When I was in school, I was bowel IC. Theres no worse an experience of pooping one’s pants than during Year 10 high school (Year 12 over here is the last year before going off to uni), standing outside the next class, trying in vain to explain away the smell as “I stepped in dog shit, sorry”, then to go sit in class for an hour, then to hurry off to the toilets, strip off and go commando for the rest of the afternoon.
I was teased mercilessly from year 2 Infants School (so about 8yo) through to Year 11, when my fecal IC mostly petered out to random soilings through uni and beyond.
I transitioned MtF post-Uni, copped a lot of shit from family and randoms over my looks, so became adept at hiding in plain sight.
One of my cousins had a thought of asking me to present at their uni psychology class about my experience transitioning, but thought that I’d be too embarrassed to do so. My sister knew that I’d have done it, because by then, stuff like transgender topics and teasing were “water off a ducks back”. I wasn’t phased, and still am not. I would have jumped at the chance to talk though too.
Now, Im having IC issues, and have been in nappies 24/7 for a year, and a combination of nappies and pullups for about 8 months before that (pullups were ok for the drips and dribbles, but when I started flooding, I had to “upgrade”).
Yes, I could have gone and hid in my house, but I couldn’t do that. My experience has always been to get out there and overcome the fear of being found out, I had to go to work, I have a mortgage to repay, I have my hobbies to look forward to. Life is way too short to “be stuck” inside.
Screw what other people think. My nappies are on show to whoever walks through my walk-in-robe. My nappy covers, onesies, footed Pjs are in view too. Only my ABDL stuff is hidden, even though some are also in plain sight for those in-the-know.
I wrote a post in another section here on ADISC about how to get out there and be confident. I thinknits in the Articles section. Maybe the OP should go and read that, and do the exercises in it.
I too had to learn all that stuff, and overcome the fear, the “what if”.
Life is way too short to spend it inside, cowering in fear. Please don’t let the IC ruin your life. Conquer it, get mad at it, own the problem, and move on.