Diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis While in College

When I was first diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis I had already started college. Because my doctors told me that they would be able to control my disease with medication I didn't even consider that it would affect my college life. I continued to go to school but started noticing that I was running to the bathroom so much that I had to start taking classes that weren't so long. I was a biology major and would take classes that lasted over an hour and a half and included taking labs. I would sit in the back of the class so I could sneak out to use the bathroom as often as I needed to.

I tried to talk to my professors about it and they understood but there wasn't a lot they could do to help me keep up with my schoolwork. But because I was leaving class so much I found that I was missing out on a lot of lecture time and started getting behind on my assignments and the ones I did turn in were very poor quality.

Obviously this affected my grades and I knew that I had to do something. I couldn't keep going to school and making bad grades. I gradually started cutting down on my classes and eventually found myself only taking online courses or independent study courses, and that's no way to learn. I had to drop out. Not only was I running to the bathroom ten times a day but my condition was worsening and I was being admitted to the hospital a lot for observation and treatments. I was out of school for two years and never had the chance to finish my undergraduate studies. I was really upset that I had to leave school because I wanted to pursue a career.

While I was in college I also lived on campus in the dorms. I shared a room with one other person but had to share showers and other bathroom facilities with the entire floor. I lived in a co-ed building. Girls and guys were separated every other floor. The showers I didn't have so much of a problem with. The bathroom was a different story. Ulcerative Colitis can have some embarrassing symptoms and I found it difficult to deal with these.