family

family

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Living with IBS

So, I am missing my first class. again. That's three weeks in a row. To be honest, I don't know how much I care. I love this class, actually, and I love the teacher but I am just running on empty lately. My health issues have increased extremely again and it's all that I can do just to make it through work every day. So if that means saving myself a few hours of time where I can relax and sleep then that's what I'll do. I'm five weeks away from graduating and I couldn't be any less motivated. I'll do it though because I certainly don't want to continue this work and school schedule.. it's really not that fun. I'll just have to push through as best as I can until it's over.

I'm sick of being sick all the time. I'm sick of being isolated and having no one to talk to about what I'm going through. I'm not angry with anyone because I know that four years ago I wouldn't have understood what I was about to go through. If someone had tried to talk to me about the same thing I wouldn't have known how to support them or known what to say. It doesn't mean it doesn't suck and it's doesn't mean that it's not extremely difficult to be a social outcast because of health issues that I have no control over. It doesn't mean that I am not exhausted, drained, and sometimes downright depressed because I feel that a huge part of my life has been taken away. Every time I look towards the future I see this disorder constantly getting in my way and making my life a living hell.

Having irritable bowel syndrome does not make me a gross, anti-social, or undeserving person in society. It just means that I have to work 10x harder then someone who is healthy to make it through a regular day. It just means that I can't eat whatever I want whenever I want. It means that I have to hide in a shell of discomfort all day long because I know that me discussing it with anyone is not socially acceptable. You know what though? I don't care anymore. I'm tired of being in pain and hurting. I'm tired of not getting to eat what I want and I'm tired of being hungry all the time. I'm tired of being angry with my body and hating myself because I can't just get better. I'm tired of being ashamed of who I am and living inside my own head because people don't get it. I'm tired of being afraid that people will judge me and see me as less of a person because I can't live the way everyone else does. I'm tired of losing friends because they just didn't bother to try to get to know what was really going on with me. I'm tired of the doctors that tell me it's all in my head and that it will go away and I'm extremely tired of all the doctors who are willing to give me a miracle cure for loads of money. I'm just tired beyond belief because I am 21 years old and my life should be a lot easier and care free then it is.

Just like anyone else who has any other type of disorder, disease, or illness.. I am still a person and I still deserve to be treated like everyone else. I still deserve to at least be given respect when I choose not to eat a typical unhealthy american diet or if I choose not to eat at all. I deserve at least that much. I would never judge someone for something that was out of their control and I would never make assumptions about someone without talking to them first. Maybe I've just learned these things because I am sick and I am isolated.

I guess I'm just done living in a generation that just doesn't seem to care about others outside themselves. And that is why I continue to just take care of me and those that are close to me. The rest of it is just all too shallow and I don't really feel like buying into all the bullshit anymore.