College

[glutenfreejenny]

Since I graduated from high school about 7 years ago I've been working on getting through college. I have several pretty serious food allergies and didn't know about my celiac disease until about a year ago, so it's been rough getting through school while working. I don't have health insurance so I've pretty much been on my own when it comes to learning how to deal with the food allergies and everything else. I have officially been diagnosed with celiac disease but I'm 100% certain I have it.

Although I've been gluten and allergy free for about a year, I still have times when I get sick. I work with children and have a roommate and even though I'm very cautious it just happens sometimes. My question is for anyone who has been through college or has any advice for how to communicate with my teachers about everything.

We have a VERY strict homework and project policy. Unless you have a doctors note for the teacher saying you were there or the hospital you can't hand in anything late or retake exams. I was wondering if anyone knows how most colleges deal with this. I was diagnosed with my food allergies several years ago, so I can probably have the doctor give that information. The problem is when I get sick I don't usually go to the emergency room or doctor since I don't have health insurance. (don't worry if it's serious I go to the ER). With my food allergies I find that taking Benedryl and resting for at least a few hours is what seems to help. With gluten it's 3 days in bed resting, no way around it This becomes a huge problem when dealing with homework and getting to class.

I think I posted a question about this a few months ago and people didn't understand what the problem was. I think a few people asked me why I was getting sick so much that it would bother my school work. I should say my other allergies include soy and corn and I'm very sensitive to them. I pretty much don't eat ANY processed foods, but I can break out into hives when I touch them. I've done everything I can to be healthy and I think that I deserve to go to school and deserve help getting through it, I just don't know how I can go about getting that help.

Thanks.

[AKcollegestudent]

See, we have a health center on campus, and on the really bad days, I go there so if I have to miss class or ask for an extension, I can honestly point and say "went to health center". I've also gone to the Dean's office more than once and explained what was going on.

If I were you, I'd go to my dean or the disability office to talk to them. But I suspect that we're coming from two different types of colleges--I go to a tiny liberal arts college where it's very hard to be anonymous and if we miss classes, professors notice and talk to us about it. What's applicable to me may not be for you.

[glutenfreejenny]

See, we have a health center on campus, and on the really bad days, I go there so if I have to miss class or ask for an extension, I can honestly point and say "went to health center". I've also gone to the Dean's office more than once and explained what was going on.

If I were you, I'd go to my dean or the disability office to talk to them. But I suspect that we're coming from two different types of colleges--I go to a tiny liberal arts college where it's very hard to be anonymous and if we miss classes, professors notice and talk to us about it. What's applicable to me may not be for you.

Thanks I'm glad that it has worked for you. I got to a semi-big "art" school so there's a lot of projects and presentations and they are very strict, if you miss it you miss it. However, there is someone who I've heard about that can tell your teacher to give you a makeup if you show them a doc note, etc. Maybe I can go talk to them and see if I can show them my allergen info and come to them whenever I have an outbreak.

I'm going to talk to a school counselor next week and I'm hoping opening up to them will help. Hopefully they can help me talk to the right person.

I think a lot of my problem is I hate being sick. And I hate using it as an excuse. So I don't ask for help and then when I get in over my head I have no one to help me. Guess I have to ask for help.

[AKcollegestudent]

I'm "lucky" because the damage was so severe by the time we caught it that I have to ask for help sometimes. And the deans, gods help them, had had me in their office way too often by the time we figured out what was wrong. If I hadn't been at the point where I could not function without narcotics when we figured out what was going on, I don't think I would have ever gotten over the issue of asking for help. Because, like you, I'm not a fan of saying, "Look, today's been terrible; I can't sit up because of side effects from a med, and even I could, I'm having an allergic reaction to something else. Can I turn this in in a couple days, please?"

But when I have to, I grit my teeth and either tell a shrink, the deans, or one of the docs at the health center.

Good luck!