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Living with Ulcerative Colitis and IBD
One Man's Story
By:
Anonymous
I don’t remember exactly when it
started , but it was some time close to my senior year of High School. It
was close to prom time ,when the stomach cramps came along with the bloody
diarrhea and constipation.
At that time, like so many, I have
never heard of Ulcerative Colitis and IBD(Irritable Bowel Disease).I was
fairly active with sports and exercise so I thought at the most it was a
hemorrhoid problem , so I wasn’t too concerned.
That was 1995 , now it
is the new millennium and I know what Ulcerative Colitis and IBD are now .
Let me give you a rundown of my life with this misunderstood disease over
the past five years . In case you aren’t familiar with these diseases and
unless you or someone you know has it you aren’t, here is what you need to
know about these diseases.
Ulcerative Colitis is a chronic,
episodic, inflammatory disease of the large intestines and rectum
characterized by bloody diarrhea. The disease begins in the rectal area
and can spread through the entire large bowel. Symptoms vary depending on
the level of severity. Episodes of the disease can be caused by many
factors including food ,stress, or being sick already. IBD is a common
disorder of the intestines that leads to cramping pains, gas, bloating and
changes in bowel habits. IBD can be constipation, diarrhea , with the urge
to go frequently without being able to do so.
Okay, so back again
to the spring of 1995, it is still prom time, I wasn’t able to go to my
prom because I enlisted in the Marines to help pay for college and that
was the day of my physical so I did what I thought would be better in the
long run. Now despite the fact that I was in the midst of a full attack of
the disease, I passed my physical and the Marine Corps doctor completely
missed it despite a rectal exam. So I was happy I passed, I would get out
of my house learn a skill ,some discipline ,and get money for college,
plus, I was apparently healthy which I was very happy ,because the doctor
didn’t tell me otherwise.
I wasn’t okay , I was very ill and I
finally told my mother and we went to the doctor where I was diagnosed
with Ulcerative Colitis and IBD. Subsequently, my military career was
ended and I was given a medical discharge . Up until this point my life
hasn’t been easy. I come from an abusive background and I have had to fend
for myself financially from about age 16 which was hard on a person who
isn’t even old enough to vote. When this happened though, I learned what
hard really is. Up until that time I was a normal teenager , I rebelled
,hung out a lot ,cut school now and again ,basically abused myself and
neglected my health because I was young and invincible.
So when
this happened , I had to stop living the life all my friends were and I
had to start resting and taking much better car of myself which was hard
at first. At the same time I had to do all of this , my way out of my
abusive home life, my military career which shows you how bad my home life
was, was gone. It was too late to register for any more schools and the
schools I did register for and get into weren’t any good. I didn’t have
any education or certifiable skills so I decided to take whatever I could
get and just work for a year or so and relax during that time.
During this time, in the fall of 1996, the daily aches , pains,
and problems associated with this disease weren’t that bad ,so I still
didn’t realize how serious an illness this was. I did what I was told by
the doctor and didn’t give it much thought. I was only able to get a job
that involved hard labor , so I took it .
Even though I was doing
everything buy the book , apparently the physical labor itself was enough
to do me in and cause me to become hospitalized . So I left that job
following my recovery ,when after a week back at work I started to get ill
again. I decided to apply to a local college, for the following fall got
in, and I took a job as a produce clerk for a local supermarket . Things
were still not that bad through that year ,although people would often
comment on my bathroom use at work , why I always was looked like I was in
pain , looked tired, or why I was irritated .I didn’t really want to tell
them ,so I withdrew from most people only telling a few and being friendly
with them only.
I did my job well ,and I enjoyed it ,because it
was the only thing that made me felt normal. The fall of 1997 arrived , I
started college and worked many hours at the store. I had survived the
summer with only minor episodes and I was still able to have some fun even
though I was working a lot. I loved school ,I made a lot of friends there
and I excelled in many classes . I was hospitalized for a week during this
semester ,but I was able to make it through with a very high passing
average only missing one week of school. It took me two weeks more to go
back to work ,but I was back on my normal schedule in no time.
So
the holidays came by and went. My fall break was almost over and school
was about to restart in a few days. I was excited to go back I had just
applied to a University away from home and had gotten in ,so I just needed
to finish out some credits this semester and I would be away from home at
last . I wasn’t feeling great around now, but. it wasn’t anything major. I
then got a stomach virus which gave me a sudden and major episode that in
three days changed my life forever. I was hospitalized for two weeks which
were the first two weeks of school . I had to drop out for the semester. I
got out of the hospital and my confidence was gone , I had developed an
anxiety disorder , depression ,and I just wasn’t getting better. We later
found out it was an interaction of medicine causing me to stay this ill
,but I couldn’t just stop it , I had to wean of it. So it took me a few
weeks of intense pain both physical and mental to get past the months that
followed . It wasn’t for two months or so until I could star to exercise
again .It wasn’t until May that I was able to go back to work . A lot of
the complications with this episode came from medication . A lot of it
wasn’t necessary. I was given pain medicine ,some anxiety medicine .along
with the medicine for my illnesses .I asked for some of it and I took it
,but I was still a kid at the time and I really didn’t understand bad
interactions and what could happen.
