Should I force myself back to school?

[green_the_fish]

Tomorrow is Monday. I'm still wrapped up in the biggest flare of my life. Am I getting better? Yesterday, I voided 20 times, 3 of those involved waking up at night. I'm confused as to whether or not I'm improving. The overall voids are down, a week ago I was voiding about 35 times per day. But, the nocturnal voids are on the way up...? Prior to this, I had only woken up once or twice a night. Did I just not sleep well? The frequency doesn't actually bother me as much as the pain does.
I'm still in pain all of the time. My bladder feels like it's being strangled. Should I force myself back to school? If I go back now, I'd be going back at midterm of the 1st quarter. I wonder if I should wait until I get better and time it so that I return at the start of the 2nd quarter. That would make more sense, school-wise. But, I'd have to find a way to do the work at home for the next three weeks.
I keep thinking that this would all be so easy if the pain would just stop. If the pain would just stop, I could handle going pee a lot. It's just so frustrating to be in pain for weeks and not see a way out!
I don't know what to do about anything. The people at school tell me that my health is the most important thing. I don't know how much school I can miss, though. Ugh, so tired of it all. :toilet:

[kadi]

I think it might be worth a conversation with your mom & doctor! And then make arrangements for the plan with your school counselor. If you'll be out less than 3 weeks, you might want to get a system going for makeup work from your teachers, so that you or your mom can routinely go in, get your work, and turn in what you've done.

If you might be out longer, at my school (and I'm sure at others) there is an option for students in a severe health situation (IC qualifies) to receive home instruction. The school district assigns a teacher or teachers to meet with you one - two times a week for an hour to help you & give you assignments in the areas you need to earn credits in...

Am hoping you feel better soon!

[alabama]

What does your doctor say? Is there anyway you can cut down your school load? Maybe only take a few hours this semester? You really need to talk to your doctor about taking something that will help your pain to the point of functioning. I know how you feel. I have a very stressful job in management, and if it weren't for my pain medication, I couldn't function at all. Hope you get to feeling better.

[ICNDonna]

This is a decision you need to make with your physician and your mother involved. It may be that you should think about working it out with your school to have assignments sent home for a while --- or even go to the tutor system available for disabled students.

I just hope you feel better soon.

Sending gentle hugs,
Donna

[XoChelsey03Xo]

I'm not sure, but I understand how hard it can be to go to school. My senior year of high school I had so much pain all the time. I missed like 30+ days I think. I've been out of high school for 2 years now. I think you should talk with your mother and schedule an appt. with your dr. Someone suggested being homeschooled. If you have so much trouble you might consider doing that. It's hard being so young and having IC. Especially when high school is suppose to be fun. I wish you the best! :) Chelsey

[ICLori]

I agree with everything everyone has said, and wish you the best!

For me...I currently have a frequency of about 25-35 per day, with 3-4 of those (or sometimes more) being at night. I consider that "not too bad" because it's been as high as 60 per day with getting up 20 or more times per night. But even though I am going to try Interstim still, I am coming around to the idea that this is just going to be my life from now on, and I have to adjust to it. So I have decided our next post, I am going to try to go back to work and kind of resume a "normal" life even with this frequency, because it simply is not ever going to go away for me. So I have to live my life in spite of it, somehow.

But coming to this decision has taken me 4 years of "dropping out" of life and suffering. So it's a hard decision to make - whether to do "normal" things or not when you are in pain - and I wouldn't begin to know which decision is right for you. I just hope so much that your pain goes away soon and you won't have to make the decision of, "do I go on with life while in pain or stop and rest?"

Blessings, Lori

[Imustpee]

Lori, you sound just like me...you HAVE to find a way to live with it or you WILL go CRAZY..Somedays I am so mad and frustrated with it all...lack of sleep, constant pain, finding bathrooms everywhere you go...grrrr

[work it]

hey green , I sure hope you start feeling better soon. Looks like you have gotten some great responses on here. I would have to agree that you should ask your doctor and mom. You know how you are feeling so if it was me and I was not feeling very good I would not go to school.

Take care,
Teisha

[kadi]

When I first got IC, I was voiding every 15 min all day & all night (must've been up to 60 times a day, but I didn't know about voiding diaries back then). I am very lucky that I've found treatments that work almost all the time & now I'm down to around 10 times most days. Most nights I sleep through - some days I wake up once to void, but most days I don't even have to do that. With management of how I drink liquids (how much & when), I can make it through my 90 minute classes without having to sprint out!

Just hoping that you find your combination of treatments soon & that you can go back to a more "normal" life. Just do what you have to for now & keep the faith that there are many treatments available & you will find something that works for you!
Hugs,

[Dixiefireball]

right before third grade began i had surgery and my doctor wouldn't let me go to school for the first three mths of school so they had to send out a teacher twise a week to our home.
I feel like they should be able to do that in your state to.
you your parnets and doctor need together and figure out what is best for you sending you hugs and prayers
Rhonda

[green_the_fish]

Thanks for the replies, y'all.
My mom is so supportive, she'll be okay with any decision that I make. So, I'm going to school today, tentatively. I'm going to go talk to my councellor first period (that's a study hall for me anyway). I hope we can work something out. I'm open to the idea of getting a tutor at home, if it comes to that. I'll speak to a doctor about this the next time I see one, hopefully very soon. Well, it's 6 AM, so I gotta get ready. I guess I did okay yesterday...voided 19 times...it took me until 1 AM to get to sleep (check out post "Ultracet is screwy" in Flare board for why), but I didn't wake up to use the bathroom during those 5 hours of sleep. The stupid, crappy pain is still here.
Okay, well, I'm off...