepkulife.blogspot.com/2018/06/i-just-finished-my-undergrad-degree-uni.html