It is the job of the doctor to
tell the patients these things especially if they are really ill and out
of it . I began to realize the cause of this on my own and when I told my
doctor this ,he said he suspected that that could happen if I took that
and that that was the cause. I was furious. I had suffered intensely
nearly losing my intestine ,as well as my mind and he knew. So I took the
positive .I learned I would have to educate myself on everything including
the side effects of medicine and not trust the doctors.
That’s why
I don’t trust doctors. The fallout of this was that I had a lot of
permanent damage and severely increased daily pain. I was afraid to go
away and be sick alone. I decided to stay at the school I was already in
and I returned in the fall of 1998 . I gained a little bit of freedom
while I was ill , because the basement apartment opened up in my house and
my mother and sister realized I needed to be away as much as possible
under the circumstances., so, they rented the apartment. My sister paid
half ,and my mother paid half. I wasn’t working at the time so I didn’t
pay and it just stayed that way afterwards . So this apartment is the only
thing I ever had handed to me. I think I put in enough time to have earned
it though. I was able to study in peace and rest. I had my own bathroom.
When I went back to work , I was transferred to the Deli department which
is more customer service than it was work . I was disease free from this
point for almost two years. I was able to work and go to school
uninterrupted during this period.
During the Spring of 1999, I was
hospitalized again ,but not long enough to ruin my semester .I made the
deans list . I did know for a long time that if I was out of my house or
just worked and didn’t go to school I would feel a lot better physically.
During the fall of 1999 I was had another episode ,another hospitalization
and with sixty of the one hundred-twenty credits needed to graduate , I
called an end to my college career much to my dismay. There was too much
going on at home anyway and I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish before I
would be forced to move .So I figured I’ll just get a job and work . I got
a job at a very large commercial bank where I have been working since. I
failed to mention earlier that during all this time, I have messed around
a lot with computers ,and I loved them. I knew that with college out of
the picture , I would have to do something to pay the bills so II decided
to just take some computer technician courses and do that for a living.
Luckily my job has tuition reimbursement , so that is no longer a matter
of if I can do it , it is just a matter of when I want to do it .
So within a year, I will begin and complete my training part time
At a local school at night ,and work during the day. My abusive home
situation is coming to an end completely. I am off of a lot of the
medication that caused me problems such as my anti-inflammatory steroids.
In a matter of time, I will be completely free. I will be working at the
job I want , and making good money to do it. I will have my debts paid off
with this money from work because I had accumulated a large debt during
the past couple of years trying to survive ,going to school, and not being
able to work all the time.
I am currently in therapy and will
pursue a support group for the fall to help me out with my social
anxieties and my other problems .I am trying to piece together a social
life again and form new relationships. Although until the day there is a
cure I will always have a battle to fight, I feel my personal war with the
disease is over. In my experiences over the past few years , I have
learned a few things. People are very cruel and don’t think. Many times
people would comment on my appearance which was affected by the medicine .
Some people either didn’t believe I had serious health problems or laughed
at the type of problem I had. They think just because someone doesn’t look
disabled they aren’t, well I am , we all are. I have endured a lot of that
, and while it used to bother me very much it doesn’t as much any more. I
simply blame it on the ignorance to the situation and the lack of
education of this disease.
Like I said earlier, if you don’t have
it or know someone that has it, then you probably haven’t heard of it. I
wrote this article for that purpose, to show the public that it is a very
serious illness with very serious consequences so that they may be more
sensitive towards people with disabilities in general. Secondly, I wrote
it to reach out to those with this disease. While I am not perfect and I
haven’t always succeeded, I never gave up hope and I never stopped trying.
For all of the people reading this young and old, no matter what
happens and what the circumstances are , you must fight it out everyday
and go on living .Look at it this way. You do have an advantage ,if you
are doing the same job as someone else you are doing it under harder
circumstances ,so be proud that you can do so.
Also employers will
see that ,and know you can handle a great amount of responsibility. We do
live in an age where technology makes our live especially a lot better.
New medicines, aides, procedures , maybe even a cure are on the way.
Colleges are on line . You may not be able to live the college life or do
everything you want, after all, it is a disability remember ,but there is
no excuse for you not to be able to make the best out of your life.
If anyone out there wants to ask me or tell me anything , email me
at: Top_Secret88@hotmail.com . We can all learn from one another ,and help
one another out……….. |
