When I get overwhelmed, I either go into panic mode/overdrive OR I do fun stuff to further put me behind but at least I'm having a good time.

I'm in panic mode but couldn't resist the bathroom topic <g>.

A quick Russia story...<btw, hope you liked my little joke <lol>>...we arrived at the Charleston airport around 8:30 on a Tuesday to travel to Russia. Got to Russia on Wednesday around 12:30 p.m., stumbled around for a while wondering where the rest of the group was...*finally* Sergia found Dave <he had been given a "xerox" copy of our passport photos but as I had cut my hair AND changed glasses, no one recognized me...made for FUN times at customs, let me tell you!>...Sergia, hereafter known as Col. Klink <another story to be told later> told us the rest of our American group was either <a> stuck in Armenia and couldn't get back into Russia due to some visa problems or <b> in Mari El and would show up 5 days hence.

Whatever. Dave and I climbed into a van w/Col. Klink, who spoke passable English and he was our interpreter and a driver who didn't speak English at all. This, dear Boomer Sibs, was an *extreme* leap of faith! We then began our 5 hour drive to Yaroslavl. About 2 hours into the drive, I needed to use the bathroom. Dave told Col Klink, who told the driver and thus began a series of pull overs to the side of the road, inspection of a potential site, nope, that wouldn't do because it didn't have enough cover, pull back out into the road <<<ah, the roads...sort of 2 lanes with shoulders on each side...if another vehicle needed to pass that same vehicle would just get in the, approximate, middle of the road and the two other lanes would, sort of, crowd onto the shoulders. Passing on hills gave a new meaning to the word fear. You know those Always panty liners? They are worth their weight in wet!>>> Eventually, the driver found a place that he felt would give appropriate cover and he pulled off.

Having been forewarned about ALWAYS carrying tissues, I jumped off the van and headed to tall weeds. Col Klink was laughing and my parting shot was, "hey, I'm a farm girl AND I remembered to bring tissues!" I think I spoiled it for him <g>.

I later found out roadside service is called <appropriately enough> "bush service".

At the cafe stop, Dave had to use the bathroom and they found him an outdoor johnny. I was jealous until he came back with his report. The outdoor johnny was a nice building <the "nice" part ended on the outside however> and when he went inside, there was a hole in the floor with worn places in the dirt where many, many feet had stood. Dave said there were so many flies buzzing he had second thoughts but, when in Rome, er, I mean Russia...

THANK YOU GOD we didn't ever have to do number two <as we called it when we were kids> when we were on the road. I mean, I would have it I had to but can you imagine the look on the doctor's face when I had to go get shots or something for the butt bites??? UGGGGHHHHH!

Ah, Russia...the warm, fuzzy memories will last until next year when we return...

Thistle, I applaud your adventurous spirit. After reading your post I'm not sure I could do the same. When we travel I like to stay within a half hour drive from the airport. I don't like being in a van full of people with no bathroom in site. I've often thought how embarrasing it would be for me to have to ask the driver to pull over so I could use the bathroom. I think all buses and vans used for transporting crowds should have bathroom facilities.

This fear came from the time I was on a school bus doing a class trip with my 2 youngest. I was sitting in the back and felt sick. I started getting hot flashes and then my stomach began swishing. I had on a turtleneck sweater and felt like I had to rip it off! I prayed my way there. As soon as we pulled on the lot of the farm we were visiting, I asked a teacher for permission to be the first to get off. Since then, I don't like sitting in the back of buses.

Nothing like being with a bunch of school kids and being the parent who gets sick.

It's amazing how many women have IBS. I'm wondering if you've sought treatment? I was diagnosed with it a couple of years ago, and my doctor ran a bunch of tests all of which resulted in a huge change in my diet and a complete change in my health. I know what foods to avoid, and I know pretty much what effect various foods will have on my body.

I've explored a lot of different diet/ nutritiou explanations, but am intrigued by one I've just learned about -- alkaline vs. acid foods. We should be eating 80 percent alkaline to 20 percent acid, and the American diet is probably the opposite. Vegies and fruits are mostly alkaline, meat and grains are mostly acid. Milk products are in the middle. Garlic and lemon will neutralize acid foods.

