college students

I'm incredibly lucky to currently be in remission, yet UC still affects my life in many ways. I was wondering if there are any college kids on this forum who sometimes feel incredibly alone when dealing with this condition? There are times when the dining commons food gets to me or I get incredibly painful stomach pains from the stress of school and I sometimes wish that there were people who I could talk to about it. Anyways, if there are any college kids out there with UC who feel a similar way, please share!

Hi zed92. I guess you could say I'm a lifelong college student. I'ma knowledge hunter. I graduated from UD. Lucky me I was dx'd with UC my freshman year. I was in the BA athletic training program at the time before I switchd to Biochem. I was more scared of this thing than anything in my life and there were no forums or advice then. Ask anyone if they would enjoy dropping what seemed like pints of blood in the john in the middle of the night out of an otherwise extremely fit and healthy male. So I became a ninja.

I smiled at despi's and ur comments about dining hall food. I became good friends with the secret bathroom around the corner I found in the slop hall. I had no clue what I could eat and what I couldn't. I just winged it and survived. I even used the ladies one sometimes when the dude's one was occupied. I couldnt keep blowing up the 2 stall crapper on my dorm floor as I was already getting a bit of a rep for "killing the crapper."

The early years of UC and college completely destroyed my confidence, pride, ego, social life with every flush. Now I just laugh at it all and savor those times that made me the man I am today. I fear nothing now bc of those experiences. Adaptation, creativity and trial and error allowed for me to survive college, and it took me 6 years.

My pointers: Learn to handle stress properly. Buy and take your own tp to dorm crappers, the stock tp will become sandpaper to you. No one will judge you and most will do the same bc of your good idea. Get your own room asap, or at least with someone you can trust that won't kill your already depleting ego further. Shared dorm bathrooms will destroy you.
Be honest with every girl you date and any jerk professor that may not let you leave class for any reason from the jump, no hiding it. Even if you have to drop some med proof on them. Without straining, BM when you can as much as you can especially before social functions and exams. Become a master of the stealthcrap.
Never say you have to go #2 when dismissing out of a social function. Just say u gotta pee, its more acceptable for some reason. I used immodium like it was candy but I probably did some real damage in there, so use at your own risk vs the risk of accidents. There is a balance you will find. Limit your alcohol as much as possible or just throw it up secretly. Whatever works.
This could go on for pages but I'm going down memory lane here and laughing too much so I gotta stop here.

Peace and Love

Let me tell you it sucks... I probably will not get into my school of choice due to flares affecting my grades. I am severely ADD and I can not take my adderral because I find the medication to upset my colon.

There are probably other people with UC on your campus, I was suprised to find out when I got an e-mail from my class president that he was affiliated with CCFA. I don't live at school so I cant say much about that aspect, but the center for access and success( might be called something different at your school, it's the disabilities office basically) can help you get all set with classes. At my school they just sent out a letter to your professors saying I have a chronic condition that has flares and remissions, might require some extra absences and I might need to leave unexpectedly. It helps to not have to worry so much in atleast some aspect of school. I also found that just walking around campus I found some bathrooms that were usual unoccupied and some that were always occupied and made mental notes. Going to school and having UC is certainly not easy and I hope with you being in remission you have a much easier time!

zed92, Welcome to the forum. I'm saying this because I haven't seen you here before. Now, back to your question. I'm currently a 21 year old junior at Kent State University. Ever since I've started college, I've been in a flare up. I started flaring up again my senior year of high school. It's been progressively worse. I've developed two fistulas since starting college. It hasn't been a walk in the park by any means. It's been a struggle every single day. However, I've managed to get through it with maintaining a GPA of 3.4 and being involved on campus. I try and be involved to keep my mind off of the disease. Yes, I feel very, very lonely sometimes. I've called my mother many times and cried to her over the phone. I'm sure there are other people who have it on campus, but I don't know most of them. What I did which may sound silly to some, was that I joined a fraternity. They have been such an amazing support group. I was talking to one of my brothers one time about UC, and he said, "hey that's funny I have the same thing." Small world really. You can get through it for sure. This forum helps me a lot too. These people are going through the same thing as us and they're awesome to vent to. Sure I may be annoying sometimes but hey, we're all on this forum for the same reason. To help each other out and find help. You'll get through college, I know you will.

I am the mother of a college student and I could not imagine dealing with UC at your age! You are way stronger than most on campus simply because you drag yourself to class everyday never knowing what will happen. A great number of college students will use any excuse to skip class. Blowing up a bathroom because of UC is way smarter than messing it up because of alcohol or partying like so many other students do! Hang in there and don't let any of this keep you from achieving your dream!

thank you all for your wonderful responses and helpful encouragement!

stereo, you're lucky you lived in the apartment prior to UC! i cannot imagine having to share a bathroom with a bunch of my friends while having UC. i always commuted to school, and that got gradually harder being on a bus or trolley 3 hours a day. we have a horrendous trolley and bus system in pittsburgh and they are always breaking down at the worst times. i've gotten stuck on the trolley before when i've had to go and it's been miserable.

i agree that it sucks that i can never go on fun trips with my friends or have a relationship. most of my friends live far away now and i can never visit them due to major anxiety of driving long distances and staying at their place.

bananagirl said...
stereo, you're lucky you lived in the apartment prior to UC! i cannot imagine having to share a bathroom with a bunch of my friends while having UC. i always commuted to school, and that got gradually harder being on a bus or trolley 3 hours a day. we have a horrendous trolley and bus system in pittsburgh and they are always breaking down at the worst times. i've gotten stuck on the trolley before when i've had to go and it's been miserable.

i agree that it sucks that i can never go on fun trips with my friends or have a relationship. most of my friends live far away now and i can never visit them due to major anxiety of driving long distances and staying at their place.

