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Own Your Crohn's

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  • 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…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    The Beauty of Ostomates Worldwide

    October 17, 2019

    Inspire’s #KeepUsAllSafe COVID-19 Campaign

    April 12, 2020

    In the Name of Science & Research

    June 25, 2019
  • 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

    December 11, 2021

    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…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Navigating Mental Health in Crohn’s Disease 

    December 5, 2024

    How to Own Your Crohn’s & Ostomy While Traveling to India

    February 18, 2025

    What I’ve Learned About Starting an Advanced Therapy for Crohn’s Disease

    March 2, 2024
  • 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

    October 11, 2021

    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…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash
  • advocacy,  autoimmune disease,  Clinical Trials,  Colorectal Surgery,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  living with IBD,  Ulcerative Colitis

    A Gutsy Feeling: Advocating for the Best Care Possible as IBD Patients

    September 18, 2021

    By Tina Aswani Omprakash **Supported by agutsyfeeling.org, a collaboration between Girls With Guts, Purdue University, College of Pharmacy, and the Academy for Continued Healthcare Learning** In today’s day and age, there are many treatment options for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD – ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease). But given all the new medications on the horizon, how do we as patients participate in shared decision making with our IBD specialists regarding which medication might be best for us? And how do we know when we have given the medication a fair enough shot and that it might be time to move on to the next treatment option? How do we know…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    An IBS Journey: Tina

    April 21, 2019

    FitWitMD’s Live Discussion on Perianal Fistulizing Crohn’s Disease

    August 7, 2020

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

    September 27, 2019
  • Crohn's,  Cultural Stigma,  extraintestinal manifestations,  feeding tube,  Healthcare Disparities,  living with IBD,  Minority Health,  Nutrition,  Stigma,  Women's Health,  World IBD Day

    Madhura’s Journey in India: Coping with Stigma around IBD & Feeding Tubes

    May 16, 2021

    My name is Madhura Balasubramaniam and I live in India. I have been locked in battle with my intestines for as long as I can remember. I spent a large part of my early childhood dealing with constant spells of stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting and rashes. I struggled to meet my height and weight targets and had multiple nutritional deficiencies. When I was 10 years old, I was given a tentative diagnosis of celiac disease and I have been gluten-free since. While this diet seemed to provide pain relief, I remained underweight and anaemic.  In mid-2018, I began to experience occasional bouts of watery diarrhea and fatigue. I was travelling…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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

    January 12, 2021

    Metamorphosis

    August 13, 2018

    The Hydration Challenge

    July 22, 2018
  • acceptance,  advocacy,  Arab American Heritage Month,  awareness,  coping with flares,  Crohn's,  Cultural Stigma,  diversity,  living with IBD,  Mental Health,  Minority Health,  National Minority Health Month,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Women's Health

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

    April 18, 2021

    “You have Crohn’s Disease.” That’s what my gastroenterologist told me after my first colonoscopy in 2003. I was 16 years old, and nobody in my family, except for my mom who is a doctor, had heard of the disease.For the last 18 years, I have experienced multiple hospitalizations, taken a plethora of medications, and contended with related symptoms and illnesses such as extreme weight loss, loss of hair, C. difficile, osteoporosis, and blood clots. I am a child of immigrants from Egypt, and grew up in a tightly knit Arab Muslim community in Minnesota. I absolutely loved it (still do) when we all got together for picnics, holidays, and gatherings.…

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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    Indian Ostomate Podcast Show: Episode 1 with Tina Aswani Omprakash

    July 23, 2020

    Brown Girl with Guts: Tina’s Journey with Crohn’s Disease

    April 30, 2019

    The Beauty of Ostomates Worldwide

    October 17, 2019
  • Crohn's,  Diet,  living with IBD,  Minority Health,  Nutrition,  Ulcerative Colitis

    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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    The Impact of IBD on Racial & Ethnic Minorities

    April 24, 2019

    My Pelvic Pain Story

    October 26, 2018

    IBD Motherhood Unplugged: Womanhood Questioned by Crohn’s Disease

    February 22, 2021
  • advocacy,  awareness,  Coronavirus,  COVID-19,  Crohn's,  immunocompromised,  Minority Health,  Ulcerative Colitis,  Vaccinations

    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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    J-Pouch Failure – Tina’s Story

    June 15, 2019

    When Diagnoses Accumulate – My Endometriosis Journey

    August 28, 2023

    The Value of Awareness & Advocacy During the Holidays

    December 21, 2018
  • Crohn's,  Healthcare Disparities,  living with IBD,  Mental Health,  Minority Health,  Ulcerative Colitis

    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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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    My Feature in The New York Times!

    June 22, 2022

    6 Myths About IBD in Minority Patients, Busted

    December 20, 2018

    Madhura’s Journey in India: Coping with Stigma around IBD & Feeding Tubes

    May 16, 2021
  • Clinical Trials,  Crohn's,  Emerging Therapies,  living with IBD,  patient rights,  Ulcerative Colitis

    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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    Tina Aswani Omprakash

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    In the Name of Science & Research

    June 25, 2019

    Key Takeaways from IBD Insider 2022: Patient Updates from the Crohn’s & Colitis Congress®

    February 16, 2022

    Incredible Innovations: A Brand New Wireless IBD Medication Delivery Solution

    February 18, 2021
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  • Feb 18, 2025 How to Own Your Crohn’s & Ostomy While Traveling to India
  • Jan 05, 2025 Key Takeaways from Advances in IBD (AIBD) 2024
  • Dec 05, 2024 Navigating Mental Health in Crohn’s Disease 
  • Dec 04, 2024 Highlights from ACG 2024: SAIA’s IBDesis’ Patient Experience
  • Nov 18, 2024 SAIA is proud to announce Tina Aswani-Omprakash, MPH as our full-time CEO!

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