It all started when my mother got diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome...

For years she has been struggling with severe diarrhea. I would go along with everything like it didn't effect me what so ever or her. until one day we went to to my grandmothers house for a Christmas supper. Ya know, all the good foods that you can't help but have. When we were driving home my mother had a very bad bout of D. We were around 10 min from home and she wasn't able to get out of the car to get to a bathroom without going on herself.So she did in the car. Ever since that moment about 5 years ago i have anxiety for traveling in cars when going on long trip or even short ones because of what happened to her and the embarrassment she felt. But i didn't have a problem then. I had the opposite of my mother. I was constipated all of the time.

Throughout high school i was fine. I knew i had stomach problems and i knew in the town i was living in where every single bathroom was, also your always more comfortable with familiar.

It wasn't till the summer before my first semester of college it started to change. Now, i have both cases of diarrhea and constipation. and I'm Scared Shitless, haha ;).

I worry constantly about going to the bathroom. Through classes, that's all i can think about. I'm scared that when me and my boyfriend go on road trips or go hiking( I'm very outdoorsy, well used to be)that i will have no way to find a bathroom and i will, well poop on myself. Not only is that a fear but the pain sometimes is very distracting, and makes me sick.

I consider myself a very strong person and have gone through worse tragedies then this in my life, and have overcame. But this seems to have no end. Life for me seems like it will never be the same.I want to enjoy my college days. Being a freshman. I want to take the leap and just do what i want to without judgment from other people, or the same fear that haunts us all.

Has anyone overcome that fear? The anxiety?

By: SunshineSam3 (Sam)