The word ‘support’ is a bit of a weird one. It has weird connotations to me – like ‘support group’ or ‘support bra’ but sadly neither of those items are what I want to talk about (although let’s see if I can slip them in somehow…)
What I really want to put on the table, is the importance of getting the support you need when you are battling a Chronic Illness like Crohn’s Disease and why not allowing yourself to be supported is probably hindering your health.
Our day has arrived, babies! 1st December – 7th December is Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week in the UK and a chance for us to have our voices heard and make our mark.
Regarded as a notoriously ‘invisible illness’, the campaign is aimed at #MakingTheInvisibleVisible – trying to reach out to people who are unaware of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases as well as bringing more visibility to these illnesses to those who might not know a lot about it.
Before I start, I just want to make it very clear that I am not a trained medical professional, nor should anything I say be taken as ‘good advice’ – I write about my own personal experience and journey to share my story with others battling a similar illness, but please always seek professional help if you wish to discuss your medication or condition.
I was first prescribed Azathioprine probably back in February 2017, which in short means that I had been on it for 8 months. Initially, I was set a dosage of 125mg before blood tests revealed that there was too much of the Immunosuppressant in my body and my hospital Pharmacist decided to take me down to 75mg a day. Continue reading
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?
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.
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
