Gastroparesis – Own Your Crohn's

Colorectal Surgery, Crohn's, Gastroparesis, invisible illness, living with IBD, medical trauma, Mental Health, Ostomy, PTSD, Ulcerative Colitis

Real Talk About Recovery

December 16, 2021

Recovery…it’s not something we talk about enough. Surgery, like the classic Bollywood love story, takes precedence but the moment the couple gets together, they live happily ever and we never hear about the rest. Same thing with the rush and excitement of surgery. We hear all about it but the reality is we never hear about how arduous the recovery is. Today marked a month since my surgery. It was quite an emotional day for me. For those of you just tuning in, I had an emergency laparotomy due to multiple bowel obstructions from previous surgical stapling and complications caused by scar tissue and a hernia strangulating my bowel and…

Read More

Tina Aswani Omprakash

Related Posts

~OYC Trailblazers~ Mollie’s Story: Living la Vida Latina with Ulcerative Colitis & an Ostomy
September 27, 2019

FitWitMD’s Live Discussion on Perianal Fistulizing Crohn’s Disease
August 7, 2020

IBD Awareness Week Line-Up: Diversity, Mental Health & More!
December 1, 2018
advocacy, autoimmune disease, Colorectal Surgery, Crohn's, Dating & Relationships, Gastroparesis, invisible illness, living with IBD, Minority Health, National Minority Health Month, Ostomy, Ulcerative Colitis, Women's Health

Bachatera with a Bag: Theodora Shattering Ostomy Stigma Through Dance

April 27, 2021

Elegance, beauty, confidence, and rhythm: these are some words used to describe a female Latin dancer. Chemistry, passion, sensuality: these often come to mind when describing or watching a Latin dance couple. Each genre of dance comes with its own culture. Dance shoes, music and certain beats accompany each genre and of course, that exists within bachata, a form of dance I love to practice. Nationally and internationally, people congregate to study, perform and/or socially dance the bachata together and there is absolutely nothing quite like it! Being a bachatera (a female bachata dancer), and 50% of a bachata dance partnership with my husband Marcos, I am fortunate to experience…

Read More

Tina Aswani Omprakash

Related Posts

OYC Trailblazers: An Ode to My Father & Fellow IBD Warrior
January 30, 2019

Lilly Singh’s ‘Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai?’: My Anthem for Body Positivity
April 1, 2019

Step in Our Shoes: A Discussion on Being an Ally to the Black Community
June 20, 2020
advocacy, Crohn's, diversity, Gastroparesis, health equity, Healthcare Disparities, Healthcare Marketing, living with IBD, Patient Voice, Ulcerative Colitis, Women's Health

MM&M Transform Talks: Prioritizing the Patient Voice

September 20, 2020

I recently had the opportunity to work with the MM&M Transform conference on a panel discussion on Prioritizing the Patient Voice in anticipation of their conference on September 29th-30th. A panel of 3 of us patient advocates (Tonya Cherie Hegamin, Type 1 Diabetes; Teresa Johnson, Multiple Sclerosis & Heart Disease; and me, Crohn’s Disease & Gastroparesis) discussed why it’s so important to engage patients in healthcare discussions, from digital health to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. At the forefront of our conversation was a topic near and dear to all 3 of us: diversity, inclusion and health equity as well as medical accessibility for patients of color like ourselves. Check out our…

Read More

Tina Aswani Omprakash

Related Posts

My Feature for Clinical Trial Awareness with Parexel
June 1, 2019

OstomyConnection SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Harikesh Buch works to shatter stigma and improve post-surgery care for ostomates in India.
January 24, 2019

~OYC TRAILBLAZERS~ Spotlight on Malaysian Crohnie & Ostomate Saravanan
April 22, 2020
Ableism, advocacy, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, disability accommodations, Disability Justice, Gastroparesis, invisible illness, living with IBD, Mental Health, Ulcerative Colitis

University Accommodations in the COVID-19 Era

September 7, 2020

The last few weeks have felt daunting and overwhelming as I’ve been battling intense floods of illness and considering whether or not to resume graduate school part-time again this fall. You see, even contemplating a graduate program was a huge undertaking for me a couple years ago when I was accepted into a Certificate of Public Health program. As I slowly mustered up the courage to transfer into the Master’s in Public Health program, I felt scared yet hopeful all at once. And in between it all, I’ve had to take a trimester off to tend to my health. But all that aside, now we are in the midst of a…

Read More

Tina Aswani Omprakash

Related Posts

The Other Side of Crohn’s: Caregiving
December 9, 2019

Love Knows No Disability
July 2, 2019

What Will People Think? ~A Short Documentary by Chealynn Feaster
December 27, 2019
acceptance, advocacy, coping with flares, Crohn's, fistula, Gastroparesis, invisible illness, living with IBD, Mental Health, Ostomy, PTSD, stigma, Ulcerative Colitis

Talking Gut Podcast Episode 20: Tina Aswani Omprakash on Resilience & GRITT

May 30, 2020

As May, a month of several health initiatives, comes to a close, I wanted to highlight Mental Health Awareness Month, World IBD Day and World Digestive Disease Day by talking about all three in my latest podcast interview with Dr. Jim Kantidakis, Clinical Psychologist & Gut-Directed Hypnotherapist, at the Gut Centre in Australia. In his podcast titled Talking Gut, I discuss the power of resilience, that so-called grit that living with Crohn’s Disease, multiple fistulae, a permanent ileostomy, gastroparesis, IBS and SIBO have given me over the years. Dr. Kantidakis asks me how I got through all my hospitalizations and faced all the medical PTSD and I would have to…

Read More

Tina Aswani Omprakash

Related Posts

My 9/11 Story: Paying Kindness Forward
September 11, 2019

Allowing Acceptance In
November 21, 2018

My Pelvic Pain Story
October 26, 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…

Read More

Tina Aswani Omprakash

Related Posts

IBD Awareness Week Line-Up: Diversity, Mental Health & More!
December 1, 2018

My Health Became My Top Priority
April 16, 2019

~OYC TRAILBLAZERS~ Spotlight on Malaysian Crohnie & Ostomate Saravanan
April 22, 2020