The hope to inform

There’s just times when I feel like giving up. I know can’t, but it’s just too much at times. There are times I wish I would have never found out I had IC, having to worry about what I eat, and always taking medications. I honestly just think that I’m afraid. Afraid of what comes next for me. Will I ever get better? Will it ever go away? Will they ever find a cure? I don’t know any of these answers, and I probably won’t know for a while.

I think this has just been hard on me, because I’m so young and now I’m always worried. Worried about my health and taking care of myself so I don’t get flares ups, or end up in the hospital. I really don’t think worried is the right word, more like scared. I want answers to my questions, but I’m scared it won’t be the answer I’m looking for.  I’m not sure how this will affect my future, but in many ways it has. I’ve been taking better care of myself and my health. Sure I don’t like the fact that I’m on a diet, because I love food, but it’s what I have to do to take care of myself.

I’ve realized lately while doing this project for class, I’m more aware of what is going on with my body in terms of having IC. I’m more open about it, like to talk more about my IC. I love telling people about it now, because with the project I’m not only educating myself but everyone I come into contact with.

 Just telling them that I have IC is a great start. Well yes and no, because they all look at me like I’m said something in a foreign language, but it’s amazing when people ask me what it is. I get the joy of explaining something to them, in a way that they will be able to understand. Once I start talking about IC, they start asking questions. It’s great and I feel more at ease each time I talk about it.

I share any information I find out with my friends and family, because they are my support group. I want others to know more about IC as well. I’m still waiting to her form the girl at my school which the nurse told me about. I think that once she realizes what I’ve done and been through, she will come back to school. I also hope that with this campaign project that people will start asking questions, and people who have IC can get more support from everyone around. That way we don’t have to feel like giving up, to know that we are stronger than this. THIS IS THE FIGHT  THAT WE WILL WIN!

Never said it would be easy

While working on this campaign for class I decided to talk to the school nurse. Just to see if maybe she knew of a way to help me get the word out about IC awareness. Before I walked in a made sure I had my list of details and important information to tell the nurse in case I had to explain to her what IC was. I was prepared to go in and explain everything to her, once I got in there and introduced myself I explained why I was there.

To my surprise she told me that she knew about IC, that her sister-in-law had IC and she researched what she could to know what IC was. So I felt a lot better that I didn’t have to explain to someone what IC was. After a while it gets old. I told her that I suffered from IC and she said that she wished she would have met me a few weeks sooner, because a student came into her office and told her that she just found out that she had IC. She informed the nurse that she didn’t know how she was going to deal with her classes and all the pain that IC caused her. She just couldn’t deal with it, but she didn’t want to drop out, she ended up dropping her class because it was too much to handle while going to school.

I honestly feel her pain because I have been there. When I first start having problems I missed a lot of school. I informed that teachers that the doctors were trying to figure out what was wrong with me and now that I know, I tell my teachers the first day of class that there may be times in class when I have to leave, or just may not be at school because the pain is too much. All my teachers have been very understanding about in after I explain to them what it is and how it affects you.  

Each day is a learning process and I know where to push my limit. I also know that I can’t let IC control me, I still have to control my life and not give up. It is a fight that you have to be willing to fight, if not it will control your life and won’t be able to do the things you love. I think by doing this awareness people will start to understand and start to see IC and how it does affect people. I hope it will be and eye opener for people.

Let's get informed

For class we are working on a campaign, or an awareness of something. I decided to make IC awareness my topic. I want to inform the students and staff at ICC about IC.  I think this is important since over 4 million people in this world have IC, just found out they have IC or don’t know they have IC. If you think about it 4 million people is a lot of people. Although most of these people are women, a few men also have this medical problem.

Finding out that you have IC may be a hard concept to accept simply because no one has really heard about it. So with this campaign I hope to be able to inform students around my school about IC. Many of the doctors that I have gone to, you have to give them your medical history, well when I tell them that I have IC they look at my funny. Simply because they don’t know what I am talking about. So I must explain to them what it is and the medications I am on and how they are suppose to help me.

Now I would think that if you were in the medical field that you would know about different diseases even if it’s not common. I hope that be informing students at my school about IC that students who are going into the medical field can keep an open ear as to what is going on, and maybe they will start doing research and become more aware of IC. So that in their future they might be able to help someone get the right treatment instead of looking at them and telling them that “it’s all in your head.”

This link has some interesting facts that would help peole understand more of my view. Number 8 is my favorite
http://www.icawareness.org/dailyfacts.html