My top 10 facts about Crohn's disease.
1. Crohn's is incurable. If someone claims to have a cure they are just trying to get your money.
2. Diet can help the symptoms of Crohn's but it does not cause it. (or so they tell me)
3. Crohn's can be controlled by certain medications all of which have some pretty horrific side effects that can change your life forever.
4. Crohn's is considered to be an inflammatory bowel disease that can strike from your mouth to the anus.
5. Crohn's can give you nutritional deficiences, eye inflammation, joint pains, skin rashes, lesions, fistulas and fissures.
6. The only know causes of Crohn's are genetic and environmental.
7. Up to 70% of all people with the condition will have to have surgery. Unlike ulcerative colitis you cannot cure Crohn's with surgery.
8. People with Crohn's are at risk for colon cancer. (I've had several polyps removed already.)
9. Women who have Crohn's disease can have healthy children.
10. Crohn's is a complicated condition and the course of the disease varies from person to person. There are times when the disease is quiet and times when the disease flares.
My top 10 picks of what not to say to someone who has Crohn's disease.
1. I can see you've lost a lot of weight.
The reason being is that when Crohn's makes you sick you lose weight no matter how much you eat. However, I do get that you are jealous I can eat a gallon of ice cream and not look any different. I also know you would not trade the next 6 hours with me after I ate the ice cream.
2. Wow! You've put on some weight.
Crohn's medications will make you gain weight. Even when you don't want to. The pants won't fit, the blouse is too tight, and even the shoes pinch.
3. You don't look sick.
Sometimes I look sick and sometimes I don't. The pain is on the inside. However, when in a bad flare I always look sick.
4. Don't eat that. It will make you sick.
Sometimes it's worth the risk.
5. It's past your bedtime.
I will decide when to go to bed.
6. Calm down. You're going to upset yourself.
I already am upset. You telling me to calm down won't help.
7. How long are you going to be in the bathroom?
As long as I need to be.
8. Is it catchy?
No. But neither is a black eye. (I am not promoting physical violence.)
9. I know what you're going through. I have irritable bowel.
No you don't. But that's OK. Thanks for the empathy.
10. All you all right in there?
Oh you mean the screaming and moaning? Um. No. Not all right.
That's basically it. Crohn's is a life long process of learning how to overcome adversity. It is also about learning:
1. What empathy really is. Not only for yourself but for others.
2. Compassion for yourself and for others.
3. Education: It is a constant process.
4. Learning to have hope.
5. Gratefulness to have people in your life that love you.
Last night I was talking to my granddaughter on the phone. She's 12 and can be at times quite mature. I asked her what she saw herself doing when she graduated college. She said she'd like to be a doctor. I said good. Find a cure for Crohn's disease. I could feel her twinkling through the phone. She twinkles when she's thinking you can hear it in her voice. Very thoughtfully, she said, "I'd like that gma. "
What more could a Crohn's patient ask for.
1. Crohn's is incurable. If someone claims to have a cure they are just trying to get your money.
2. Diet can help the symptoms of Crohn's but it does not cause it. (or so they tell me)
3. Crohn's can be controlled by certain medications all of which have some pretty horrific side effects that can change your life forever.
4. Crohn's is considered to be an inflammatory bowel disease that can strike from your mouth to the anus.
5. Crohn's can give you nutritional deficiences, eye inflammation, joint pains, skin rashes, lesions, fistulas and fissures.
6. The only know causes of Crohn's are genetic and environmental.
7. Up to 70% of all people with the condition will have to have surgery. Unlike ulcerative colitis you cannot cure Crohn's with surgery.
8. People with Crohn's are at risk for colon cancer. (I've had several polyps removed already.)
9. Women who have Crohn's disease can have healthy children.
10. Crohn's is a complicated condition and the course of the disease varies from person to person. There are times when the disease is quiet and times when the disease flares.
My top 10 picks of what not to say to someone who has Crohn's disease.
1. I can see you've lost a lot of weight.
The reason being is that when Crohn's makes you sick you lose weight no matter how much you eat. However, I do get that you are jealous I can eat a gallon of ice cream and not look any different. I also know you would not trade the next 6 hours with me after I ate the ice cream.
2. Wow! You've put on some weight.
Crohn's medications will make you gain weight. Even when you don't want to. The pants won't fit, the blouse is too tight, and even the shoes pinch.
3. You don't look sick.
Sometimes I look sick and sometimes I don't. The pain is on the inside. However, when in a bad flare I always look sick.
4. Don't eat that. It will make you sick.
Sometimes it's worth the risk.
5. It's past your bedtime.
I will decide when to go to bed.
6. Calm down. You're going to upset yourself.
I already am upset. You telling me to calm down won't help.
7. How long are you going to be in the bathroom?
As long as I need to be.
8. Is it catchy?
No. But neither is a black eye. (I am not promoting physical violence.)
9. I know what you're going through. I have irritable bowel.
No you don't. But that's OK. Thanks for the empathy.
10. All you all right in there?
Oh you mean the screaming and moaning? Um. No. Not all right.
That's basically it. Crohn's is a life long process of learning how to overcome adversity. It is also about learning:
1. What empathy really is. Not only for yourself but for others.
2. Compassion for yourself and for others.
3. Education: It is a constant process.
4. Learning to have hope.
5. Gratefulness to have people in your life that love you.
Last night I was talking to my granddaughter on the phone. She's 12 and can be at times quite mature. I asked her what she saw herself doing when she graduated college. She said she'd like to be a doctor. I said good. Find a cure for Crohn's disease. I could feel her twinkling through the phone. She twinkles when she's thinking you can hear it in her voice. Very thoughtfully, she said, "I'd like that gma. "
What more could a Crohn's patient ask for.
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