Basic definition: An endoscopy is a procedure where organs inside your body are looked at using an instrument called an endoscope. An endoscope is a long, thin, flexible tube that has a light and camera at one end. Images of the inside of your body are shown on a television screen. Endoscopes can be put into the body through the mouth and down the throat, or through the rectum. An…
crohns disease
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“Is mental health overlooked in IBD?”
How often when you get asked “how are you?” do you answer with regards to your mental or emotional health? I get it, it is tough to really answer with a honest one. Especially when you’ve come to see a doctor about a physical problem. But what happens when you’re physical problem is overshadowed by your emotions? Such as a chronic illness? How do you ‘separate’ the emotional from the…
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World IBD Day – Debunking IBD Myths
Back in February, I wrote about ‘Assumptions About IBD & Stomas‘ where I discussed how there are many assumptions and myths surrounding IBD and having a stoma. Assumptions are usually founded on false information, historically based in the past. While they might have some facts to them, they are usually warped beyond the reality they belong to right now. I’ve had all of these quotes said to me throughout the…
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Exploring the Emotional Complexity of IBD Surgery
As I come to the five year anniversary of my first IBD surgery, what exactly can I share with you, that isn’t already out there? What can I tell you that does ‘justice’ to the process, to the hard work that goes on behind the scenes? What can I tell you as a patient and as a person who has had the same amount of time with surgery as without…
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Life Lately | What Exactly is Going On?
I always get nervous … because I always wonder if I should or could go without my medication. It is not a matter of fighting for the funding like it has been before, but its more about how my body and disease will cope without medication. It is a catch 22 situation of whether I would be better off without it as it could be deemed unnecessary as I am…
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“How does sleep affect IBD?”
Struggling with sleep is a very common problem. So common in fact that almost one third of the UK population have insomnia – the inability to sleep at night. For those with IBD, I can only image that this proportion is higher, much higher. When I’ve been in the midst of a bad flare, I would not sleep. I’d be up in the bathroom multiple times during the night, I’d…
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“How do you know when you’re flaring?”
I’ll admit this openly, but flare-ups used to scare the heck out of me. After I was officially diagnosed in late 2011 I had several bad flare-ups back to back, which always led to me being hospitalised. Luckily, that doesn’t happen so often now, because I have become better at reading my own body’s warning signs of an impending flare-up or problem. In the beginning, everything is new – and…
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“What is life like after stoma surgery?”
You’re decided to have stoma surgery, but what now? Lots of thoughts, questions and worries cross your mind, and despite your nurses giving you lots of medical advice, you want to know what life after surgery is really like. For the most part, what you are told in hospital is accurate information. It comes from the surgeons and nurses seeing stomas, creating them and caring for many of them in…
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Intimacy After Stoma Surgery
Yes, it is possible to continue to have a healthy sex life – or even improve upon it – after ostomy surgery. But sex is rarely discussed with patients before ostomy surgeries, even though it’s a significant issue and can have a profound effect on a patient’s life. If you feel comfortable enough, you can bring this up with your surgeon or stoma care nurse as it is one aspect…