I’ve had a lot of time – a decade – to think about remission. When my doctors said remission to me back in 2012 – I was less than a year into my official IBD journey – and I honestly thought “great, that’ll make things easier! Welcome back to normal life!” I feel pretty foolish now because nothing about remission then was easy. It was harder than flaring because I…
crohns disease
-
-
Misconceptions about Living with a Chronic Illness
“When they said chronic I didn’t think. They meant every single damn day.” Chronic and invisible. Double whammy. Despite there being so much information out there about the basics of IBD, we as patients still experience misconceptions and misinformation throughout our patient journey. We need to do so much more to break down the barriers, stereotypes and general misconceptions about how we are perceived, living with a chronic illness. Below are…
-
PTSD & Medical Trauma
NB: This post talks about post traumatic stress disorder and medical trauma. If you find anything in those two subject areas triggers, please do not continue to read onward.
-
Why Are PICC Lines used in IBD?
I’ve been on biologics for almost all of the time I’ve had Crohn’s Disease, which is a decade now. That is a lot of needles and IVs and as a result, my veins are troublesome. In recent years, Its become very difficult to get cannulated for infusions, surgeries and even draw blood. This wasn’t going to be such an issue when I could switch my current medication – Vedolizumab –…
-
Things I now Love about Living with a Stoma
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know I live with an ileostomy – a type of stoma formed from the small bowel – after losing my colon to Crohn’s disease. Read more about my stoma and my journey here. Now having a major organ removed isn’t exactly easy. Nor is it straightforward. The surgeries performed to create stomas aren’t quick or without their complexities. But hopefully the…
-
When might you need a Liver Biopsy with IBD?
What does the liver do? One of the jobs of the liver is to act as a “processing plant,” taking in what we ingest and helping to break it down into waste as well as useable materials. The liver also produces cholesterol, acids, and bile salts that get stored in the gallbladder until required to help break down ingested fats. How IBD affect the liver? In some people with IBD,…
-
Being Organised when you have IBD
Each doctor and hospital you visit keep a medical record for you that includes information on your diagnoses, test results, treatment plans, medications, and more. While some information may overlap, each record contains only a small piece of the total picture of your medical history. Because your medical information can be spread out among various doctors, it’s a good idea to assemble your own copy of all your records that…
-
‘Post Operative’ – what exactly is meant by this?
post-operative/adjective 1. during, relating to, or denoting the period following a surgical operation. Introduction Postoperative care is the care you receive after a surgical procedure. The type of postoperative care you need depends on the type of surgery you have, as well as your health history. It often includes pain management and wound care. Postoperative care begins immediately after surgery. It lasts for the duration of your hospital stay and…
-
Good & Bad Days
Isn’t it the height of irony that I had to delay this post by a week because I wasn’t well? But it does prompt a good question or at least topic of discussion: How do we deal with good and bad days? I say ‘we’, I mean those who have a chronic illness. And it stands to reason that our good days can vary. Either in how ‘good’ they are…