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…
diagnosis
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IBD Questions to Ask On or After Diagnosis Day
There are so many different paths to an IBD diagnosis. Some people will find out through a length period of feeling unwell and under going several tests. Some people will find out after a few weeks of being severely unwell. Some will find out suddenly, through an emergency admission to hospital or requiring emergent surgery. IBD does not discriminate with who gets it. There is no rhyme or reason to…
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Ten Year Crohns-versary
I sit here writing this a few weeks before the date of diagnosis with IBD because the emotions around August always get me thinking about September 7th. I let myself really go back to that time, fill my mind with memories and remember all the firsts I had in those first six months. I remember the hot touch of my skin. I remember the soreness of my joints, of how…
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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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Chronic Illness & Guilt
Diagnosis of a chronic illness is just the begining of a life long struggle with acceptance and a certain loss of idenity. I remember sitting in that doctor’s office being diagnosed with PCOS at seventeen not knowing what any of this meant. Why would I need to consider my reproduction when I was this young? I naively assumed I could just forget about it all as I chose not to…