**CAUTION: ONLY TRAVEL WITH THE ADVICE OF YOUR PHYSICIAN AND IF PANDEMIC NUMBERS ARE LOW IN YOUR AREA & THE LOCATION IN WHICH YOU ARE TRAVELING. PUBLIC HEALTH & WELFARE IS EVERYONE’S RIGHT & RESPONSIBILITY** Being chronically ill and immunocompromised is hard enough, add a pandemic into the mix, and it feels impossible to get out and do the things you love. Particularly for those of us who have spent so much time in hospital beds or at home recovering from disease flare-ups and/or surgeries, that when we feel well, we want to seize the day. Seizing that moment though has been next to impossible during the COVID-19 era. This…
- Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Mental Health, Ostomy, Ulcerative Colitis
- Ableism, acceptance, advocacy, awareness, Crohn's, Dating & Relationships, living with IBD, Ostomy, stigma
Indian Ostomate Podcast Show: Episode 1 with Tina Aswani Omprakash
I recently had the honor of being interviewed by the very kind, positive and uplifting Indian ostomate and advocate named Dinesh Kundnani. Dinesh is someone who I came across early in my own journey as an ostomy advocate and it’s amazing to witness how he’s transformed from new ostomate to a seasoned one. Dinesh now helps others in India especially by showing his ostomy and helping to destigmatize what is considered to be a very taboo medical device. Early on in our interview, Dinesh asked if I would do this podcast show in the Hindi language! I was dumbfounded in the moment but I quickly agreed as I realized how…
- acceptance, advocacy, awareness, Crohn's, Dating & Relationships, Disability Justice, Healthcare Disparities, LGBTQ+ health, living with IBD, Minority Health, Ostomy, stigma, Ulcerative Colitis
~OYC Trailblazers~ Michelle’s Story on the Intersection of Crohn’s & an LGBTQIA+ Identity
By Michelle Cabral My symptoms first started around the age of 11. As I grew into my teenage and adult years, my symptoms worsened. I found myself dealing with bathroom urgency and vomiting on a daily life. I distinctly remember when I was about the age of 16, my mother and I were leaving a restaurant after a night out and I had already vomited. I still remember her saying something to the effect of “one day you’ll be able to go out for dinner and not feel like this.” Little did she know that my life would continue with this trajectory and I would finally be diagnosed via colonoscopy…
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What I Learned From Joining a Clinical Trial for Crohn’s
By Tina Aswani Omprakash, Medically reviewed by Jenny Blair, MD Originally published on the Oshi Health website on April 6th, 2020: http://www.oshihealth.com/joining-clinical-trial/ My journey with Crohn’s disease has been an arduous one, laden with difficult decisions, including whether to take strong medications and when to have life-altering surgeries. At one point, Crohn’s derailed my career, my prospects of finishing graduate school and my ability to pursue meaningful relationships. But I was scared to try any new medication, let alone partake in a clinical trial. I was young and didn’t want to be burdened by a strict drug regimen or potential side effects. After I had more than 20 corrective surgeries…
- 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
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…
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Healthline’s Best Crohn’s Disease Blogs of 2020
Originally published by the Healthline Editorial Team on May 12th, 2020: https://www.healthline.com/health/crohns-disease/best-blogs#1 Researchers may not understand every aspect of Crohn’s disease, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to effectively manage it. That’s exactly what these bloggers are doing. The authors behind this year’s best Crohn’s blogs are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their visitors by sharing sound medical advice and personal stories. It’s an important reminder that you’re not alone in your journey. Own Your Crohn’s Tina was 22 when she received her Crohn’s diagnosis. Since the last couple years, she’s been using this blog as way to advocate and normalize chronic conditions like Crohn’s. Living with Crohn’s…
- advocacy, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, immunocompromised, J-Pouch, living with IBD, Ulcerative Colitis
COVID-19 Survivors: Stories of Hope in the IBD World
The last 8 weeks since the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus a pandemic have been nothing short of an emotional roller coaster ride for many of us. From uncertainty around chronic illness and medications making us a higher risk to jarring numbers of lethal infection rates, we are all grappling with much despair. Given all the sadness in the media right now, I thought it relevant to share stories of hope, ones where IBD patients, their caregivers and their doctors have not just survived but are making a full recovery. Check out the stories below of 4 IBD patients, a caregiver and a gastroenterologist, all survivors of COVID-19 and heroes…
- advocacy, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Mental Health, Ulcerative Colitis
Immunocompromised in the Age of Coronavirus
By Tina Aswani Omprakash A Crohn’s patient shares her very real fears, anxieties, and sadness around being immunocompromised while grappling with the coronavirus pandemic in New York City. *Originally published on April 27th, 2020 by Everyday Health: https://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/my-health-story/immunocompromised-in-the-age-of-coronavirus/ It was one of those winters full of never-ending health complications. Before Thanksgiving I ruptured a ligament in my ankle, which compounded my difficulties in managing life with Crohn’s disease. And if that wasn’t hard enough, many of my other conditions — gastroparesis, arthritis, pelvic pain — flared up due to immobility from the ankle injury. More recently, I had a couple of ER visits because of a herniated disc in my neck. In…
- acceptance, advocacy, Colorectal Surgery, coping with flares, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, fistula, Fistulizing Disease, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Minority Health, Ostomy, stigma, Ulcerative Colitis
~OYC TRAILBLAZERS~ Spotlight on Malaysian Crohnie & Ostomate Saravanan
It all started in early 2008 when I was still in high school and started to experience bowel disease symptoms. However, as many of us know, there can be a large gap between the time we experience symptoms and the time we are officially diagnosed. I was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in July 2012. The four and half years in between onset of symptoms and diagnosis were the most arduous part of my journey. My battle began upon developing a fistula. For those who may not be familiar, a fistula is an abnormal tract created between the intestinal wall and another organ or out on to the skin due…
- advocacy, awareness, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crohn's, immunocompromised, living with IBD, Ostomy, Ulcerative Colitis
Managing IBD in the Era of COVID-19
Last Friday, Gastroenterologist Dr. Supriya Rao and I had a conversation on Instagram Live about how to manage inflammatory bowel disease given the difficult circumstances around COVID-19. To watch and learn more, please check out the video below: For additional information, please feel free to reach out to @gutsygirlmd on Instagram or me here on my blog. For your reference, I have also put together a summary of tips on how to optimize our use of telehealth during the pandemic to manage our IBD optimally from a distance: https://ownyourcrohns.com/telehealth-ibdcare-covid19/. This post also references guidance from the IOIBD and AGA that we IBD patients should be aware of when discussing our…