Hi. I hear your stress about teaching. I am currently a stay at home mom but I taught for 11 years and yes, IBS can be extremely interfering with our jobs. The stress of being responsible for ours students and not being able to leave them is enought to trigger an attack. Once I had to ask a lunch aide to watch my kids twice while I barely made it to the girls room(yes...the one that the kids use...ugh). Of course that was illegal, but the alternative would have put me on the front page of the local newspaper. (I taught 6th grade special education at that time). Then I worked a few years on the child study team, thinking that it would be much easier with the IBS b/c I would have an office and be able to leave without the responsibility of the kids...wrong. Most days we had meetings with parents (important/legal ones where I was leading them) and that was difficult too. So my point is, do you really love teaching, aside from the IBS? Ask yourself if IBS did not exist, what career would you want? If your answer is teaching, then I would stick with it and work on the anxiety through hypno, meds, immodium, whatever you need to do b/c unfortunately the reality is that other jobs will probably pose difficult situations for IBS too. What I would do though is talk to your principal or a teacher nearby your class and get a doctor's note if necessary to ensure that you can leave your kids on a second's notice to use the bathroom. The teacher next door could watch them or maybe someone on their prep. Just knowing that you have an out might make you have to use the restroom less. And of course I would eat super safe in the evenings and all day at school. Maybe you could change the type of teaching your doing (for example, teach in a basic skills position or something with small groups of kids where you have more breaks in your schedule. I taught resource program for years and that was easier than being in a classroom all day. My students were little to I could run to the bathroom before picking up the next group.)Keep in mind that you might want to bail out on field trips that require taking a bus...I'm not sure how to get out of that one other than stating the truth or choosing locations that are really close to school and taking immodium beforehand. I know...it's terrible. I am just dreading the interview process again when I am ready to go back to work. I'm not nervous about answering any questions, just nervous that I'll have to excuse myself to use the restroom. Also, kids in 5th grade are very perceptive, so if they ever catch on to your frequent leaving, feign some kind of nausea or say that you have to check on a family member who is sick and call from the teacher's room throughout the day. It will save you some embarrassment. As for the running, good for you to even be trying. You should be proud b/c that is a feat in itself. Maybe someone else can help you with that. All I know is that I would drive the route before hand to be aware of all the restrooms. Good luck.
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Originally IBS-D for a million years!
Then IBS-A, Now a transformed slightly C
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Re: Runners and teachers
