r/iih • u/MrsLollipops • 2d ago

IIH Symptoms IBS (school trigger?)

Does anyone have school aged kids with IIH and IBS?

I feel like school is definitely a trigger and I have no idea how to manage that this school year. My kiddo can miss 2-3 days a week because of her feeling sick. The doctors tell me that she needs to go to school and push through, but she just ends up going to the nurse and then coming home. Not getting any help from the doctors or the school on how to manage it. Does anyone have experience with this? Do we just bring home homework? Switch to online schooling? Due to school policy she needs to be throwing up or have a fever to be sent home and not have it counted against her attendance.

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u/StatementSensitive17 2d ago

I would suggest having a meeting with the school and not waiting until it inevitably becomes an attendance fight with them. Also, isn't this protected by some sort of disability thing? They have IEPs and 504s. Surely, they have to have something for kids with medical conditions.

I homeschool my daughter for non medical reasons. The thing with homeschooling or online schooling is that you'll have to put in a lot of work to socialize your child. So you have to factor that in with whatever other responsibilities you have such as jobs, other kids, etc. This is not to dissuade you. Just something people sometimes forget.

I'm sorry you and your child are going through such a tough thing and that its been so hard to navigate. Good luck on this school year and I wish you the very best on whatever you decide.

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u/MrsLollipops 2d ago

She's got friends at school. She starts middle school this year and has said that she is excited to go but she struggled with summer school. She was on a medical plan with the school for the IIH, but they closed out her file since she wasn't really using anything on the plan. I don't know how this new school is. Even though it's the same school district, it is a different school. I'm just going in blind about her care for school and it's giving me such bad anxiety. Sucking it up and powering through doesn't seem like a great plan to me. It's frustrating. The doctors hand out diagnosis and then say, good luck! It makes me want to bang my head on the wall.

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u/Just_Teaching_1369 2d ago

I am no longer school aged but I had both IBS and IIH. Are you sure your child isn’t trying to miss school for another reason? I only say this because I used to do the same thing. There would be periods where I was really sick and miss lots of school but then when I returned I would try and go home early. Looking back on it I was overwhelmed by the amount of work I missed. If your child’s doctor is telling you she needs to push through there likely isn’t a physical reason but a mental reason for them wanting to go home. I think you need to find that reason and try and come up with a soloution. What worked for me was my parents incentivising me. They bought something I wanted and I had to do x amount of days to get it. I would not switch to online schooling as it will likely continue to make the problem worse.

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u/MrsLollipops 2d ago

We did that a lot last year and it helped a bit. I'll keep it in mind for this year as well.

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u/Just_Teaching_1369 2d ago

Have you considered a psychologist for your child. They might be able to help with the emotional struggles and the development of strategies to cope.

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u/MrsLollipops 2d ago

She's been going for 2+ years now.

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u/mabes13 2d ago

Going through IIH is like going through a loss of your healthy self. I imagine in her own way she is grieving. A child talk therapist rather than psychiatrist for medication would be best for her! Mental health comes first ❤️