DJ,
Very interesting! My daughter has IBS as well and had to alter her diet a great deal. I kind of know which foods to avoid, but sometimes I am careless and then very sorry. I went online and put in "homeopathic treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome". I found this site that listed the different kinds of treatments related to IBS and the different symptoms correlating to the treatments.
Oh yes! Thanks for the progesterone cream post. It helped me a great deal. I had some cream, but had never taken it habitually. When I did start taking it on a regular basis it really helped.

Like some of you, I don't have IBS but certain foods send me running. I've listened to my body and know what they are. I've grown into being lactose intolerant. Never had it until a couple years ago. When I can practice self restraint my stomach is fine. It's when I think I'm entitled to something like ice cream that I get in trouble.

My nerves also add to the situation if something's really bothering me.

I've just got to share a story about my dear departed father and his bouts with IBS. It was so bad, he carried a roll of toilet paper in the car just in case.

Anyway, about 20 years ago, he and my mother were visiting Disney World. They took the boat to Discovery Island. As they got off the boat, my father told my mother that he "had to go!" A quick look at the map showed that the restroom was on the other side of the island. So, they high-tailed it (pun intended) to the restroom. My father got inside but didn't make it to the stall in time. He was in there so long, my mother started to worry about him. She asked another gentleman to check on him. The man went inside and then came out and told my mother that her husband was standing naked at the sink washing his clothes. A few minutes later, my father emerged from the mens room wearing his soaking wet trousers (he threw away his underwear). It was an unusually cold and wet day in Orlando. He and my mother then began the long journey back to their travel trailer so that he could change into dry clothes.

My father was a good sport and my mother's recounting of this story never failed to throw us all into fits of laughter when we gathered for family meals around the dining room table. My father's deadpan response was, "Humpf! I don't see what's so funny about that!"

In 1995, when my husband and I took our daughters to Disney World about six months after my father died, I took a pair of his boxer shorts, wrote "JFM Memorial Boxer Shorts" on them, and hung them in the mens room on Discovery Island as a memorial to my father. I wonder what the custodian thought when he saw those shorts!!!

You've just got to laugh in life!

Or, as Jimmy Buffett sings,

"If we weren't all crazy, we would all go insane!"

That poor dear man. Its funny when you talk about it now but I bet he was mortified. Had the same problem most of my life, there are still certain situations I won't (can't) put myself into. Had to stop one night late driving home from my moms in Indiana to Illinois 90 miles away. Got so bad I pulled over and crouched behind a large bush and well you can imagine the rest....Couldn't find a place open that late. I also didn't make it once in the Sunset Casino and was wearing a tangerine nero jacket and matching pants. Tried to wash the slacks in the toilet bowl but still too noticable SO I pulled down the jacket, looked like a short dress and bravely walked through the casino to the parking lot and drive home, wet slacks in my purse, wet undies on me under the nero jacket. My pulse was 120 beats when I got home. IBS is never funny, not to the person who knows that fear....

Try "NO CAN,CAN DO"
I had to use a public washroom a few years ago in Vietnam. We were on the beach before going swimming, and I had to go...well you know (not pee)! I ran to a nearby restaurant and asked the waitress in my Vietnamese accent.."You have?...I crossed my legs and she said...Ah...pointing her finger to a door...
I opened the door and saw a 4' X 4' wooden stall. I opened that door and ...Nothing! I walked back out and she looked puzzled. I hunched my shoulders and threw up my hands in my Vietnamese "Where is it" sign language. She walked me to the door, opened it and with big smile on her face,and pointed to the same place I just came from!...thinking, how could this twit have missed it!
Ohhhhh...I said, thereeee? She nodded and with same smile said something, maybe...yeahhh idiot foreigner...thereee!
I opened up the same door again and noticed a 3 inch pipe hole in the floor. That was it...a 3 inch open pipe hole in painted concrete slightly slanted toward the middle!!!Complete with emergency exit/sneak a peek on the bottom. No water, no flush handle, no paper!! NO Way! My aim ain't that good! I quickly pulled my bathing suit out of my backpack, put it on, left the restaurant and headed for a " swim " in(ha ha)halong bay!

I aim to go back some day!

Maureen, I love Jimmy Buffet. You have to meet Lynn in here. She met him and spent time with him while living in the Florida Keys. Welcome again!

I also hate hate hate public bathrooms!
I used to work in a department store, and they honestly tried to keep the restrooms clean there but you would be surprised what some people do in public restrooms. I'm talking upscale dept. store here and there were days that I couldn't even walk near restroom because it needed to be fumigated. I honestlt felt sorry for the cleaning crew!