My IBD Life
As I entered my first year of university, life was great..or so I thought. I had new friends, a new schedule, and the independence I had been dreaming of. It wasn’t until I started experiencing several digestive symptoms with no rhyme or reason, that things started spiralling downhill.
Running to the bathroom to be sick in the middle of a calculus lecture, fainting from stomach pain during a biology lab, and mouth ulcers that wouldn’t seem to heal. I saw specialist after specialist, all turning me away and refusing to do imaging or further investigation because “I looked too healthy to have Crohn’s Disease”. I had all of the symptoms, but no one would listen to me.
The following year I ended up in the ER with acute pain. Could it be an appendix rupturing? An ovarian cyst? Food poisoning? I had all of the tests in the book only to have an ultrasound tech whisper “have you ever heard of IBD”? I was fuming. She was right and I was right, I knew my body best and no one could tell me otherwise.
This hospital trip is when I was told I had Crohn’s Disease, a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). A condition invisible to the naked eye. A condition with no cure. And a condition normally filled with embarrassment, but I was determined that I wasn’t going to let it control my life.
For me, a diagnosis wasn’t a scary word. No matter what, I was feeling crappy, but it meant I could receive the help I needed. It meant doctors actually knew what was going on. It meant there was funded research being done that would benefit me in the future.
Since then, I’ve been put on a series of different medications, undergone an intensive surgery that removed a large portion of my bowel, and landed an amazing gastroenterologist in Toronto. But most importantly, I am now stable and healthy. I found the treatment that worked best for my body and have been in remission for 6 years.
What I didn’t know at the time was how much it would change my life. It led me to where I am today and sparked the fire inside of me to help those with digestive concerns find answers.
To be taken seriously. And to be listened to.
This blog was written by wellbe naturopathic doctor Mallory Reinthaler.