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Own Your Crohn's

Empowering the Chronically Ill & Disabled to Lead Fuller Lives

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  • advocacy,  autoimmune disease,  Crohn's,  Diet,  immunocompromised,  invisible illness,  J-Pouch,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Traveling with IBD,  Ulcerative Colitis

    How to Own Your Crohn’s & Ostomy While Traveling to India

    February 18, 2025

    By Tina Aswani-Omprakash As IBD warriors, it’s always nerve-wracking to travel with our conditions and/or an ostomy. For me, it’s been 7 years of me traveling all over the U.S. and Europe for patient advocacy work. And even though I’ve spoken many times virtually for events in India and Pakistan, I hadn’t traveled to the region to speak given the pandemic. Now that we are out of the pandemic and back at in-person conferences, it was fantastic to be invited to speak about my experiences as an IBD patient & ostomate at Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin’s (GAPIO’s) conference in Mysuru, Karnataka, India. Plus, traveling to Karnataka meant…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Immunocompromised in the Age of Coronavirus

    May 1, 2020

    Inspire’s #KeepUsAllSafe COVID-19 Campaign

    April 12, 2020

    My Pelvic Pain Story

    October 26, 2018
  • Biosimilars,  Crohn's,  health insurance,  living with IBD,  Patient Voice,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    Key Takeaways from Advances in IBD (AIBD) 2024

    January 5, 2025

    By Tina Aswani-Omprakash & Natalie Hayden **This article has also been published on Natalie’s blog: Lights, Camera, Crohn’s ** As two bloggers and patient thought leaders in the IBD community, we were thrilled and honored to attend and speak at the Advances in IBD conference in December 2024 in Orlando, Florida. In the article below, we come together to summarize key learnings for our IBD patient and caregiver community. Management of Crohn’s Disease Crohn’s can be a very progressive disease, meaning it can worsen over time and cause complications, often leading to fistulae, strictures, and therefore surgery and bowel loss. In a debate between two of the co-chairs, Dr. Miguel Regueiro…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Sophia’s Chronic Illness Journey: Forced Switching to Biosimilars in Canada

    December 15, 2019
  • autoimmune disease,  chronic illness,  Crohn's,  living with IBD,  medical trauma,  Mental Health,  Mindfulness,  Ostomy,  PTSD,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Navigating Mental Health in Crohn’s Disease 

    December 5, 2024

    Did you know that approximately 25% of people living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) report significant symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS)? This PTS is directly related to disease experiences and related hospitalizations and is referred to as IBD-PTS. So what is IBD-PTS? It is when a patient experiences significant trauma related to the underlying condition and that trauma flashes back in the form of nightmares and unwanted memories. It may result in disturbed sleep, hypervigilance, and even low mood, including depression and anxiety.   Did you also know that there is a bidirectional relationship between IBD and depression and anxiety? This means declining mental health can contribute to disease activity, and IBD activity can also…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Dropping Mask Mandates: A Time of Anxiety or Joy?

    March 15, 2022

    Bachatera with a Bag: Theodora Shattering Ostomy Stigma Through Dance

    April 27, 2021

    Accepting My Crohn’s Disease to Finally Become Me

    January 15, 2024
  • Colorectal Surgery,  Crohn's,  Digital Healthcare Innovations,  health equity,  Healthcare Disparities,  living with IBD,  Patient Voice,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Highlights from ACG 2024: SAIA’s IBDesis’ Patient Experience

    December 4, 2024

    By: Madhura Balasubramaniam, Sharan Khela & Tina Aswani-Omprakash Our patient advocate team, SAIA’s IBDesis, were honoured to participate in the American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, USA, between October 25th to October 30th, 2024. As patient advocates, we are grateful for the opportunity to learn about the latest advancements in the IBD and GI space more broadly. Here are some of our key takeaways from the conference! Understanding the Treatment Landscape (Madhura Balasubramaniam) Dr. Miguel Regueiro provided a comprehensive overview of the various therapies available today to treat IBD and their safety profile, as illustrated by the safety pyramid: It is very heartening for us…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    How Ostomy Surgery Impacted My Life

    October 5, 2024

    Pelvic Pain in IBD: An Overlooked Complication

    August 9, 2019

    Real Talk About Recovery

    December 16, 2021
  • Crohn's,  health equity,  Healthcare Disparities,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Patient Voice,  Stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    SAIA is proud to announce Tina Aswani-Omprakash, MPH as our full-time CEO!

    November 18, 2024

    SAIA is honoured to announce that Tina Aswani-Omprakash, MPH, is now our full-time Chief Executive Officer 🎉🎉 Written by Madhura Balasubramaniam, Sharan Khela, Dr. Neilanjan Nandi & SAIA’s Board of Directors Tina is a patient advocate and thought leader par excellence, with several years of experience in spearheading international health advocacy efforts within and beyond the GI space. Tina’s work with Own Your Crohn’s has been groundbreaking for communities of colour, especially the South Asian community, where discussions around inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have historically been clouded by cultural stigmas and misconceptions. Tina brought to light and underscored these hidden cultural considerations that shape healthcare for communities of colour across the world.…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    The Beauty of Ostomates Worldwide

    October 17, 2019

    When Diagnoses Accumulate – My Endometriosis Journey

    August 28, 2023

    How to Own Your Crohn’s & Ostomy While Traveling to India

    February 18, 2025
  • advocacy,  chronic illness,  Disability

    HealtheVoices 10-Year Anniversary (A Reminder of Why We Advocate)

