Last week, something crazy happened – I was featured on UniLad! Although I try and be as open and honest as possible with putting our illness out there on the internet to shed light on it and raise awareness, it is still weird seeing your face next to the words ‘poo taboo’ and watch it go viral…! With nearly 2,500 reactions to the post, and 388 shares on the Facebook link alone, I feel like we are slowly getting somewhere with shedding some light on our disease! Continue reading →

Prescriptions annoy me. First of all, because I think it’s a bit of a liberty to have to pay for them every month when you have an incurable and chronic illness (hello, I didn’t ask to be sick, why charge me for it?) but secondly because for something that should be so straightforward, they are so bloody difficult. Continue reading →

Negativity – it’s something that I try and avoid indulging in too much across my social media channels as people have enough shit going on in their own lives, without me throwing in my two pence. I would like to appear as a light when things seem dark, a source of motivation and inspiration at times when there might just be someone seeking it. Yet lately, I’ve become my own worst enemy.  Continue reading →

Being diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease can be scary – it’s not a subject I had ever learnt about in science and it’s not an illness that has enough light shone on it elsewhere. To be told you have Crohn’s can feel like a different language and the questions that come alongside that revelation can feel never ending: What is it? What do I do? How will it affect me? Is there more I should know?

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It has been a little while since I’ve posted on here, something that fills me with annoyance as this is the one space where I can truly reach out to people and express myself. But life can sometimes engulf you and spit you out in the other direction, which has left me feeling somewhat demotivated.

These last few weeks have brought a whole new issue to light to do with my illness but also to do with a lot of illnesses people suffer with. To be short, I am sick of being called ‘lazy’. That sentence is all fucked up – really, it should be: I appear ‘lazy’ to you because I am sick.

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Tablets, meal-replacements, steroids – the list seems to be endless when you’re battling with Crohn’s Disease. Like many of you, for a long time I have been on a cocktail of pills and on and off different types of medication as the Hospital team try to work out what’s best for my body.

After a massive flare up in December that ended up with me being taken via ambulance to A&E, I was recommended to start Azathioprine – an immunosuppressive therapy that had previously been mentioned to me. As I was on my third course of steroids in 12 months, it was clear that simply taking Asacol was not a sustainable medication course for me.  Continue reading →

I feel like there is ofter a misconception that making an effort with your appearance makes you arrogant; that girls who wear more makeup are less insecure about how they look or that people who seem confident carry fewer issues in life. I’ve always been concerned with the way the world sees me – as a young girl, this was channelled through shyness and self-consciousness, slowly evolving into vanity and paranoia as I got older. Although anyone who’s crossed paths with me might argue that my confidence is unquestionable, I have always struggled to accept myself or be happy in the skin I am in. Continue reading →

Since starting GUT INSTINCT, I’ve spoken to loads of amazing people who have shared with me similar experiences or stories and it’s been a fantastic opportunity for me to learn and connect with so many people both in this country and across the world. Recently though, a conversation I had stood out to me as particularly important and something I felt compelled to share with you all – if there is a chance for me to help spread the word or raise awareness about an issue, especially something as serious as Pulmonary Embolisms links with IBD, then I will do it.  Continue reading →

My hair has always been my staple – it’s been my crowning glory, literally. Throughout my life I have always experimented with cuts, colours and styles, leading my 10 year obsession with hair and even at one stage influencing my desire to become a hair colourist. Yet now it has become my daily anxiety, something I am constantly paranoid and worried about – and yes, you guessed it, I can thank my good mate Crohn’s for that. Continue reading →