Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | A Hello and a request to college kids

Hi all. I've been suffering from IBS-D for almost 2 years. I can attribute a lot of my attacks and symptoms to stress related to being a junior in college. Things have been better lately, but I've been wondering if there are other college students in my situation. One of my classes this semester is Magazine Article Writing and after I had to explain to him why I needed to use the bathroom twice in one class (It was a bad day!) my professor seemed to think that it would be a good topic to research, write an article about and possibly publish somewhere. So I need your help. If you could tell me about your experience with IBS and college I would be most appreciative. Some of the questions I have include:

* Do you think your IBS is caused by stress?
* Do your symptoms get worse around the time of midterms or finals?
* What kinds of foods can you make/eat at school? (Super easy, cheap recipes that can be made in the dorm would be a plus!)
* Have you explained your condition to roommates and friends?
* Do you ever drink alcohol or caffeine? (two popular college substances)
* How has IBS affected your social life at school?
* How has IBS affected your school work/GPA?
* Have you explained your IBS to your professors?
* Have you ever considered (or have) droppped out of school due to IBS?
* Have you used any college resources to help you with your IBS?(Student Health, Counseling Center, Disability Support Services, Yoga classes at the school gym, etc.)
* Any other anecdotes relating to college and IBS

You can post them here for the benefit of others, but I would really love if you e-mailed them to me, so I can keep track of names and colleges in order to properly quote or use your information for the article. Thank you so much for reading this long post! Any information or stories you can give me would be most helpful. ETA: This article isn't due for class until March first, so don't worry about being too late to respond until the very end of Febuary. Thanks again!

Shannon Hughes
Loyola College in MD
smhughes1@loyola.edu

Edited by SMHred (02/15/05 08:19 PM)

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