    October 19, 2024

    Originally published by The Insighters® on October 18th, 2024: https://theinsighters.com/blog-posts/13 As I reflect on my HealtheVoices experience this year on the conference’s 10-year anniversary, I see a bastion of hope, of love, and of support for years to come. The love Johnson & Johnson and the HealtheVoices team has showered upon me is something I hold near and dear to my heart. And this year being the first year The Insighters® was able to partner has been especially meaningful to bring research opportunities forward to the patient community. I believe in inroads, in partnerships, and in camaraderie both in the patient advocacy community and amongst industry in the chronic illness…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    7 Tips for Traveling With IBD, From Someone Who Gets It

    July 1, 2022

    No More Secrets: An enlightening film that reveals the stigma of having an ostomy in India

    September 24, 2018

    J-Pouch Failure – Tina’s Story

    June 15, 2019
  • chronic illness,  Colorectal Surgery,  Crohn's,  Cultural Stigma,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis,  World Ostomy Day

    How Ostomy Surgery Impacted My Life

    October 5, 2024

    How ostomy surgery gave Tina Aswani-Omprakash her life back and the impact these surgeries can have in IBD treatment. Originally published on IBD Social Circle’s Blog It is estimated that approximately three-quarters of Crohn’s disease patients and a third of ulcerative colitis patients will need surgery at some point or another in their disease journey. What’s often not discussed enough, though, is how many of those surgeries will lead to ostomies. So, what is an ostomy and how does it help patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)? According to United Ostomy Associations of America (UOAA), ostomy surgery is a lifesaving procedure. It allows bodily waste to pass into a medical…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    What I’ve Learned About Starting an Advanced Therapy for Crohn’s Disease

    March 2, 2024

    Managing Crohn’s Disease and Going Back to School

    September 4, 2024

    Navigating Mental Health in Crohn’s Disease 

    December 5, 2024
  • chronic illness,  Crohn's,  disability accommodations,  living with IBD,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Managing Crohn’s Disease and Going Back to School

    September 4, 2024

    In the summer of 2023, I graduated from Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine with a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. In 2018 and 2019, as I was considering supplementing my patient advocacy work with a formal education in health, it was daunting to think how I would manage Crohn’s disease while studying and keeping up with the rigors of a graduate degree program.  You see, even contemplating grad school was a huge undertaking when I was accepted into Mount Sinai’s Certificate of Public Health program in 2019. As I slowly mustered up the courage to transfer into the MPH program in early 2020, I felt scared yet hopeful…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    A Direct-to-Patient Model: How Online Pharmacy Marley Drug is Revolutionizing Drug Pricing

    September 8, 2022

    HealtheVoices 10-Year Anniversary (A Reminder of Why We Advocate)

    October 19, 2024

    Navigating Mental Health in Crohn’s Disease 

    December 5, 2024
  • Crohn's,  Disease Prevention,  health equity,  Intestinal Ultrasound,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Ulcerative Colitis

    My Real World Experience with Intestinal Ultrasound

    August 12, 2024

    Last week, I had my first intestinal ultrasound (IUS). I had been very nervous the last month getting ready to go in for IUS as I’ve been having weird gut symptoms the last few months. My ileoscopy has been scheduled for 3 months out, so my doctor and I decided it might be best to have an IUS done in the meantime.  What is IUS you ask? It is a modality that can visualize bowel inflammation, thickening, and fistula tracts in addition to taking a look at severity and extent of inflammation. It doesn’t require bowel prep or gross contrast (!!), it’s not invasive, results can be discussed in real…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    What IBD Awareness Means to a South Asian American Woman with Crohn’s

    June 17, 2020

    The Beauty of Ostomates Worldwide

    October 17, 2019

    Weekend Long IBD Retreat Helped Me to Own My Crohn’s

    August 24, 2019
  • autoimmune disease,  chronic illness,  Crohn's,  Emerging Therapies,  living with IBD,  Ulcerative Colitis

    What I’ve Learned About Starting an Advanced Therapy for Crohn’s Disease

    March 2, 2024

    Are you getting ready to start an advanced therapy (for example, a biologic or small molecule medication) for the first time for your Crohn’s disease? Or perhaps this is round 2, 3, or 4 when it comes to trying advanced therapies to better manage your Crohn’s? Whether it’s your first rodeo or not, it’s important to know all the ins and outs so you can make appropriate decisions for your care in conjunction with your gastroenterologist. I have been there, and this is what I’ve learned about navigating my care and feeling empowered when getting ready to start a new therapy. Read more on the HealthGrades website: https://www.healthgrades.com/right-care/crohns-disease/what-ive-learned-about-starting-an-advanced-therapy-for-crohns-disease Originally Published on…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    December 5, 2024

    What the IBD Community Needs to Know About Getting a COVID-19 Booster

    December 11, 2021

    Receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine as a Patient with Several Autoimmune Conditions

    March 22, 2021
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Recent Posts

  • Feb 18, 2025 How to Own Your Crohn’s & Ostomy While Traveling to India
  • Jan 05, 2025 Key Takeaways from Advances in IBD (AIBD) 2024
  • Dec 05, 2024 Navigating Mental Health in Crohn’s Disease 
  • Dec 04, 2024 Highlights from ACG 2024: SAIA’s IBDesis’ Patient Experience
  • Nov 18, 2024 SAIA is proud to announce Tina Aswani-Omprakash, MPH as our full-time CEO!

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