{"id":53078,"date":"2024-03-04T15:12:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T15:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/?p=53078"},"modified":"2024-03-04T15:12:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T15:12:39","slug":"im-essentially-living-and-timed-by-three-pills-leeds-dj-talks-living-with-an-invisible-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheffieldwire.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/03\/04\/im-essentially-living-and-timed-by-three-pills-leeds-dj-talks-living-with-an-invisible-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI’m essentially living and timed by three pills\u201d: Leeds DJ talks living with an invisible illness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Niamh Ingram a DJ, who regularly appears at The Boiler Room<\/a> and Wire<\/a> in Leeds, as well as a weekend editor at the the world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine, Mixmag<\/a>, speaks out about what it’s like to live with a long-term, chronic illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niamh, 22, suffers from Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS)<\/a> and is also undergoing a diagnosis for ongoing neurological struggles which leave her feeling breathless, seeing black spots, and prone to collapsing. Both conditions, which affect her everyday life, leaves the Leeds-based creative juggling her medication in a bid to carry on working. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Niamh Ingram. Credit: @simmykanda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She says: \u201cI take my latest medication three times a day – at 9am, 3pm, 9pm – but, it wears off after six to seven hours. A couple of weeks ago, I played a closing slot at Wire – by 3am my medication was wearing off. I have to shift my entire day to when I take my medication. It’s so much more disruptive because I’m essentially living and timed by three pills. You\u2019re kind of dictated by a little white pill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside living with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Niamh is also battling against a yet to be diagnosed condition, which is believed to be a form of dysautonomia, a suspected post tachycardia syndrome (PoTS), that causes Niamh’s heart rate to increase very quickly, during everyday activities, including getting up or lying down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niamh, who is self-employed, says: \u201cWhether it\u2019s DJ’ing or journalism, I don’t want someone to think \u2018we\u2019re going to commission her for this but she might not be able to make her deadline because she might have a flare up\u2019 even though I’ve never missed a deadline and I never will – that fear that they could find someone else is always there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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