Life Ruining Symptom - Please Help!

[smoothie]

Hello!

This semester, I need to travel to university during rush hour as I have some 9am and 10am classes which means sitting on a bus for a long time.

Unfortunately, ever since my anxiety symptoms materialised exactly in 23rd May 2017 (id been anxious for a while but the symptoms just sprung to life on that day :huh:) i've had an overactive bladder and ibs symptoms (cramps, softer stools, gassy, sometimes hard to evacuate).

Because of this I get even more anxious when I don't have access to a bathroom! I've even missed some 9 and 10am classes (luckily not too important, just classes where they go over the weeks homework questions for that class) but Tuesdays and Fridays and some Wednesdays I have to be in at 9/10am. Even when I make it to uni and go to the bathroom (and I do have a bm) I feel ill for the rest of the day.

Does anyone have any advice? I hate missing classes even if they are not too important and mum gets angry at me for missing them. :weep:

[LunaLiuna]

Have you notified the university of your difficulty? They should be able to provide some advice? I know at my university, lecture presentations are often uploaded onto our student section on our uni website which is really handy if we are ever unable to attend.

[axolotl]

I hear you on this one on the IBS side of things.

My tips, which don't solve everything, would be:

Watch your diet, especially on evenings before you have something you can't get out of and is causing stress.

Go to bed earlier and get up earlier, and train yourself to "do your business" before you leave the house.

When in situations where you can use the loo without difficulty (e.g. at home), train yourself to wait as long as possible before you go, so your body and mind start to reduce the urgency and panic.

If in a lecture, make sure you sit on an aisle seat where possible so you can slip out easily without causing a fuss. In my experience this will usually reduce your anxiety to the degree you don't have to go.

If you do pop out, it's easy to feel like you've been gone forever and everyone's talking about it. In reality everyone needs the loo from time to time and the overwhelming chances are no-one's even noticed.

If you have something coming up that's stressing you more often than others a pre-emptive Immodium won't do you any harm, but do this sparingly.