# Might drop out of college and uni because of IBS



## precarious_me (Apr 12, 2012)

Today I rang my Mum from college to discuss with her the possibility that I'll have to drop out mid-year and come home. IBS is controlling my life here just as much as it did back home, and I find it impossible to concentrate in class or study when my gut is in pain or discomfort, especially when I'm ridiculously bloated. I can only perform tasks that require an extremely low amount of physical and mental effort half the time, such as cleaning my room, washing up and making small talk with others. The idea of completing an difficult assignment or doing hours of dedicated study while my insides feel like they're about to explode is just unfathomable. I've tried it and I don't last more than a few minutes before I have to lie down or curl up into a ball. I haven't been to the gym in weeks either and I've been losing weight because naturally, I've become afraid of eating too much. I put myself in this position by taking steps in faith rather than just knowing my limitations with my IBS and making decisions based on them (i.e. moving away from home and going to college rather than staying at home and going to a local uni). But I still have trouble accepting the idea that this is my life from now on. Hopefully it won't be like this forever. I'm currently undertaking a hypnotherapy program, but it's a long way from completion. In the meantime I think it might be better for my grades and my future if I move back home and go to uni there. It's just impossible to reach my potential while I'm restricted by IBS like this. The sad thing though is that I'll have to say goodbye to all the wonderful people that I've met here and probably never see most of them again. I don't know how I'd go about leaving either...I have too much stuff to take back home in one trip. It'll be a long and complicated process but in the end it might be for the best. I've still got about another 8 weeks until mid-year, so if things start to look up I might be able to stay, but at the moment it's not looking good.When I rang my Mum I told her how my IBS was affecting my study, and naturally she told my Dad. So he rang me back later, asking me why I was sick (as if I was somehow in control of it all) and told me that I probably just need to adjust my diet and cut out baked beans...which I haven't eaten for at least 2 months. I don't think he understands that food doesn't cause the condition...food can aggravate it but the IBS is ALREADY THERE. I don't know how to get this through to him. He talked to me about seeing a doctor here and I told him I already saw one at home when I went back for Easter and all he could do was write me a prescription for tricyclic anti-depressants. I don't think my Dad understands that there's not much doctors can do for IBS, and it's not being caused by anything I'm doing to myself.This is the thing that gets me most about the condition. It brings out the worst in non-sufferers, because people don't want to believe that conditions like this can't simply be "fixed", so if there's no medication available to cure it, then it must be the sufferer's fault that they're suffering, because the world is perfectly fair and no one gets something horrible that they don't deserve







This is why I haven't told any of my friends that I have IBS. I don't think people take kindly to being presented with a problem that they can't solve. Most people seem to either get angry and blame you for the problem that you have (even though you obviously didn't ask for it) or just deny that you're suffering, because they don't want to believe it. I'm just so tired of being in pain and discomfort because it's not getting me anywhere. It's not the kind of pain that if you push on through it you'll eventually achieve a goal or gain wisdom or improve your life in some way. It's just needless suffering, that makes you bitter, weak and insecure, and I'm so fed up of feeling like this.Sorry, my somewhat purposeful post kind devolved into a rant. Oh well...hopefully you can relate.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Well what are you currently using to manage your symptoms?? Dropping out of school is quite drastic a move.. If it were me I would totally exhaust ALL treatment options and combinations before I pulled out of school....


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## Cassie90 (Oct 4, 2011)

jksdhfjkhkjhk


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## precarious_me (Apr 12, 2012)

Thanks Cassie I dropped one of my courses very early in the semester when I first started realising that the huge workload and trying to manage my IBS didn't go together well. I'm now doing three courses instead of four, but they are all science subjects so it's still pretty intense. I have a single room in college, but I don't think they provide any first years with an en-suite. I'm going to stick it out until the end of semester (due date to drop courses is in two days), and hopefully my GPA won't be too bad if I just try and do as much study as possible. I think you're right about applying mid-year...I'll look into the university in my home town and see if I can apply for any science courses there mid-year that can improve my GPA and get me into the course I want to do (Medicine). If I'd just stayed at home I could be doing Medicine right now instead of struggling with this course that I've ended up hating. Gah...why did I have to be so naive? Oh well. Thanks for the advice and support







It's reassuring to hear that someone in a similar situation came out of it well.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

What might help is to try to understand your IBS, it doesn't have to be a mystery. Do you keep a diary? I have D as well, but this is over in a few hours in the morning. Sometimes I get cramping but this is usually due to the wrong kind of fibre. I can't tolerate raisins, bran, or any kind of purgative fibre or undercooked veges. I just have to be so careful with fibre. I understand my IBS problem, which is basically delayed peristalsis, but I don't understand why I've also got fibre sensitivity as well, but maybe this affects normal people too. I don't know whether or not you fully evacuate and whether this has an effect on your pain. I don't get pain so much, but gas if I don't fully evacuate, but that could simply be I have a more sensitive sphincter to other people here. If your sphincter is holding the gas in that could cause a lot of pain, so the basic question is what is causing the pain and gas. The evacuation problem isn't really a mystery to me. The output is say, 3 or 4 cups, so it's finite not endless. What I mean is once I've gone I've gone for the day, so any other symptoms are due to other causes. The main cure for me is to get rid of it all by the time I start work which is just a matter of spending the time. I'm wondering how many other people here have delayed peristalsis and the role this could have with their IBS. What I'm saying is: it's a process of elimination. If you're certain you've fully evacuated, but you still get cramping and gas, then you would think it would be indigestible food working its way down. So then you need to identify the problem foods.


