Very honored to have been featured in Gastro & Endo News with regard to addressing sleep issues in IBD. This is something I’ve struggled with for a long time because I often need to use the facilities overnight and have trouble falling back asleep. Learn more about sleep issues and how to help us patients by visiting the article link here: https://www.gastroendonews.com/Article/PrintArticle?ArticleId=67175 As patients, sleep can really make a difference in our care and our overall ability to take each day as it comes. If our gastroenterologists aren’t able to address sleep concerns during our appointments, it may be best to bring up to our IBD nurses, NPs or PAs to…
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- advocacy, awareness, Crohn's, J-Pouch, living with IBD, Ostomy, Traveling with IBD, Ulcerative Colitis
7 Tips for Traveling With IBD, From Someone Who Gets It
Don’t let inflammatory bowel disease and fears of COVID-19 get in the way of your travel plans. Here’s what you need to know before you start packing. By Tina Aswani-Omprakash Summers are a time to look forward to rest, relaxation, and vacations. But for those of us living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), going away on a trip can often mean additional anxiety. And with the addition of COVID-19, anxiety levels are heightened. While many of us want to travel, we struggle to wrap our heads around how to travel when living with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, especially as new variants of the novel coronavirus circulate around the world. In fact, stressing out over travel…
- Crohn's, Digital Healthcare Innovations, Disability Justice, invisible illness, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, J-Pouch, living with IBD, Ostomy, patient rights, Ulcerative Colitis
My Feature in The New York Times!
In conjunction with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s new We Can’t Wait App, nonprofit partner South Asian IBD Alliance’s Co-Founder & President Tina Aswani-Omprakash was interviewed and featured in the Metropolitan section of the Sunday’s edition of The New York Times on 19 June 2022!!! Read the article in-print below or online here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/nyregion/public-bathrooms-nyc-tiktok.html Check out the We Can’t Wait App to find the restroom nearest to you in the U.S. Available now for download in Apple Store and Google Play: https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/wecantwait
- Clinical Trials, Crohn's, Emerging Therapies, living with IBD, medical trauma, Mental Health, PTSD, Ulcerative Colitis
Research Highlights from Digestive Disease Week 2022 for the IBD Community
Originally Published by the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation on their IBDVisible Blog on June 8th, 2022 By: Madhura Balasubramaniam & Tina Aswani-Omprakash After two years of virtual programming due to COVID-19, Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2022 came back with a bang in San Diego, CA last month. There was a lot of research presented about various gastrointestinal and liver conditions and it was exhilarating to see and hear about all the latest developments in the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) space. From emerging therapies to better understanding of psychosocial aspects of IBD in addition to the role of antibiotics in IBD as well as growing up with pets and the development of IBD,…
- advocacy, autoimmune disease, coping with flares, Crohn's, IgG4, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Mental Health, Minority Health, Sjogren's
When Diagnoses Accumulate: My Sjögren’s Story
April marks Sjögren’s Syndrome Awareness Month, so I thought it was high time I shared my Sjögren’s diagnosis journey now that I’m finally getting answers and treatment to deal with a condition that has been plaguing me for years. It all started in November after my laparotomy surgery. The gastroenterologist presiding over my care in Pittsburgh had noticed how much Restatis (cyclosporine for the eyes) and other eye drops I was using for dry eye and observed how often I was needing ice chips for dry mouth while I was NPO from the obstructions, the surgery and the post-op ileus. The skin on my arms and legs was also flaking…
- advocacy, autoimmune disease, COVID-19, Crohn's, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Ulcerative Colitis
Dropping Mask Mandates: A Time of Anxiety or Joy?
Last week I went back to school in-person for the first time in 2 years. There was a part of me that was excited, yes, but the other part of me was nervous as all heck. Meeting professors and students I had gotten to know virtually over the semesters felt like there was a human connection again outside of Zoom! And I have to admit that I really enjoyed going to class and being around like-minded people before this pandemic started. It was definitely a loss to go virtual but at the same time, going virtual meant people with disabilities like us could take care of our health while being…
- Clinical Trials, Colorectal Surgery, Crohn's, Diet, J-Pouch, living with IBD, Mental Health, Nutrition, Ulcerative Colitis
Key Takeaways from IBD Insider 2022: Patient Updates from the Crohn’s & Colitis Congress®
Originally Published by the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation on their IBDVisible Blog on February 14th, 2022 By: Tina Aswani Omprakash The third annual IBD Insider was, as always, a great culmination of the events from the 2022 Crohn’s & Colitis Congress®. As patients, we often have many questions about what goes on at these medical conferences and how to understand the research in bite-sized, digestible pieces (yes, pun intended). IBD Insider does just that by bringing to us the newest research updates in IBD for us to stay abreast of the latest and greatest, but also to enable us to make the best shared decisions with our physicians in our care. The…
- Colorectal Surgery, Crohn's, Gastroparesis, invisible illness, living with IBD, medical trauma, Mental Health, Ostomy, PTSD, Ulcerative Colitis
Real Talk About Recovery
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…
- autoimmune disease, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Ulcerative Colitis, Vaccinations
What the IBD Community Needs to Know About Getting a COVID-19 Booster
Patient advocate Tina Aswani Omprakash spoke with gastro experts to get the booster answers for people with inflammatory bowel disease. Originally published in Everyday Health on December 1st, 2021 By Tina Aswani Omprakash For Health Answers Medically Reviewed by Kareem Sassi, MD Reviewed: December 1, 2021 Now that many of us with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are several months out from receiving two doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has approved a booster dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for all adults 18 and up who received a second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at least six months ago or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine…
- Coming Out, Crohn's, Dating & Relationships, diversity, LGBTQ+ health, living with IBD, Minority Health, Pride, stigma, Ulcerative Colitis, Women's Health
This Love Takes Guts
Our love isn’t simple, but it’s also the easiest feeling in the world. Being a woman in the LGBTQ+ community, I assumed that I would always have to come out over and over again throughout the course of my life. But when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s at 19 and had my first surgery at 20, I realized that I would have to come out about multiple parts of who I am for the rest of my life. It wasn’t until I found Girls with Guts in 2016 that I found a group of people that I finally didn’t have to go through the process of coming out to, at…
