Endometriosis:

Managing Pain at School

 

Endometriosis Guide for Teens	Managing Pain, Activities, & Friendships
Endometriosis FAQ's	Pain & Symptom Tracker
Hormonal Therapy Options	Pain Mapping Worksheet
Continuous Hormone Pills	Endo, Nutrition, and Exercise
Continuous Hormone Pill FAQ's	Endometriosis and College Planning
Coping with Endo Pain	Glossary of Endo Terms
Managing Pain at School	Additional Endo Resources

 

Does your endometriosis pain get in the way with your plans to attend school or your ability to stay for a full day? Does your academic performance and grades sometime suffer due to absences, missed assignments or difficulty keeping focused? Perhaps you’ve also experienced tension with your family, and/or teachers due to poor school attendance and performance issues. Dealing with pelvic pain in a school setting can be very stressful, particularly if your teachers and school nurse are not aware of the pain you have to cope with most days.

 

Below are tips to help you manage the realities of being a student with chronic pelvic pain. Notice that all of the tips depend on being prepared.

• Know your pain tolerance threshold. Your pain will likely be mild some days, but other days it may be severe. Use the Pain & Symptom Tracker to track your pelvic pain and any related discomfort you have each month.
• Talk with your parent(s) or guardian(s) about what you can tolerate in school and what you cannot manage. This is best done at a pain–free time when you are calm and are thinking clearly.
• Communicate with your close friends about what it’s like to have endometriosis, so they can understand why you sometimes miss school or activities, and be supportive.
• Identify an adult contact person at school. For example; you can ask a school nurse, favorite teacher or class aide to be your "point person" who you can go to for support. Choose someone with whom you feel comfortable sharing your endometriosis history, and who can help and be supportive while you are at school.
• Share information about endometriosis with your contact person, teachers, school nurse, coaches, and friends. Those around you are likely to be more understanding and supportive if they know what endometriosis is, and how it impacts your life.
• Make a plan for pain at school. Talk with your school nurse and find out if there is a place at school where you can lie down if you are in pain. Listening to relaxing music may also help.
• Identify a person in each of your classes (friend or teacher) who will e–mail you the homework assignment if you miss class.
• Give yourself enough time in the morning to get ready for school. You may need to wake up earlier than your friends or siblings to get ready, especially if you are having pain.
• Don't assume that every day you wake up with pain means that you have to stay home from school or that the day is "lost to pain". Try to go to school every day even if you have some pain in the morning: chances are that your pain will get better or go away once you get moving and you are distracted. If your pain becomes unmanageable, you can get dismissed and go home.
• Maintain a healthy lifestyle. Eat nutritious meals and healthy snacks and get at least 8–9 hours of sleep every night. Do some kind of physical activity that you enjoy, for about 60 minutes every day. Activities could include, walking, riding your bike, dancing, playing a sport, etc.
• Try not to fall behind in your schoolwork. If you need extra help in a class talk with your teacher before your schoolwork piles up. If you have to be absent from school for more than a week, find out about having a home tutor.
• Keep in touch with your friends. Even when you are absent, talk to at least one of your friends every day either on the phone, via text messages, e–mail, or on a social networking site. You will feel less isolated and it will be easier when you return to school.

Be proactive. Make a list of things you can do to personally manage your pelvic pain at school.

 

Take a piece of paper and fold it in half the long way so that you have two columns. One the left side, write down all the ways endometriosis has affected your school life. On the right side, write down ways that you can manage your endometriosis at school and when you are absent. See the sample below.

 

Ways Endo Affects My Life at School	Ways to Manage My Endo
I missed my homework assignment.	I'll talk to my teachers and ask to have homework assignments e-mailed to me.
I never get to see my friends when I'm absent.	I'll call at least one friend a day when I miss school.
I'm having pain at school.	I'll go to the nurses office and lie down if my pain is bad.

 

 

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Written by the CYWH Staff at Children's Hospital Boston

 

Updated: 4/8/2010