Man, this sucks...

Well, your chosen profession should in theory, be sympathetic! I take it they are not? If I were you I'd watch my solid intake before long lectures, keep your fluids up but go light on solids. Then when you have bathrooms nearby and can easily access them, resume eating. I know you need to keep your stamina up but I notice when I eat large meals, I pay for it - by numerous trips to the bathroom and often times, D. All out D. But if I eat very light before an event that I just can't leave w/o causing a commotion, I do fairly well. I just make sure I eat later (a banana or yogurt). In fact maybe you could keep solid food items such as these on hand, in a small cooler or fridge nearby that you can just grab and go.

Finally, I've also noticed that when I stress out b/c I'm experiencing that numerous trips to the bathroom phase or the dreaded D, if I just quietly take care of things not many people notice I'm not feeling well. They notice when I try to resume whatever normal activity I was trying to be at, but when the cramping starts up, I have to suddenly stand up and leave, again. This is when they notice, hey where's she going again? I just do much better if I just sit on the throne and wait it out. Or this is going sound very odd but I can bring on more bm's, by just standing up, then sitting again. For gravity sake. So I'm known to do this while in a stall too. I can actually feel the stool come down and then I sit back down, to go even more. Trying to hurry along the process.

One more thing, I discovered Stayfree Overnight Long Thin maxi pads after my colon surgeries. They're great for periods but they're also great for men/women in situations like this. They go way up in the back, so you can sleep with a pad on, but if you think you might not quite make it the bathroom, wear one. They're so thin but give extra protection, that if you dribble a tiny bit, you just pitch it and your underwear stays clean. On a past colon cancer board I was reading, oh 8 years ago or so, men were wearing these pads to work! Because they didn't want to resort to wearing Depends.........so look into these pads. They have the purple stripe on the outside of the packaging, be sure to get the "Long" ones.

Good luck to you!

Mary/Marsky

Make sure you take a tape recorder to class with you so you can catch what was being said later while you were on the pot. If anyone says anything about it, tell them you only want to be a doctor so you can cure your chronic D. And try hiring yourself out as a research subject to make extra money, LOL. Oh, and I might explain (in a private meeting) to all of my professors what's wrong with my health and, oh yeah, are they going to be covering gastrointestional parasitic infestations this semester?

Just think: in a few years, you'll be able to write yourself prescriptions and you can dispense with seeing other doctors!

Hey Sarita,

I can't remember but did you ever try Metamucil?  I sympathize with you. I was recently at a dinner with 2 other couples and had to run to the bathroom every few minutes to either fart or have diarrhea.  Worst part was that their bathrrom is close to the kitchen table where we were eating and I'm sure everybody heard me .

I can't wait until you graduate (I know it's a little ways off ) because I'm going to be one of your 1st patients .  You will make an incredible doctor .