Earlier this week we posted a video about smoking’s effects on IBD: here’s a video from gastroenterologists talking about marijuana’s effects on IBD.
This video is simply food for thought. Nadia and I do not have experience with this, so we can’t direct you to more resources on this topic if you are interested.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: Have you tried medical marijuana before? How did it affect your IBD in the short-term and long-term? Feel free to respond to this post.
A video from the doctors’ perspective about smoking and IBD. Researchers don’t really understand why smoking affects people with IBD the way it does, but they do know of two strong associations: smoking makes Crohn’s worse, and it makes ulcerative colitis better. In the case of ulcerative colitis, though, smoking is NOT recommended for patients, as it has too many negative effects to warrant any positive effect it has on the disease.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: For the smokers, do you think your smoking has a positive or negative effect on your IBD? Share your story with all of us! You don’t need an account or email or anything to leave a comment.
Ashley from Gut Inspired provides tips for those newly diagnosed with IBD.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Maggie posted this wonderful video about the best Crohn’s and colitis resources on the web. She mentions a lot of websites, YouTube channels, and Facebook groups in this video, so there’s something for everybody (thanks for the shout out, Maggie!).
To find these websites, either Google the name and you’re sure to find the site, or click on the video while it’s playing to go to Maggie’s YouTube channel, which has all the links to the websites directly.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Gut Inspired is a group of individuals working to raise awareness of IBD in Canada. As the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation describes the group:
Gut Inspired is a group of Canadians living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis who have joined forces to increase the awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Canada, offer support for individuals living with IBD and provide personal experiences to assist others living with IBD learn how to better manage their disease.
Gut Inspired has been developed by patients for patients, working together with community partners to promote acceptance and vocalize the presence and commonality of IBD in Canada. They aim to inform the public about IBD and reduce the stigma associated with digestive disease.
Check out the following videos to hear some of the patient stories. More stories can be found on the Gut Inspired YouTube channel.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Sara created a video recently on a very difficult topic: applying for disability. For those of you who’ve suffered very badly with inflammatory bowel disease and other issues, you know how difficult it is work consistently when you are in and out of the hospital. If you have any questions about how disability works, I suggest you ask Sara, not me, as I’m really not sure what the process is like. Some people do go on disability because of medical issues, and there is a stigma with it and it can be embarrassing.
She created a second video soon after talking about the difficulties of planning of the future with chronic illness. Both videos go hand in hand.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: Have you applied for disability? Tell us how the process went and how you feel about it.
A couple weeks ago Nadia showed us a smartphone app for keeping track of IBD symptoms. For those of us who don’t have a smartphone, Sara shows us how she keeps track of her symptoms, diet, and doctor’s appointments throughout the year.
Happy holidays,
~Dennis
Recently we were contacted by WestGlen Broadcast Public Relations as part of a nationwide campaign to spread awareness in the inflammatory bowel disease community about Ally’s Law (known as the Restroom Access Act). Ally Bain and her gastroenterologist Dr. David Rubin offered us an exclusive video interview to spread awareness about this law. This was a phone interview with Dennis and I because we were all in different locations.
David Rubin is an associate professor of medicine, co-director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, and director of the Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition fellowship program at the University of Chicago (UC).
Ally Bain was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age 11 and at age 14, Ally experienced a Crohn’s flare up in a department store and had an accident because she was denied use of the employee-only restroom. Since then, Ally has dedicated herself to raising awareness about Crohn’s disease and the rights of people living with the condition by creating “Ally’s Law.”
There are many resources where you can learn more about getting involved to help legislation pass this law in your state. Check out CrohnsAndMe.com as well as CCFA.org to learn more and find additional information.
We feel very honored to have been given this rare opportunity. We should all do our part and get involved in this movement because “everyone deserves restroom access.”
“Awareness is empowering.” ~Rita Wilson
~Nadia
Technology allows us some great tools to help track our symptoms using our smartphone, iPod touch, or iPad. In this video, I demonstrate a downloaded app called GI Monitor, which tracks symptoms, BM’s, meals, and pain/stress levels. You can use the information to show your doctor to give a better idea on your disease allowing the physician to give you better treatment. The beauty of the apps is that they take a lot of guess work out of trying to figure everything out and take off the burden of having to write down every detail.
“We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.” ~Carl Sagan
~Nadia
Question: How do you keep track of your symptoms?
Sara from A Girl with Guts provides tips for the newly diagnosed in this video. As most of us can remember, those beginning days after diagnosis are rough.
For those of you who have had IBD for awhile, this video still has some great tips for managing the disease. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of people out there who’ve had the disease for years but still aren’t competent at managing it.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: How long did it take after you were diagnosed before you started talking about your disease with others? Respond to this post with your story!
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