I survived a month in Italy!
#96782 - 08/09/04 11:50 AM
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It has been exactly one year since I've had IBS-D and only just last October that I actually was diagnosed and started taking pills for it. And it has been quite a hard thing to deal with-especially being only 20 and a busy college student.
I just wanted to share with you all my excitement-especially because I think you all could understand how big of an accomplishment this was for me. I posted almost a year ago about how I wanted to study abroad in Italy and I was just too nervous and apprehensive and scared and everything about it that I didn't think that I'd be able to do it. Then somehow I got enough courage to go through the whole application process and everything and I figured if I got accepted it was meant to be. And once I was accepted in like March, the next couple months I spent just not believing that I was actually going to be going. And that despite the outrageous cost of it, I think I reassured myself thiking that if I really didn't want to, I could still turn back and just not go. My family was going to miss me so much I think they would have accepted that.
But then the end of May each day came closer and more real and I was so nervous that I was going to be embarassed when I had to explain to people I'd just met why I could't eat like anything they did, or if I was feeling sick that I would hate being in a bathroom that I shared with new people. The worries were endless. But after going to Italy all by myself and spending the entire month of June living in an apartment with no one I knew, I am so proud to say that I made it, and not only overcame so much of my shyness/embarassment issues with IBS, but I definitely educated 20 more people about IBS and I NEVER ONCE HAD AN ATTACK!
I'll admit, it was very tough to resist all the amazing food and especially the gelato and wine-tastings at vineyards we visited, but I was outgoing, and used my very limited Italian to ask for things cooked plain, and more bread when that was all I could eat!
Well I was just so excited that I made it through and while my family is very considerate of me with my IBS, I just don't think they really understand just how big of an accomplishment that this has been for me so I wanted to share it with people that would. I was one of those people that for the longest time that avoided going out to dinner or to people's houses and I would stress out if I couldn't locate the nearest bathroom somewhere or I couldn't sit on the end seat of aisles. And while I still am like that to a degree, I am so much better now!
I also just want to take a second to thank you all because while it has taken me nearly a year to make a post on here, I have been reading and getting so much inspiration and help from everything you have all had to say. And all the recipes are lifesavers! I think it's safe to say that had I not had the motivation that came from this website and all the knowledge that gave me confidence, I don't think that I'd be sitting here right now being able to tell you all that I went to Italy and have bettered myself as a person. Thank you all! And to anyone who isn't sure they can take big steps like I did, I guarantee you that with enough determination you can, and you'll be better for it!
Brittany
Edited by Brittany (08/09/04 11:51 AM)
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GOOD FOR YOU!! Three cheers for Brittany! Thanks for sharing such an amazingly wonderful success story with us.
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Laura
Keep it simple!
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Hey brittany, Ive just been so inspired by your email, I feel like you are the other me! Im also a college student, but in the uk...im british and only just posted my first message on here today. I am 19 years old and find it very difficult with the social issue things just like you have in the past. I too have wanted to do things but been put off by the thought of having to educate a load of people about my problems and trying to resist the temptation of alcohol which is hard at this age with pressure from friends. I would really appreciate any tips/advive from you...please reply. I really want to go away next yea to south america to teach english to spanish orphans for a month as a volunteer and just like you have my doubts and worries. I'd love to hear from you in the future...it would really help me to have someone of my age in the same situation to talk to...WELL DONE natalie xxxxxx
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 Natalie
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Natalie- You have no idea how honored I feel that I could inspire you and I definitely hope that I can help you in any way that I can! I totally know what you mean about the pressures of being this young and have to resist it all! I feel like a social recluse sometimes because it gets real boring going to college people parties and just sitting there and pretending to be soberly amused but your friend and strangers as you realize that they are quite annoying actually when they've been drinking and it just doesn't seem like you're having as much fun as they are. Granted I like to think that my lifestyle is a much healthier one as a result, but, nonetheless, it is annoying to not really have the choice. As for your desires to go to South America, I say do it! I'm not really sure how severe your IBS is, but I know you can make it work. I packed into my one suitcase 2 boxes worth of saltine crackers as a precaution and figured I could find a way to live of white bread if I needed, but I am also happy to say that I think I only went through 1 of the 8 long packages on them-as I was saving them for if I was in a bind, which thankfully I realized never occurred when I was packing to come home and had not accounted on having to make space for them on the way back. I think the thing that was my lifesaver though were the 14 tins of altoids I packed. Oh my family and best friend laughed at me when I was packing them all (and the few extra tins in my carry-on) but I was rationing them out there in the end, and if they made my trip a success then that's all that matters! So I'm not quite sure what little things work for you (and I partially think the altoids are a bit of a mental comfort food for me too) but if you can pack it, then take it. I also don't quite know about what the food or your living situation would be like in South America, but if need be, try and bring stuff with you! I would definitely imagine that South America has a wealth of bananas, and being the bacteria-phobe that I am, I would definitely think that a banana would be a safe fruit to eat since you can never be sure what other countries do or don't to their fruit that would be different from what your stomach is used to where you live.
Had I thought about it more ahead too, I wish that I had brough some of those little Rice Dream cartons with me because that could have opened a whole new realm of possibilities for me. But my main diet was bananas, sliced white bread (which is awfully dry and not so appetizing in Italy as one would imagine), and then I would eat chicken at restaurants and plain sandwiches with turkey on them. I think the main thing to remember is, if you can find a way to eat enough for a month or however long you are there, no matter how boring or bland or redundant it might be, it is far far better than anything you could imagine to have that feeling of being there having the experience of a lifetime and loving that you are alive and doing something that not many people get the chance to do. I resisted the urges I had to just drink some wine with everyone or try someone's gelato and all, because I just had to remind myself that I didn't want to give up standing in the Colosseum for standing next to the toilet in the bathroom  haha
So the short of this all is, you can definitely do it and you will be such a better person for having done it! When my parents told me I should wait or go and just travel over there when I was older, I made sure to tell them how I'm still young and still conciously and unconciously deciding what kind of person I want to be, so this experience would not mean the same even if I was just 2 years older. By then I'd be out of college and tied down to a job, a place to live, bills that would come for me and just an endless list of things that will come all too soon. Right now in your life is when you are still free enough to go live in South America and teach spanish orphans. I think that sounds like the neatest thing ever and if I had better spanish-speaking abilities I wouldn't pass it up. I hope we can get to know each other better on the boards because I too could use the advice and support of someone who is in the same situation as me! You can email me anytime too at Brittania17@yahoo.com and let me know if you have an aim screenname. And go on that trip girl!
Brittany
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