Can we fix our relationship

Last year starting from april I (22M) started going through a difficult period with my gf (21F) . I felt enjoyable experiences in the relationship were getting less and less whilst we were getting more irritable with each other, having more fights doesn’t help that we were both under a lot of stress due to our studies ( we’re both med students ) besides that during that period got a yeast infection that persisted for a while taking a toll on her mental health and our intimate life .. Right around that time I felt a certain uneasiness and discomfort starting to build up inside from the situation as a whole but I felt I couldn’t and shouldn’t share it because I wanted to be there for her through the episode of the infection that was mentally draining her and because I felt that I played big of a pillar this plays in her life and in her stability which makes it that much harder to share this with her , because I didn’t want to shake her that was the last thing she needed espacially because she was going through à stressful period herself , so I decided to stomach this feeling thinking I was taking responsability for my emotions and that this was the right this for us and that this will surely pass , but I was very wrong.. it led me into one of the worst periods I’ve had in my life where I was seriously was considering breaking it off , because these feelings grew more more where I was having trouble sleeping regularly . The thought of breaking up was omnipresent and I felt I was reaching a limit of how much I can keep this to myself. This went on for a while before I shared what I was thinking, though I didn’t share the full extent of how much it was affecting me because I wanted to soften the blow for her which was my first mistake as I wasn’t communicating the truth fully.

After talking about it , I felt some relief although I still didn’t get rid of my discomfort Nor the thought of breaking up and it would continue to float it my mind for the first period of the summer that my gf spent with me here before she went back to her hometown which was far because she was starting to run low on the funds that she saved to stay here to try and invest more in us and work our problems and make some memories together .

After two weeks or so she came back, I felt it rekindled things between us , that a lost spark came back. I had hope that this will continue , that maybe we had just to put some distance occasionally to respice things . I didn’t want to admit to myself this dissatisfaction ran deeper than I thought and I succeeded to falsely convince myself it wasn’t something that jeoperdised us thinking that maybe all LTR had some downtime like this and that we’ll be over ( side note : this is my first relationship so I didn’t have much experience in this )..I would continue finding excuses for this until this dissatisfaction got too big and I was reaching a limit again .

As the summer was starting to end I started to feel a loss of identity as well that I didn’t where it came from and an increasing need to have time to myself whilst my gf wanted more time together . I felt guilty that I was having this increasing need for distance because it’s not ” normal “whilst I was questionning why this was happening , is it early signs of a break , why am I like this.. meanwhile my ” needs ” are being foregone to solve this issue which makes things worse ama I felt li ena dra kife fil hkeya zid not attending to my needs , whilst prioritising hers.

And at a certain point I felt I had some Loss of interest , between the constant fighting made me find myself sometimes walking on eggshells and this constant discomfort that was developping,  the diminishing positive experiences and foregoing my own needs that made things worse and ultimately made them progressively lose their shine

I shared with my girlfriend all of this yesterday , which was a shock to her .. we kept talking for sometime about what’s the best to do moving on and we agreed on a break so we can both step back and take a decision each of us if we want to continue because we both agree that our relationship though the problems we have is something special and that we’d have to take a decision quickly

For those who had similar experiences , can a break be healing experience ? Can I find the spark we once had and regain back interest or is it difficult once one reached this point . Your help and comments will be very appreciated .