Crohn’s – Page 4 – Own Your Crohn's

autoimmune disease, awareness, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Minority Health, Ostomy, Ulcerative Colitis, Vaccinations

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

March 22, 2021

I recently received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine! Many folks have been asking about my stance on it and what my experiences with it have been. First of all, I want to be clear – in line with the guidance shared by the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, I am without any doubt a supporter of vaccination against COVID especially as a student of public health who has learned about the immense significance of vaccines in curbing pandemics. I believe this pandemic has taken far too many lives (~500K just in the U.S.) and I think that the potential for overarching complications of contracting…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Dietary Guidance in IBD – A South Asian Approach

March 20, 2021

On March 5th, 2021, Dr. Neilanjan Nandi of Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA, hosted Dr. Sumit Bhatia of Medanta The MediCity Hospital, Gurgaon, India as well as Neha Shah, RD, of University of San Francisco, CA, USA, and me, Crohn’s & ostomy patient advocate of New York, NY. We sat down to discuss dietary guidance as provided by Dr. Bhatia along with practical tips of what South Asian foods to eat, how to customize them and how to include more protein in our diets to promote healing. Dr. Nandi also shared many important insights about diet from a South Asian American perspective and I also talked about what has worked…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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IBD Motherhood Unplugged: Womanhood Questioned by Crohn’s Disease

February 22, 2021

Motherhood is so much more than a word—it’s an expectation and an identity. It’s a right of passage many girls dream of when they think about their future and what their family will look like. But family planning, pregnancy, and motherhood are far from a given, especially for those with chronic illness. This week my post kicks off IBD Motherhood Unplugged, an ongoing series that will be shared on my dear friend and fellow Crohn’s advocate, Natalie Hayden’s blog: Lights, Camera, Crohn’s. My post has been in the works for 2+ years sitting in my drafts folder with me hoping that I’ll eventually be able to speak up for women…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Incredible Innovations: A Brand New Wireless IBD Medication Delivery Solution

February 18, 2021

Sponsored by Veloce Corporation – SmartTab. All thoughts & opinions are my own. As a Crohn’s patient for the last 15 years, I’ve done my fair share of taking oral medications, receiving infusions and giving myself subcutaneous injections. So last summer, when I came across a digital health company called SmartTab, I was fascinated to learn about the wireless drug delivery solutions they are working on to change the way we take and absorb medications. After having done a lot of research and seeing the buzz at Crohn’s & Colitis Congress ’21 on SmartTab’s poster session, I thought it’s now high time to share this technology with the IBD patient…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Being South Asian American & Living with IBD

February 9, 2021

Originally published on February 2nd, 2021 on the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s IBDVisible Blog: https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/blog/being-south-asian-american-living-with-ibd By: Tina Aswani Omprakash I was 22 years old when I was first diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). I felt very isolated as a young South Asian American woman, unable to relate to those around me who were healthy and able-bodied. Even though this disease runs in my family, there was very little knowledge about Crohn’s disease or willingness to discuss my journey. Not only was my diagnosis delayed from my teenage years, due to a lack of understanding of extraintestinal manifestations (in my case, joint pains, ocular inflammation, dermatological issues), but once I did get a diagnosis, many healthcare…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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~OYC Trailblazers~ Anisha Zumba-ing Her Way into 2021!

January 28, 2021

This blog post has been done in collaboration with Girls With Guts Community Connection. By Anisha Gangotra My name is Anisha, I’m 37 years old and I live in Buckinghamshire in the United Kingdom. I’ve lived with ulcerative colitis since 2008, from the age of 24. I experienced my first colitis symptoms following a two-week holiday abroad. My stomach hadn’t felt quite right but I’d also had my period when I was on holiday so I assumed that it was a mixture of jet lag, my body adjusting to a different environment and my menstrual cycle. I’ve always had a sensitive stomach so I didn’t think much of it. When…

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South Asian IBD & COVID-19

January 26, 2021

Ten days ago, India released its two vaccines, CoviShield & Covaxin, to begin distribution to frontline workers and eventually the general population. As such, Dr. Sumit Bhatia, leading IBD specialist at Medanta – The Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon, India, and Dr. Neilanjan Nandi, esteemed IBD specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, joined me on the FITWITMD Facebook page for a live discussion to explain the two vaccines in India along with the two mRNA vaccines in much of the Western world. The purpose of this discussion was to understand how COVID is affecting the IBD population and to address vaccine hesitancy in the global South Asian IBD…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Patients’ Journey Through Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): A Qualitative Study

January 24, 2021

Tina Aswani Omprakash, Norelle Reilly, Jan Bhagwakar, Jeanette Carrell, Kristina Woodburn, Abby Breyer, Frances Close, Gabriel Wong, PATIENTS’ JOURNEY THROUGH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE (IBD): A QUALITATIVE STUDY, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Volume 27, Issue Supplement_1, January 2021, Pages S53–S54, https://doi.org/10.1093/ibd/izaa347.127 **Abstract originally published in the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases on January 21st, 2021 and presented at Crohn’s & Colitis Congress. Research study sponsored by Genentech & led by patient advocate Tina Aswani Omprakash of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai** I’m proud to announce the first patient advocate led study in the IBD space! Please view the above downloadable poster and link to the abstract for the results…

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IBD & Tea: What Patients Want to Know When It Comes to a Clinical Trial

January 12, 2021

Often, patients who live with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) do not respond to conventional drugs and are offered to participate in clinical trials for new treatments. When this happens, patients tend to have doubts and may feel scared because they do not have enough information about the process. This was the case for Tina Aswani Omprakash, IBD patient, patient thought leader, and award-winning author of the blog ´Own Your Crohn’s´, when she was offered to participate in a clinical trial. Aswani Omprakash talked about her experience from having participated in two clinical trials during the online debate ´IBD & Tea,´ streamed live on our Twitter account on the 25th of November. She was accompanied by IBD medical expert…

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Demystifying the COVID Vaccine for IBD Patients

January 10, 2021

By Tina Aswani Omprakash Originally published in Everyday Health on January 8th, 2021 We open the new year with hope after a dreary year filled with ups and downs from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a woman with Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), I have been practicing every precaution recommended by my doctor, from masking up to practicing social distancing and avoiding crowded, indoor spaces. While I’m used to being home a lot as a result of surgeries related to my disease and regular flare-ups, the pandemic was doubly hard for me because I have been in remission, and in good health to go out and about.…

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