Need Advice About Going Back To Work As A Teacher...

[Walter S]

I am a third grade teacher and I am supposed to be trying to go back to work on April 16th. I teach third grade. It can be tough to leave the classroom often for the bathroom and the faculty bathroom is in a different building on a different floor form where my classrooom is. Also, I have a nasty new principal who is not understanding of people's personal needs. There is only one toilet that has to be shared by the entire staff of the school. Do you possibly have any ideas for how I can deal with this situation and make it easier to deal with when I get back to work? I am worried and afraid that I may have a lot of trouble with my stomach when I try to get back to work. I have already been out for two months! As a teacher, I cannot simply get up and go to the bathroom anytime I need to, nor can I spend as much time in the bathroom that I need to (because of the kids in class needing to be watched and becasue every adult in the school needs to share the same bathroom). So I am not sure wht to do. I am still suffering from diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and bleeding at times and I have to get back to work soon!

[RiceGuy]

Well, I don't want to sound negative, but I don't see how you could resume such a job, given the symptoms you listed.

This obviously cannot be an easy situation to deal with. I sympathize with you. If it were me, I might look into a telecommuting type of employment.

Hope you get this figured out.

[NoGluGirl]

Dear Walter,

I understand your concern. I cannot work a regular job because of it. I tried to start my own business, but I was defrauded by a company called Digiworld Technologies and lost everything. However, I think I know something you could do. There is a thing called the Specialty Merchandising Corporation. Obtaining your membership allows you access to great products. You do not buy anything until someone makes an order. You can start for as little as $25. Check it out at www.smc.com. They are a very reputable company.

Sincerely,

NoGlugirl

[CarlaB]

I don't know how student teaching works, but is there any way you can get a student teacher?

When I get stomach issues, I can usually wait until it's convenient to go. This wasn't always the case. If it's not that way with you, if you still have urgency, I don't see how you can do this job since you can't leave the classroom and go to a different building. If things are bad, how will you make it that far?

Are there any other teachers who might be sympathetic to your problem and help you out a bit? Can you continue on your leave of absence until the next school year considering this year is almost over? Do you normally get summer employment? Maybe you could start a summer job early instead ... one where you have a more readily accessible bathroom.

[Phyllis28]

Is it possible to continue your leave of absence until you get better? Another option is to be private tutor. I have hired a tutor for my son when needed. In Southern California the going rate is between $50 and 65/hour. His math tutor worked from her home and required my son to go there. The sessions were an hour long.

[lonewolf]

I am still suffering from diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and bleeding at times and I have to get back to work soon!

What does your doctor have to say about this? Are you improving enough to see that you're heading in the right direction?

I'm a teacher too and I don't see how you could do it. When I was pregnant the first time I missed a lot of work because of morning sickness. Even when I was there I would have to leave my classes to run to the bathroom to throw up. I was reprimanded and had to take some time off without pay.

It's so close to the end of the year - could you just take the rest of the year off, give yourself more time to heal and then start again next year? Or could you job-share for the rest of this year with whoever has been subbing in your classroom? Maybe half-time would work for you. If you have a strong union in your district they can help you with this. If you're like most teachers you want to get back to your kids as well as getting your income back.

Good luck. I hope you figure out something that works for you.

[blueeyedmanda]

It does sound like this is going to be a very hard job to go back to, considering the bathroom is quite a distance away and you would be strapped for time when you did go to use it.

If there is a way to wait until the following school year to go back to work that might give you a few more months to feel better.

I hope things start to work out for you. I understand your situation greatly, I used to be in your same position and it was while working with children.

[kbtoyssni]

Why do you have to use the faculty bathroom? Can't you use the same one the kids do?

