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January 29, 2006
IBS Suits for the IBS Woman
To my fellow IBS career girls - how incredibly important is it to find slacks that button loosely at the hips rather than snugly at the waist?! What about suit jackets that don't let you breathe? We all know that fit is of the upmost importance in fashion, but for an IBS girl, we are talking about the difference between a pending attack or an uneventful day. How different is our thought process in comparison to our 'normal' coworkers. I wake up and stare intently at my closet wondering what top + bottom makes the most fashion and just-in-case-I-get-an-attack sense. Is this shirt going to cover my unbuttoned pants incase I happen to feel sick? And IBS women hate wearing thongs. They look sexy, but only when my bottom's not sore or irritated. When that happens, the hottest lace number from La Perla is the last thing I want on my body. And in that case, is my panty line showing? Oh, and I swear that a man invented hosiery. So here's my criteria for IBS suits:
1. The waist band of my slacks need to be loosely fitting around my hips.
2. The sweater top needs to be able to hang lower than my hips so that it can cover my waist band in the event I want to unbutton. In a perfect world, the sweater should also include a pouch (like a kangaroo pouch) around the tummy area so I can slip in a slim water bottle to warm.
3. The jacket should hang slightly over my VPL (visible panty lines) and have a snug yet not tight button.
4. The preferred footwear should be ballet flats. Comfortable and easy to make a getaway to the bathroom.
5. Never ever ever suggest that wearing hose makes a suit look more professional. Those things are ridiculous. Why in the world do I want to feel like I'm sucking in the whole day? It makes my insides hurt. Women shave, wax, fake and bake - is that not enough? Do we really need to look like our entire leg is all one color when everyone knows its not? So my last proposition is to rely on knee highs or let our legs go free. Faux pas are for people who care and men that created such restrictions.
Posted by Christine at 6:13 PM | Comments (6)
What comes first? IBS or my new job?
New high stress job + travel schedule = increased IBS symptoms. It's a mathematical equation that never has to be proven since I'm living proof. I started a brand new job this month. High pay, high responsibility, high stress. Not that my last job was so terrible. In fact, it made me happy; I loved the people, loved the work, even could handle my boss. I almost stopped experiencing severe IBS symptoms (hence my hiatus for two months). But there's this crazy urging in my brain that pushes and pushes me to be a career girl. The urging makes me want more and not settle for comfortable. And anyone with IBS will tell you, comfortable is worth more than gold.
Have you ever been to "The Counter" in Los Angeles. There are several of them. Hamburgers made to order - beef, turkey or veggie. Of course, in theory, this sounds great. I get to build my dream veggie burger of dried cranberries, sprouts, honey mustard and tomatoes. At $8, its a pricey treat, but what the heck, I make more money. I ate a handful of fries, sat next to Stephanie Seymore and went back to work. Between 3pm and 5pm I was running to the bathroom every 15minutes. This also meant trying my hardest to avoid detection and timing it perfectly so that no one else was in the bathroom with me. I felt like a goshdarnfreaking spy. Normally, my digestion would be fine, but with the added stress of this new job and on edge thinking that I'm not up to par with their expectations, my colon is probably prespasming. I just look at it as my colon is allergic to work.
As a side note, thank you so much to those of you who have commented on my health blog! The only way to deal with this is to realize that you aren't alone in facing it. There are others out there who understand even if your friends, boyfriend, family, boss, coworkers, dog or cat don't.
Posted by Christine at 5:45 PM | Comments (3)
