# Any suggestions for surviving a double dorm and college with IBS-C/getting accommodated?



## unhappycamper (Jul 20, 2017)

I'm an 18 year old female headed to university pretty soon with IBS-C.

My current GI doctor prescribed taking a whole lot of Miralax and Dulcolax for three days to "clear everything out" and then basically using the two as needed to "fine tune" and "train" my bowels for 6 months. Obviously, that's going to empty me and taking laxatives as needed is going to help. But the cons of that are also pretty obvious:

First off, fine tuning and scheduling my bowel movements isn't too difficult. Except for when it is. I can get a regular poop schedule going, but that doesn't stop the gas in-between poops. Sometimes I'll massage my stomach and sit down without straining and it just doesn't work. Oh well, now I'm gassy. And I realize it's probably attributed to being slightly constipated, but... I don't know when my bowels are going to act up. I've just been "using laxatives as needed."

Second of all, sometimes I don't even respond to such a small dosage. And when I realize, oh crap, that wasn't as powerful this time, I just have to take more because I'm so constipated. This leads to a more poops at random times of the day. I want to go to med school. I can't miss a minute of a class I paid >$1000 to randomly have to poop without some kind of way of knowing that I'm going to somehow obtain the information I missed. If I'm dying in class, I just sit and hope no one around me breathes in. I'm probably thinking about how to release the series of farts without making noises more than I'm actually paying attention, but what are you going to do?

Third of all, why don't I just get accommodations for that? I can't. My GI doctor said "I really don't think they're necessary." One other thing I did ask for was my own dorm bathroom because I can spend up to 40 minutes each morning on the toilet to get ready for class (I get up ~2 hours before class to chug down super hot coffee to help me poop, massage my stomach, getting ready only takes me half an hour). He didn't want to write a note so I really hope I don't gross out my roommate. Really afraid about farting in my sleep since I get gassy after dinner and while I'm laying down. Sometimes, in the morning, I really have to run to the bathroom so I don't poop myself. I think it might be manageable, but the embarrassing scenarios are already playing through my head.

All the while, I've been taking Miralax less than Dulcolax (~3-4 times a month). I can't really get the Miralax down without vomiting sometimes. Other times I have to take about 4 tabs of Dulcolax to get me going. I get horrible cramps with both and sometimes I still don't poop because I didn't take enough. It's just horrible overall. Sometimes I don't take either laxative and I have loose poops though. Despite my GI doc telling me "eating all the fiber in the world won't help you," I've found that maybe I was just eating too little entirely. Surprisingly, I've been trying to gain wait to get a curvier figure and eating over 2000 calories a day has made me poop more without laxatives! My GI doctor is clearly aggressive towards me because of the naturopath in my medical history ("trust me, all those herbal treatments are BS, you need to really follow my advice") although, that was what my mom made me do when I was 14. Not my choice. My parents have been extremely unsupportive of me throughout the years already. I don't need my GI doc sassing me when he doesn't know what I go through (ie "I have patients with actual colitis and they have actual problems and actually need accommodations"). I also have depression, tried to kill myself. Can you guess why? Having IBS is straining when you have actual goals in life.

Anyway, I don't know how I'll survive this. Any advice? I just want to get through college without people thinking I'm gross and without worrying about running to the bathroom during a 2 hour lab!!


----------



## Fefoe44 (Jun 28, 2017)

Hey, how's it going. I know the struggle. I'd recommend taking probiotics, specifically Align. It helped significantly with gas. Try to avoid foods with insoluble fiber as they can cause gas. I'm a 19 male so i know the struggle


----------

