Accounting graduate Tahiya Essa says medical issues should not prevent you from getting an education.
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STRESS is common among students, but a University of KwaZulu-Natal graduate with a severe anxiety-related condition has encouraged students with health challenges not to give up on their dreams of getting an education.
Tahiya Essa has just completed a postgraduate qualification in accounting, with distinction. Yet despite her achievements, she suffers from Vasovagal Syncope, a condition that can be triggered by severe stress and anxiety, causing her to faint.
While many people may feel anxious before an exam or other challenging situations, in Essa’s case her condition makes her physically sick to the point where she can black out. It even reared its head on her wedding day, but with the support of her family she managed to get it under control.
Despite completing matric with eight distinctions, her problem started in high school.
“I always struggled with anxiety with tests and exams and anything that really just put me under pressure. But towards the end of high school, it got extremely bad to the point where in Grade 11, when I was getting ready to write the exam around all my friends and while in the waiting area, I fainted.”
The problem kicks in a few days before a stressful event, which means she cannot sleep for at least three nights leading up to an exam.
“I feel like I need to go, I need to vomit and I have a running tummy. I can’t eat or keep any food down. I feel sweaty and clammy and I used to feel very lightheaded on the day of my exam, but over the years I’ve managed to keep that under control.”
This week she shared her story with The Independent on Saturday because she wanted to inspire and encourage others with severe anxiety disorders not to give up.
Essa said that in high school she applied for a concession and, after speaking to psychologists, they recommended that she write exams in a separate venue where she would not hear other pupils revising or talk to her about their subjects.
“They thought that it would just benefit me so much more because every time I needed to write an exam, I would feel like I needed to go to the toilet and needed to vomit. I couldn’t eat. I had butterflies in the pit of my stomach and the symptoms were just getting worse as I got older.”
At University of KwaZulu-Natal she was supported by the disability support unit, which provided a separate exam room where she could write alone.
She says although she always had a knack for numbers, maths and accounting, she never imagined she would acquire a degree and go on to postgraduate studies because of her condition.
Essa said there was no specific incident that triggered the condition. Her mother had also suffered from anxiety and she has always been an anxious person, but over time it worsened. “I was constantly in fight-or-flight mode,” she said.
She has tried medication, but it brought its own side effects. “It would calm me down to the point where I could sleep through the exam. Some of them made me feel nervous.” These days she only uses medication when absolutely necessary and relies on other natural ways to manage her symptoms.
Essa is currently doing her articles at PwC in Durban and hopes to finish in the next few years and become a qualified chartered accountant.
“I don’t take medication unless it’s something for my board exam — not daily or weekly or as much anymore. I’ve learned other ways of controlling it,” she said.