[cdfiance]

Walter, I am in my first year of teaching so I know how truly tied to the classroom you are when you are a teacher. I don

[KAG]

Walter,

Either middle school or high school would be much easier to teach at with your problems. They are much more relaxed than elementary school and I beleive you are treated more as a professional. A lot of ESE self-contained classrooms have an instructional assistant. I taught middle school educable mentally handicapped students before and I only needed k-6 certification. I also had two instructional assistants and could leave the room whenever. If you could tolerate trainable mentally handicapped, you would even have a bathroom in your room. The principal usually sets the tone and I always found it easier to find another school than to fight.

Kim

[Walter S]

Why do you have to use the faculty bathroom? Can't you use the same one the kids do?

I really don't know about using the same bathrooms as the kids. In this day and age, I think it would be frowned upon. Also, they are very dirty, and I have no idea how I could handle having diarrhea in the bathroom with students around. Thank you all fo rthe advice so far! I really am not quite sure what to do now, but I have some things to think about. I really do want to get back to work if possible. I have been talking to some of my good friends at work, so I will let you all know what if anything we fiugure out. Thanks again!

[NoGluGirl]

I really don't know about using the same bathrooms as the kids. In this day and age, I think it would be frowned upon. Also, they are very dirty, and I have no idea how I could handle having diarrhea in the bathroom with students around. Thank you all fo rthe advice so far! I really am not quite sure what to do now, but I have some things to think about. I really do want to get back to work if possible. I have been talking to some of my good friends at work, so I will let you all know what if anything we fiugure out. Thanks again!

Dear Walter,

I really think that this is an illegal situation. Employers are not allowed to have so few restrooms to accomodate teachers. It is the same with students. I think cdfiance gave you some good advice. Approaching your union would be a good course of action. They are dirty too, which is unsanitary. This leaves all of the faculty and students open to illness. Good luck and keep us posted!

Sincerely,

NoGluGirl

[blueeyedmanda]

I cannot believe in a school there is so few bathrooms. I know we had two designated staff bathrooms where I went to school, but there were also a handful of student bathrooms with many stalls so there were options. Many of our teachers used the student bathrooms because of the location to their classrooms.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

It sounds to me like you have not yet got your tummy situation figured out--you are still very ill and, while I totally understand your need and desire to return to work, you can't. Can you imagine someone with out-of-control epilepsy teaching third graders and having seizures several times a day in front of the kids? Forget about being an effective teacher, you're leaving them unsupervised if you are leaving them unattended while you rush to the bathroom.

The bottom line is, you need to find out what is causing all your symptoms ASAP.

You mentioned on one of the other threads that you still needed to learn more about the gluten-free diet, (at least, I think that was you). This is the place to learn, and there are some very experienced people here (I'm really not one of them, as my symptoms were so comparatively mild) who know more than 99% of the doctors in this country.

I don't mean to put you on the spot, but how about if, here on this board, we do what your doctors ought to be doing, and analyze EVERYTHING about your situation and see if we can't get to the bottom (no pun intended) of things?

First off, what are you eating and drinking? What is your typical day's worth of everything that goes into your mouth? We may be able to help you pinpoint either hidden gluten in your diet or else other food intolerances that may be causing your gastric distress. Many here have multiple food intolerances. Also, if you have a leaky gut, then you may be temporarily unable to eat certain foods (such as dairy) until your gut heals, which may take several months.

Secondly, what meds (including vitamins and supplements) are you on?

Third: can you tell us any family history of either similar digestive disorders or related autoimmune disorders such as autoimmune thyroid disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, IBS, Crohn's disease, etc.? Anybody with stomach cancer or lymphoma?

And there is growing evidence that for some people gluten can affect only neurological function without disrupting intestinal function (they're calling it "neurological celiac"), so that bipolar syndrome, autism, ADD, depression, etc. may all be related to--gluten! So do you have any relatives with any of those conditions?

If you are eating in restaurants, getting fast food, or geting takeaway salad bar or deli food from the supermarket, you are almost certainly continuing to be "glutened." Likewise, if you are using the same toaster, and sharing butter, jam, mayo, etc., with a gluten-eating family, you're getting glutened by the crumbs.

It only takes a crumb.

