# School



## Sad Liza (Feb 14, 2013)

Hi. I'm new here. My 16 year old daughter just got diagnosed with IBS. She has been out of school for a month because of the complications that come with IBS. She is not a trouble maker. She has always been good in school. Even though she does not have a bad school record, and I have explained what is going on with her, it seems like the school social worker doesn't have any care about what she is going through and keeps pressing that she needs to be in school. It's not like she doesn't want to go and she hates that she is not getting the credits she needs to advance to the next grade. This is just extra pressure that we don't need and I don't know what to do about it. I am in contact with the social worker with TABS and he has been great. We even have a court date coming up. He said he would be there with us to back us and the situation that has kept her out of school. But that doesn't take away the fact that it got this far. I told the school social worker that even though she had blood, urine and bowel tests done that didn't show anything wrong, that it does seem like there is still a medical issue, and he still sent the letter to the DA for us to go to court. This is frustrating. We have been trying our best to get to what is wrong. If it helps, we live in Milwaukee. I just want to know if there are other parents who went through this with the school system and what they did about it. Any other support and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Just a little of what we have accomplished so far. Her tests all showed that she is healthy, as in no bacteria, blood cells are fine, etc. The doctor gave us such a basic example of what drinks and foods to avoid that we have been online all day looking up more information. My daughter has already been trying different things with her diet, like avoiding milk, and anything else that seemed to not agree with her, so when we went online we found that she is on the right road as far.

We are working on her diet. Is there anything else we need to focus on with her being a teen?


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## LauLau26 (Nov 3, 2012)

Well I know school and college are two very different environments, but im 17 and I've been getting hassle off them for not attending all the time. What would be a good help for your daughter is getting work for her to do and catch up on while she's off. Not everyone is very understanding of people with ibs and the complications but don't let the social worker and school make you back down, I know ibs is rubbish. As for diet, just make sure that she doesn't miss out on any nutrients/vitamins because of trigger foods being cut out. good luck at court. X


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## Sad Liza (Feb 14, 2013)

Thank you. The whole food thing is kind of bumming her out. She says she has to eat like an old person now, like oatmeal for breakfast, but because sugars should be avoided, it's really plain oatmeal. I feel so badly for her. I try to be positive and point out the positives about her new eating habits, but it doesn't seem to be helping her feel better about it. I told her that at least she was already trying to change how she ate because she found that certain foods gave her problems, but now that we know it's IBS that is the problem and looked up what is good to eat and what to avoid, she's upset that she has to stop eating her favorite foods, too. She used to love to put hot sauce and lemon on just about everything she ate. She stopped doing that some time ago, but she hates that she can't do it ever again. My oldest daughter got Type 1 Diabetes when she was a month away from turning 11. I tried to focus on the positive with her, as well, and it didn't help. I feel like I am going through that all over again now. I don't know what to do to help my daughter cope with having IBS. I was thinking that I could look into counseling...or see if there is a support group in our area or something. She was doing some more searching on the web for information about IBS and found an article someone wrote about being able to cure themselves of IBS. I had her bookmark it so I can look it over. The doctor told us that IBS is for life. Confusing!


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## LauLau26 (Nov 3, 2012)

Well as I've said to people on here before, rather than cut out a load of food that sets other people off, keep a food diary/diharrea/constipation diary so she knows personally what sets her off. And i know the food thing is awful. I was diagnosed with ibs just after my 17th birthday, but she will get there in.the end. Not everyone can cure themselves and personally I don't believe in that, but each to their own. But as she gradually finds more triggers she'll know what she can and can't eat. And replace foods that set her off with foods that don't. E.g. if gluten is a trigger, find gluten free foods, my ibs has made me lactose intolerant and i do slip up sometimes but finding replacement foods is much easier than I imagine it was say 20 years. She can do it again, its just the consequences that suck. If she ever wants to talk to someone with ibs, as we are a similar age get her to join here and message me. As for counselling, yes it is a fantastic idea, she might take some talking into it but let her know she really will benefit from it. And sadly for now ibs is for life, but there are medications to make it more bearable. E.g. antispasmodics, laxatives, and medication to stop diharrea. Hope you're both feeling better very soon, its a hard journey to start off with, but it gets easier with time trust me  best of luck to you x


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