The TMI of IBS

Okay, so up to this point everything in this blog has been pretty neutral. There have been multiple descriptions of pain and discomfort but nothing that would really throw you into the realm of too much information (the tmi of this blog). Let's start to gently cross that line. Let's discuss "Office Bathroom Etiquette 101."  So, consider this your content warning - we are going to discuss that one room in your home or work that can be deemed "unspeakable" to some. A thought came to mind when I was preparing what to write about next. I was chuckling to myself as I remembered a bit from the book "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom" by Louis Sachar (yes, I just dated myself). This is your typical fiction book for the pre-pubescent readers. Not exactly a coming of age, but speaks about that one thing that was so embarrassing when you were that age - walking into the wrong restroom! But that wasn't the part that popped out to my memor...

So, let's talk about the workforce. A difficult thing to navigate even without a chronic illness. There are so many rules, regulations, and personalities when it comes to jobs. For a person with no health issues, it can still be a gauntlet of social graces, sales goals, and never-ending charm of customer service. For someone with a chronic illness, the gauntlet changes a bit into number of sick days, number of breaks throughout the day, and how to combat your own body/mind to get through a shift. Again, I only speak of this from my own experience with IBS. Other illnesses have a whole mess of their own challenges that I am not qualified to speak on. But with IBS, let me take you through the journey of jobs. I started noticing I had stomach issues back in middle school. At that time, it was just called a nervous stomach. The nerves you had going through the middle school routine could cause disruptions. I didn't think much of it, I just figured it was a phase. But when I had...