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Own Your Crohn's

Empowering the Chronically Ill & Disabled to Lead Fuller Lives

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  • Blog
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  • Authorships
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  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  Body Positivity,  Colorectal Surgery,  Crohn's,  Dating & Relationships,  Gratitude,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Ostomy Awareness Day,  Self-image,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Ostomy Awareness Day: Empowering Ostomates to Live Fuller Lives

    November 22, 2019

    Last month, Amber Wallace Ogle of Ostomy Diaries & I got together with Hollister, Inc. (a major ostomy manufacturer) to bring our audiences a discussion on how to lead a fuller life with an ostomy. Our aim was to engage viewers from around the world who may be struggling with self-image, body image, family life and relationships with an ostomy. And it was a grand success! We reached nearly 1,500 viewers from over 46 countries and from the feedback received, it was a video that helped many. Here’s to many more conversations like this where we can help ostomates feel less like outcasts and more like the beautiful human beings…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    I’m Chronically Ill & Depressed; So What?

    June 3, 2019

    My Health Became My Top Priority

    April 16, 2019

    Day on the Hill 2019: The Faces of IBD Legislation

    May 11, 2019
  • advocacy,  award,  awareness,  Crohn's,  Ostomy,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    The Healio Disruptive Innovator Award: Moving the Needle on IBD Care

    November 16, 2019

    A few weeks ago on Diwali Day, I won the Healio Disruptive Innovator Award for the Patient Voice category at the American College of Gastroenterology’s conference in San Antonio, Texas! This award is presented to the patient advocate who helps move the needle on GI care most in a particular year and whose voice resonates most with the 200 world-renowned doctors part of Healio Gastroenterology. Even though I wasn’t able to travel to Texas for the award ceremony, I’m deeply honored and humbled to be recognized with such a prestigious award. It has been a very long and arduous journey and being able to advocate and help destigmatize inflammatory bowel…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Tips for Telehealth and Managing Your IBD Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic

    April 18, 2020

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

    October 19, 2024

    Step in Our Shoes: A Discussion on Being an Ally to the Black Community

    June 20, 2020
  • Ableism,  acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  Body Positivity,  colorectal cancer,  Colorectal Surgery,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Ostomy Awareness Day,  Self-image,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    The Beauty of Ostomates Worldwide

    October 17, 2019

    Happy #OstomyOctober, everyone! After doing a piece about things we can do with an ostomy last year, it only seemed appropriate this year to highlight how diverse the population living with all types of ostomies is. Just to backtrack, many of you might be wondering what an ostomy is. According to the United Ostomy Associations of America (UOAA), “ostomy surgery is a life-saving procedure that allows bodily waste to pass through a surgically created stoma on the abdomen into a prosthetic known as a ‘pouch’ or ‘ostomy bag’ on the outside of the body.” There are generally three types of ostomies: (1) colostomy, (2) ileostomy and (3) urostomy. A colostomy takes a resected…

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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

    I am NOT a Burden: A South Asian Perspective

    July 1, 2020

    Disability Awareness in the Midst of Coronavirus

    March 12, 2020
  • Ableism,  acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  Body Positivity,  Colorectal Surgery,  Crohn's,  Fistulizing Disease,  living with IBD,  Minority Health,  Ostomy,  Ostomy Awareness Day,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    My Feature in Suffering the Silence’s Photo Series Campaign

    October 6, 2019

    Originally Published in The Mighty on October 2nd, 2019: https://themighty.com/2019/10/suffering-the-silence-chronic-illness-photo-series/ “I was diagnosed 13.5 years ago but I feel like for a long time I kept it quiet. It’s so deeply stigmatized in American culture. Crohn’s being a bowel disease makes it very difficult to talk about. It has to do with something that nobody talks about. It’s so debilitating. A lot of times it’s mistaken for an eating disorder because our weight can be all over the place so nobody wants to ask us what’s going on because they’re ashamed to. We want to be asked how we’re feeling. Since I became an advocate, more and more people are…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    The Other Side of Crohn’s: Caregiving

    December 9, 2019

    I am NOT a Burden: A South Asian Perspective

    July 1, 2020

    Love Knows No Disability

    July 2, 2019
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  Body Positivity,  Colorectal Surgery,  Crohn's,  Gratitude,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Ostomy Awareness Day,  Self-image,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis

