[lilymaid]

Hi everyone...Second week of school, and I'm still doing pretty well! (Except I look like four months pregnant with this bloating!) Anyway, in an aural rehab class I'm taking, I was introduced to a survey called the quantified denver scale. It quantifies how much of an impact hearing loss has on an individual, and how much of a handicap it is to them.Reading this scale, I realized that the scale could be modified to talk about IBS. And from taking this myself-- I realized that IBS *is* a handicap!!!!Take this yourself. Answer on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being "strongly disagree" and 5 being "strongly agree". What is your score? Did you answer 1 or 5 to any question? If so, why?(This isn't for research... just curiosity, as I found this scale helpful.)Regards, Lilymaid---------------------------------------(1) Members of my family are annoyed by my condition.(2) Members of my family sometimes leave me out of activities because of my condition.(3) I am not an "outgoing" person because of my condition.(4) I take less of an interest in things as compared to when I did not have IBS.(5) Other people do not realize how frustrated I get because of my condition.(6) People sometimes avoid me because of my condition.(7) I am not a calm person because of my IBS.(8) I tend to be negative about life in general because of my IBS.(9) I do not socialize as much as I did before my condition developed.(10) Due to my IBS, I do not like to go places with friends.(11) Due to my IBS, I hesitate to meet new people.(12) I do not enjoy my job as much as I did before my condition developed.(13) Other people do not understand what it is like to have IBS.(14) I don't feel comfortable in "non-IBS friendly" situations.

 

[lilymaid]

I scored 44-- and I think (1) used to be more of a "5", but after years have gone by, it's more of a "2" now. Lily.

 

[lilymaid]

Can we all agree that IBS *S-U-C-K-S*??????Sorry, it's true.Glad you found this interesting, and thanks for replying. As I mentioned, I just modified a test used for hearing impairment. When the teacher was going over it in class, I just couldn't believe how I could apply this to IBS. It actually brought tears to my eyes.If this isn't an indication that IBS is a handicap, I don't know what is.Thanks again, everyone..... Lilymaid