Oh yeah thats a big one for me too, visited and staying over at friends houses... eh.
Now that i'm hanging out with friends again, I'm getting asked to a few of their places for summer events and it gets me excited, but what I'm most nervous about is accessibility to the foods I want and taking my supplements, oh lord.

ucfighter, online classes count just as much as regular classes do. i know my sister did cyber school and took a lot of online classes in college, too, due to her social anxiety. what are you going to school for? all jobs care about is whether you have experience in your field... ive noticed my degree isn't so important and that i could've gotten the same jobs without it.

right now, im looking into taking an online class just because i'm bored and not mentally stimulated. i'm thinking about a literature class since reading takes up time.

Bananagirl, thank you for your response! Initially, I was a liberal arts major.. got a few credits in here and there, and took a little time off. I'm now 24.. I was thinking about becoming a dietitian, but because this school thing is taking me longer than anticipated, I'm now going for a two yr program... DMS (diagnostic medical sonography). However, I'm still in the midst of completing the specific prerequisites for that field. Honestly, if I could find a decent job without any more schooling, I'd be content. May I ask what it is you're doing? Also, how did you finish your degree, online?

I know it may sound a bit silly, but for a little over a year now I've been in remission. But UC wore on me so much that I get anxiety when I have to sit in a class room. My anxiety ultimately leads to me feeling uncomfortable, and my stomach will growl quite loudly. I end up focusing on my stomach rather than the lecture! It's terrible. Does that embarrass anyone else?

Hey I wanna make a shout and a "good on ya" to all the college students out here, because I have had UC for 3/4 of my college career (dx'd end of freshman yr) and it can be horrible. Give yourself a pat on the back, its a rough road but it can get easier.

The thing to remember is that your health comes first. Yeah yeah, your dropping thousands of dollars for a degree, but so what? If you don't have your health then where are you? In the hospital or on your dorm bed. Health is first. Having a disease like UC, in college, is something you need to learn to live with.

I spend a lot of time sleeping in and missing my morning classes. My roomates actually admire me. They said, how come you skipped? I say, I didn't sleep well the night before, so I needed to take care of my health and sleep in.

And then if I don't feel like going to class that day because of UC symptoms, I just fire off a couple emails to that day's professor's and jump back in bed. That's it. No need to sweat it more, we already are.

Last week I had to meet with many professors because of my prednisone tapering affects which is causing a lack of interest (adrenaline issues). I had to get extensions on assignments, and all of them tell me "you gotta do what you gotta do", extension granted.

If people understand now, they will know unfortunately IBD is on the rise, and they may even be lucky enough to get it some day.

As far as the dining hall, all of that food is ****. I actually believe dining hall food is a massive trigger to UC, and be even be a cause!!! It ****'s up even a normal persons insides. Imagine what it is to us Colitis peoples. I highly recommend you find a dorm with a kitchen applicians, stove, oven, microwave, fridge, sink. I have been preparing all 3 of the meals every day for the past 2 years on college campus. And when I go out to drink I bring all the ingredients of my mixed drink in my backpack: pineapple juice, coconut milk, and vodka. This is because I am following SCD (which is tremendous help)

Social situations can be hard. I did miss out on a lot of events, but yeah pack your bags, if you know popcorn is a trigger at the movie theatres, pack an alternative snack. Catch my flow?

My roomates know my condition, they are my good friends, people know I've been hospitalized, it's no big deal, everyone gets sick. A lot of people have more serious problems that aren't as publicised.

Keep up the good work

I am who I am, and what I am is who I am - Ghandi

ucfighter, i luckily was able to finish school with a good gpa and all my credits done. i started flaring badly in march 2011 and i only had one class along with my internship-25 hrs a week. i was able to get to the class every week and my internship boss was really understanding. i had to change my shift hours and come in when i wasn't in pain. i also did a lot of work from home. it was hard though because we had to have a certain number of hours at the actual faciliity so i would go 3-4 hrs at a time every day just to get them done. my major was in health and fitness so i had to teach a lot of fitness and nutrition classes. that ended up getting hard because i wasn't bubbly and had no energy. it's really hard to hide this disease for me because i always look phsyically gross when flaring- really skinny, sunken in eyes, bluish skin color, and bad posture. i am not working right now due to being in another flare. UC definitely affects my working capability and i'm thinking i'll have to go into a different field. i don't know of jobs where i can work from home with a health degree.