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Own Your Crohn's

Empowering the Chronically Ill & Disabled to Lead Fuller Lives

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  • Colorectal Surgery,  Crohn's,  Fistulizing Disease,  J-Pouch,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    Patient Experiences with IBD Surgery

    November 9, 2019

    Last winter, my husband and caregiver, Anand, and I recorded a video with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation on what it’s like to have surgery for Crohn’s & ulcerative colitis. We shared my experiences as a patient undergoing colorectal surgery and his experiences as my caregiver. The video was released in the last week or so. To view, check out https://youtu.be/InmqegoP-6c. Be sure to check out the entire video as there are other patient experiences included as well! So own your Crohn’s, own your colitis, and educate yourself on all the treatment options available to you and your loved ones! ?✨ ~~Love, Light & Peace Always~~

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    The Value of Support Groups

    August 26, 2018

    Real Talk about Ostomies

    October 5, 2018

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

    September 24, 2018
  • 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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    Indian Ostomate Podcast Show: Episode 1 with Tina Aswani Omprakash

    July 23, 2020

    My Feature in Suffering the Silence’s Photo Series Campaign

    October 6, 2019

    University Accommodations in the COVID-19 Era

    September 7, 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 Beauty of Ostomates Worldwide

    October 17, 2019

    Love Knows No Disability

    July 2, 2019

    I am NOT a Burden: A South Asian Perspective

    July 1, 2020
  • 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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    A Valentine’s Day Special: Dating & Relationships with an Ostomy

    February 25, 2020

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

    November 4, 2018

    I am NOT a Burden: A South Asian Perspective

    July 1, 2020
  • 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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    When Diagnoses Accumulate: My Gastroparesis Story

    August 29, 2019

    Allowing Acceptance In

    November 21, 2018

    Being Brown and Coming Out of the IBD Closet: The Chronic Illness Experience

    August 7, 2018
  • acceptance,  awareness,  Body Positivity,  Colorectal Surgery,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  Dating & Relationships,  Egg-Freezing,  J-Pouch,  living with IBD,  Ostomy,  Pregnancy in IBD,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    ~OYC TRAILBLAZERS~ Katie’s Story: Baby-Making Prospects & Egg-Freezing with a J-Pouch

    September 4, 2019

    A Nursing Student Tells OYC Her J-Pouch Story and How That Led to Her Courageous Decision to Freeze Her Eggs to Someday Have Children. By Katie Gene Friedman When I was first diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in my senior year of college, my colitis responded to medication and didn’t take up much of my life. Consequently, I only disclosed my diagnosis to my then boyfriend, best friend, and immediate family. During a bad flare and particularly stressful semester in grad school studying social psychology, that group expanded to include the nucleus of my social circle and some professors. At that point, my disease affected what I was doing but not…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    My Pelvic Pain Story

    October 26, 2018

    Ostomy Awareness Day: Empowering Ostomates to Live Fuller Lives

    November 22, 2019

    Being Brown and Coming Out of the IBD Closet: The Chronic Illness Experience

    August 7, 2018
  • 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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    My 9/11 Story: Paying Kindness Forward

    September 11, 2019

    Metamorphosis

    August 13, 2018

    Coping with IBD & Stress & Anxiety Around COVID-19

    April 1, 2020
  • 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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    A Valentine’s Day Special: Dating & Relationships with an Ostomy

    February 25, 2020

    My Feature During Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week

    November 8, 2018

    TINA ASWANI OMPRAKASH | 2018 NYC ADULT HONORED HERO

    April 20, 2018
  • awareness,  Colorectal Surgery,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  Fistulizing Disease,  Irritable Bowel Syndrome,  living with IBD,  Pelvic Floor Dysfunction,  Pelvic pain,  stigma,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

    Pelvic Pain in IBD: An Overlooked Complication

    August 9, 2019

    By Tina Aswani Omprakash, Medically Reviewed by Jenny Blair, MD Originally Published by Oshi Health, Inc., on August 8th, 2019 A complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that often goes unaddressed and misdiagnosed is chronic pelvic pain (CPP). CPP is often defined as pain in the pelvic area that isn’t cyclic and isn’t related to pregnancy and that lasts for three to six months. It may affect from 6% to 25% of reproductive-age women, depending on how it’s defined, as well as men and older women. The condition can arise from a variety of causes. How I’ve Experienced Pelvic Pain So how does CPP apply to us as IBD patients?…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    My Very Own Independence Day

    July 4, 2018

    Colon Cancer & Its Devastating Impact on My Family

    March 19, 2020

    As a Chronically-Ill Brown Woman, Here’s Why I Share My Survival Story

    May 16, 2019
  • 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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    Immunocompromised in the Age of Coronavirus

    May 1, 2020

    What Will People Think? ~A Short Documentary by Chealynn Feaster

    December 27, 2019

    Basmah’s Journey: The Cultural Impacts of Being an Egyptian Crohnie

    April 18, 2021
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