And finally, I don't mean to open a can of worms here, but there are a whole host of possibilities of coexisting problems, such as h. pylori, bugs picked up on travels, mercury toxicity (either from vaccines such as the flu shot, or from dental amalgams), and Lyme disease. You might want to pm rachel--24, who is our resident expert on mercury and Lyme. You can find her on the "omg--I might be on to something" thread, where there are several other Lyme experts who have all been diagnosed with gluten intolerance AND Lyme, and some have been diagnosed with mercury issues as well! If any of your children or siblings (don't know which generation you are, sorry) have ever reacted to shots, then mercury is very likely an issue for you as well.

Hey, it'll be funny to see all the different opinions you can get on this thread!

[Walter S]

Hello everyone! As per fiddle faddle's suggestion, I am going to type up and post all the medical (personal and family) history, as well as daily diet info about myself so that anyone can offer advice. I will try to do it this morning, but since I am expecting visitors, I may not get it done until tonight, but I am going to begin working on it. Thank you all in advance for your help. As far as the bleeding goes, I am shacked that I called my GI doctor (who many people claim is a great GI DOC) on Monday and left a message for him to call and I told the receptionist about the bleeding. Now, it's Thursday and I did not get a call back! Maybe I need to find a new Dr. Ugh this is frustrating! I printed out a medical history and list of meds for my doctor visits after all this began. If I have it saved on my computer (I hope I do, but am not sure becasue the hard drive crashed) I will start by posting that. Thank you again very much!

[CarlaB]

Walter, I think it's a good idea to list what you're eating. I'd do it in a new thread appropriately titled so that you get the most advice you can.

As far as the bleeding, did you have a colonoscopy when you had your celiac testing? It could be from hemorrhoids, but it could be from something more serious.

[Walter S]

Hello again everyone. I apologize in advance because this will be a long post! Below is a copy of the medical history I have on my computer that I share with the doctors when I go for my appointments. I was hoping you all might look it over and see if you think I or the doctor

[CarlaB]

Walter, as Fiddle-Faddle said, many of us here also have Lyme Disease. Lyme and celiac are not related as far as we know, but Lyme has caused gluten intolerance in many of us, and if you were susceptible to celiac it could be the trigger.

Lyme can cause almost everything you listed in your health history. Go to Open Original Shared Link for a list of symptoms. Other good websites are Open Original Shared Link, Open Original Shared Link, Open Original Shared Link. Feel free to PM me or visit us on the OMG thread for more info on this.

As far as your diet, with being newly diagnosed, you might want to simplify it even more. You could be casein intolerant, and drinking lactaid wouldn't help with the casein, so I'd cut out the milk altogether and test it when you're feeling better.

The other thing that stood out to me is the balsamic vinegar. Most balsamic vinegar is fine, but balsamic flavored vinegar might not be. Still, it's hard on the stomach, so I'd leave it out for now. Try replacing it with natural apple cider vinegar (the raw kind).

Also, you are eating a lot of gluten-free bread. Many have trouble with that in the beginning and do better on just meat, fruit, veggies, and brown rice.

Once you heal, you can test all these other things to see if you tolerate them.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Wow, that was quick! And, wow, you sure have been through a lot.

Um, if you are drinking Lactaid, you are NOT on a dairy-free diet! Now, if you are lactose-intolerant, Lactaid is probably just fine, but if it's the casein that is bothering you, then Lactaid has just as much casein as regular milk, and will cause you grief. At any rate, Lactaid is dairy. You might try substituting rice milk (but read ingredients carefully, as some brands--Rice Dream in particular--process their rice milk with barley enzymes (and barley is gluten). I love almond milk, but I am not sensitive to nuts.

When I first went off gluten, for some reason, I could not tolerate gluten-free breads, cookies, cakes, etc. I suspect that my gut had to heal first, but I really don't know why I got major stomach aches when I ate them then, but now I don't. But anyway, it's just a thought--you might want to suspend (temporarily!) the gluten-free breads and breading until your tummy settles down. Maybe you could substitute rice?

