We are in unpresented times. But dealing with anxiety in isolation is not unpresented. Anxiety affects everyone differently and can be brought on by different situations or experiences. It is our body’s natural reaction to perceived danger, focusing our attention and giving us a rush of adrenaline to react, sometimes called the “fight or flight” response. Sometimes it can be difficult to know what is making you anxious, which can…
health
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Growing Through your Diagnosis
What’s nice about being an adult and living with IBD is making all your own medical decisions. I remember sitting in my hospital bed and being given my morning medication and being told to take it right then and there. I was 23 years old. I wasn’t a child but I was a newly diagnosed patient with Crohn’s Disease and never taken tablets before in my life. This was all…
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Should We ‘Celebrate’ our Medical Anniversaries?
anniversary / noun – the date on which an event took place in a previous year. Today marks the fourth anniversary since my first IBD surgery. Part of me feels really nostalgic for that surgery – it was my first, I had no idea what it would feel like or how it would go – but I also feel jaded, I had alot of faith – even if it was…
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I am scared and that is okay.
I am scared. And that is okay. There is always a little fear when it comes to thinking about your chronic illness. There are alot of questions, not enough answers, you wonder about alot of what ifs and you can sometimes panic with the overwhelmingness of it all. I used to scold myself for being scared and doubting myself, when it came to my illness. It was never going to…
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Studying & Chronic Illness
Deadlines and unpredictable health are at opposite ends to each other. I remember the churning of my insides when my degree deadlines would creep up on me – I hadn’t been diagnosed with IBD at this point – and was at a loss of how to extend my deadlines due to my health. Alot of it was down to the fact I didn’t know the access was out there, and…
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TEN THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT… SPRING
It’s time for part two of the “Ten Things” series, today focusing on Spring. I am a Spring baby – born in April – so I feel drawn to this time of year as a time of celebration. Even if, as I get older, I don’t want to celebrate getting older, I do enjoy being able to see the graduate change in the world around me. In 2020 I am…
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Ostomy Uncovered – How to Resize Your Baseplate
Disclaimer: This information is based on my own research into this particular aspect of stoma care as well as some personal experience and should not be used as medical advice or a diagnostic tool. The suggestions given within are taken from sources laid out in the references header. If you seek advice regarding the things you experience within your own disease, please contact your SCN for medical advice. If you are looking for the entire…
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10 Tips for Feeling Comfortable with IBD
Throwback to an eventful Thursday afternoon in September 2011 when I was sat on the recovery trolley trying to grapple with the fact my latest test had discovered I have Crohn’s Disease. It was an understandably emotional time; the gravity of the situation was palpable – it was a ‘disease’, a lifelong and challenging illness – but I was also really unsure of what this meant for me going forward.…
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Sleep with a Stoma
One of my first queries when I was getting ready to have my stoma made was, ‘but how will I sleep with it attached to me?’ And sure for some, this might not phase them at all; it would be a welcomed break from not sleeping at all or having very broken and unsuccessful sleep. But I worried, none the less. Would I squash it? Would doing that hurt? Would…