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## rockingirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Have you tried talking to anyone in your school's health center? I had a different problem my senior year of college (vulvodynia) which left me in pain when I sat during class, but I also was having IBS symptoms, which I thought were side effects from the medication I was taking for the other problem. Anyway, I got the health center to give my professors a note saying that I had a health problem and may need to miss class more than the typical student. I found the professors to be very accommodating, and they weren't nosey about it. I had all little coping things that I did, like suck on Skittles to keep my stomach from making noises, sit in the back so no one would really notice if I snuck out and then came back in, and I did ask to take a couple final exams at different times from the rest of the class. I would definitely give that a shot and see if the health center might have some ideas for you. Send me a message if you ever want to chat more about what I did in school


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## Cindero (May 1, 2012)

I'm not thinking about dipping out but my ibs does affect everything it seems like and I feel like my parents don fully understand what's wrong. With school it seems like I hve p choose times that accommodate with my stomach schedule. Idk if you guys have been the same way where you would have to use the restroom more than two times to just have a settle stomach for the rest of the day? Sometimes I have to skip class because I'll get random diarrhea or my stomach will be bloated and be making loud noises and I can't sít in class comfortable. It frustrates me a Lot! I have stopped eaing junk food and chane my diet for a long while now but my symptoms just recently starte coming back and worse. I'll be going to my doctor soon but I'm glad I'm not the only one like this because I feel like I am. I'm also just scared to go to the health office at my school because I feel like they won't really help much bit that's just my thoughts maybe any suggestions with coping with this and school?


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## DAD (Jun 12, 2009)

precarious_me said:


> Today I rang my Mum from college to discuss with her the possibility that I'll have to drop out mid-year and come home. IBS is controlling my life here just as much as it did back home, and I find it impossible to concentrate in class or study when my gut is in pain or discomfort, especially when I'm ridiculously bloated. I can only perform tasks that require an extremely low amount of physical and mental effort half the time, such as cleaning my room, washing up and making small talk with others. The idea of completing an difficult assignment or doing hours of dedicated study while my insides feel like they're about to explode is just unfathomable. I've tried it and I don't last more than a few minutes before I have to lie down or curl up into a ball. I haven't been to the gym in weeks either and I've been losing weight because naturally, I've become afraid of eating too much. I put myself in this position by taking steps in faith rather than just knowing my limitations with my IBS and making decisions based on them (i.e. moving away from home and going to college rather than staying at home and going to a local uni). But I still have trouble accepting the idea that this is my life from now on. Hopefully it won't be like this forever. I'm currently undertaking a hypnotherapy program, but it's a long way from completion. In the meantime I think it might be better for my grades and my future if I move back home and go to uni there. It's just impossible to reach my potential while I'm restricted by IBS like this. The sad thing though is that I'll have to say goodbye to all the wonderful people that I've met here and probably never see most of them again. I don't know how I'd go about leaving either...I have too much stuff to take back home in one trip. It'll be a long and complicated process but in the end it might be for the best. I've still got about another 8 weeks until mid-year, so if things start to look up I might be able to stay, but at the moment it's not looking good.When I rang my Mum I told her how my IBS was affecting my study, and naturally she told my Dad. So he rang me back later, asking me why I was sick (as if I was somehow in control of it all) and told me that I probably just need to adjust my diet and cut out baked beans...which I haven't eaten for at least 2 months. I don't think he understands that food doesn't cause the condition...food can aggravate it but the IBS is ALREADY THERE. I don't know how to get this through to him. He talked to me about seeing a doctor here and I told him I already saw one at home when I went back for Easter and all he could do was write me a prescription for tricyclic anti-depressants. I don't think my Dad understands that there's not much doctors can do for IBS, and it's not being caused by anything I'm doing to myself.This is the thing that gets me most about the condition. It brings out the worst in non-sufferers, because people don't want to believe that conditions like this can't simply be "fixed", so if there's no medication available to cure it, then it must be the sufferer's fault that they're suffering, because the world is perfectly fair and no one gets something horrible that they don't deserve
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GIRLS -IBS is very much involved with stress and the food choices you make in the way of allergies. You are in college now (and I want to help keep you there if that is your desire), then you are smart enough to Google "allergy elimination" and go to the NAET url website and read how easy it now is to test yourself for and eliminate food allergies and other allergies too. Purchase a couple of their books and you will learn a lot about IBS and your health. By eating unsuspecting food allergies, you are keeping your abdominal digestive tract aggravated and inflamed and that in part also most likely keeps your IBS going as young as you girls are. The past several weeks I have written a few other more detailed posts regarding this problem towards the beginning of this forum, but you will have to search for them if you wish to read them.A lot of times boys, men, and dads are not very understanding nor sensitive to IBS problems unless they have had actual experience with it in their past. They just don't understand how agonizing it can be.DAD


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