I don't know enough about meds to say if yours are gluten-free or not. You may want to try looking the ingredients up on the Internet, or ask your pharmacist (NOT the pharm. assistant, who is usually the one who rings up the sale. Some pharmacies have every employee wearing lab coats, which makes it look like they are pharmacists when they are not.). You might also want to have a nice long discussion with your pharmacist about whether or not any of your meds are interacting with each other with unpleasant results.

I bet you'll get lots more thoughts on this--thanks so much for being so brave as to post all this. I hope that we can all come up with something helpful for you.

And maybe one of the mods can re-post this on a separate thread so you can get more answers?

[NoGluGirl]

Hello again everyone. I apologize in advance because this will be a long post! Below is a copy of the medical history I have on my computer that I share with the doctors when I go for my appointments. I was hoping you all might look it over and see if you think I or the doctor

[Walter S]

Thank you everyone for the advice you are all providing. I really don't know much about casein. Actually I never heard of it. I will need to learn more about it. The nutritionist told me to drinl lactaid so that's why I got it, but it is dairy isnt it? Why didn't I think of that?!!? Maybe I can try cutting that out and the balsamic vinegar, too and see what happens. I never thought of mentioning the antibiotics that I was on for various things. As a kid growing up, I took very few if any antibiotics at all. A few years ago when I had the infection in the heart i was on heavy doses of antibiotics while in the hospital via an IV drip. Then I took antibiotic pills for days after I ws out of the hospital. I don't remember what kind I was on. Then, back in December, I was on Levaquin becasue I got bronchitis. Also I February, I was put on flagyl becasue they thought I might have an infection when at first my stomach wasn't getting better. Then they put me on flagyl thinking I had something called C-Diff, but that turned out not to be the case. So I figured I would add that to the information I posted. If I was to repost this on a different thread, which might be the best thread to post it on? Thanks Again!

[Nantzie]

It's common for nutritionists not to be as knowledgeable about gluten and casein as they should be. It's not that they don't care, it's just the state of medical science right now. So my questions would be regarding your food.

Some common inaccurate information given by nutritionists and health food store workers are that you can eat spelt, kamut, sprouted wheat and wheat grass. All of these contain gluten. Also, a label saying wheat free doesn't necessarily mean it's gluten-free.

There are also some brands that some people have problems with.

If you can tell us what breads, pastas, breadcrumbs, etc. you're using, we may be able to rule out any possible hidden gluten with regard to the specialty gluten-free products you're using.

Nancy

[JNBunnie1]

Walter, I think it might be a good idea for you to have a test done for heavy metal toxicity in your system. It sounds like you eat a lot of fish, and there's not really any 'safe' fish left in the world. Maybe north atlantic salmon, but that's about it. And give it a little time, you'e just been diagnosed! You'll get better, we promise!

[CarlaB]

The fact that you've been on so many antibiotics lately makes me more suspicious of Lyme rather than less. Seizures, Crohns, panic attacks, GI trouble, repeated infections, heavy metal toxicity, etc. can all be caused by it. Just look at canlyme.com to see what you think, whether you think your symptoms match.

Casein is the protein in milk. Lactose is tough for newly diagnosed celiacs to digest, so they are told to avoid milk. But if it's casein that's bothering you, Lactaid will not help.

If you're still having problems after removing the vinegar and the milk, I'd seriously consider cutting out the gluten-free bread for a while, too. If you're fine after the vinegar and milk is removed, then you know your problem.

Plus, I noticed that you just started the gluten-free diet this month. It takes time to heal. You will get better!

[Walter S]

Thank you all again for the further info. I am going to check that link on Lyme disease now. I also wonder if I mentioned this, but I also have some bd problems with feeling dizzy everyday. I will check the labels of he gluten free bread products and post the brand names in a little while. I never thought of cutting out the gluten free breads, but that may be my next logical step. I'm off for now to read up on the Lyme's Disease...