    My Ostomy, My Lifesaver

    October 3, 2019

    In honor of National Ostomy Awareness Day, blogger Tina Aswani Omprakash shares her journey with an ostomy and how she broke through the taboos she faced. By Tina Aswani Omprakash Originally published in Everyday Health on October 2, 2019: https://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/my-health-story/one-woman-shares-her-gratitude-on-world-ostomy-day/ I woke up from surgery feeling like someone had taken a hammer to my stomach. The strong smell of antiseptic assaulted my nose as I struggled to take in breaths of air. I cracked my eyes open and looked around my white hospital room. My nurse and her aide pulled back the curtain separating me from my roommate and I lay motionless as they transferred me from a stretcher to…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    July 23, 2020

    TINA ASWANI OMPRAKASH | 2018 NYC ADULT HONORED HERO

    April 20, 2018

    My Feature in Suffering the Silence’s Photo Series Campaign

    October 6, 2019
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  Colorectal Surgery,  Crohn's,  living with IBD,  Mental Health,  Minority Health,  Ostomy,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    ~OYC Trailblazers~ Mollie’s Story: Living la Vida Latina with Ulcerative Colitis & an Ostomy

    September 27, 2019

    By Mollie Tinnin My journey with chronic illness began my senior year of high school after a violent assault left me hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. At the time, I received eight units of blood and during the treatment of the injuries I had sustained, the physicians discovered I had ulcers in my intestines. The treatment of both these injuries and my ulcerative colitis have been complicated in that they both are intertwined and affect each other even until this day. I’ve tried several medications, such as Mesalamine, but with the scar tissue and the ulcers both being in the same location, medication has not been very effective for me. Surgically,…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    October 5, 2018

    Brown Girl with Guts: Tina’s Journey with Crohn’s Disease

    April 30, 2019

    Metamorphosis

    August 13, 2018
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  living with IBD

    My 9/11 Story: Paying Kindness Forward

    September 11, 2019

    I still remember that beautiful sunny Tuesday morning. I had just moved into the city and started my freshman year at NYU Stern School of Business a little over 2 weeks prior. I remember being in the shower getting ready for class when I heard my roommate scream, “Tina, come out here!” Half asleep still and hair soaked, I sauntered over to her television. She pointed in utter shock at the screen showing the first tower up in flames after being hit by a plane. I stood there lifeless in shock watching the breaking news unable to register that this had happened a mile and half south of me. Soon…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    IBD Awareness Week Line-Up: Diversity, Mental Health & More!

    December 1, 2018

    Edgar Flores opens up about surviving near-death and the challenges of living with an ostomy in Mexico

    November 4, 2018

    World PTSD Day 2019: The Faceless Woman

    June 27, 2019
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  awareness,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  Gastroparesis,  Ostomy

    When Diagnoses Accumulate: My Gastroparesis Story

    August 29, 2019

    As Gastroparesis Awareness Month is coming quickly to a close, I thought it high time to share my story. As many of you know, I was diagnosed in June with a form of digestive tract paralysis (DTP), specifically gastroparesis, via antroduodenal manometry and a gastric emptying study. And let me just say, this diagnosis was one of the toughest pills I’ve had to swallow in recent years. Not because I hadn’t known that some kind of DTP diagnosis was in the works but because I was blindsided by the resurgence of Crohn’s along with small bowel dysmotility on top of the gastroparesis. And it knocked me down and it wore…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    May 11, 2019

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    July 2, 2019
  • advocacy,  awareness,  Body Positivity,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  Diet,  J-Pouch,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Pelvic Floor Dysfunction,  Self-image,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

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

    August 24, 2019

    Everyday Health blogger Tina Aswani Omprakash details her experience on a weekend-long retreat for women living with IBDs.

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    September 22, 2018

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    April 6, 2020

    ~ OYC Trailblazers ~ Amy & Terrell: Crohn-ically Ever After

    September 23, 2020
  • advocacy,  awareness,  Crohn's,  Lobbying,  patient rights,  Ulcerative Colitis

    Summer of Activism: IBD Advocates You Should Follow on Social Media

    August 7, 2019

    Originally published by Amber Tresca on August 6th, 2019: http://aboutibd.com/2019/08/06/summer-of-activism-ibd-advocates-you-should-follow-on-social-media/ Improving the quality of life for people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) takes commitment and focus to understanding the issues affecting patients and caregivers. Real change means engaging with all stakeholders, including physicians, industry, and government, as well as patients and caregivers. A future that includes more effective treatments and compassionate care for those touched by IBD will only happen when those who have the best interests of patients at heart take their seat at the table. There are many activists in the IBD community that are doing this hard work and you can strengthen their achievements by amplifying their…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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  • Dec 04, 2024 Highlights from ACG 2024: SAIA’s IBDesis’ Patient Experience
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