living with IBD – Page 6 – Own Your Crohn's

colorectal cancer, Colorectal Surgery, Crohn's, Fistulizing Disease, Gratitude, living with IBD, Mindfulness, Ostomy, Pelvic pain, stigma, Traveling with IBD, Ulcerative Colitis, Valentine's Day

7 IBD-Inspired Gift Ideas for Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2019

By Tina Aswani Omprakash February 13, 2019 One woman living with Crohn’s shares thoughtful Valentine’s gift ideas for the IBD warrior in your life. Valentine’s Day can be an anxiety-inducing holiday for many people. Especially for those of us living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). If we’re single, our minds might run wild about when we might meet that special someone. And if we’re in a relationship, we might worry about experiencing symptoms during a romantic moment. But it’s important to remember that Valentine’s Day isn’t just a day for us to fret over romance. It’s a day for us to celebrate all kinds of love: love for significant others, family, and…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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All of these exceptional women have won awards this year for their public advocacy efforts
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Real Talk About Fistulae

January 19, 2019

As I sit here today with a very heavy heart typing out this blog post, I’m not sure if the excruciatingly painful nodule I felt earlier this week is just another health scare or yet another horrifying abscess from a fistula. I hold back tears as I wonder what my next steps are and what I can do to keep spiraling anxiety in check. Now many of you might be wondering what I’m even referring to–abscess? Fistula? What the heck are those and why am I such a mess over them? Well, get ready for some real talk about the most harrowing experience I’ve faced as a Crohn’s patient. According…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Owning My Crohn’s Mindfully This New Year

January 5, 2019

A journalist recently asked me, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years, Tina?” It was a mind-boggling question; I could barely wrap my head around the chronicity of my illnesses forget about thinking so far ahead into the future. The truth is I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, sickness or health, and I’m not so sure I want to even think about it. Sure, the future appears bright with many new medications and research in the pipeline to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). But one thing I’ve come to learn in all the ebbs and flows of living with IBD is that I need to live for today…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Allowing Acceptance In

November 21, 2018

Thanksgiving season is upon us, dearests! As we prepare to celebrate life, love and laughter with our families and friends, it may be tough to avoid the elephant in the room: our chronic illnesses and disabilities. As hard as this may be, we can get through the holidays together by advocating for better quality of life and allowing acceptance of our conditions in! Our bodies may not be in perfect condition but let’s be thankful today and always for the moments of health, peace and joy that shine their way into our lives. ‘Tis the season to allow acceptance to pervade our lives to cultivate more love and better self-care!…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Don’t Forget Your Flu Shot This Fall

October 21, 2018

As I got up from dinner to use the bathroom, the room began to spin. Thinking I was just a bit dizzy, I continued on my way to the bathroom. I didn’t know it then, but the next five months of my life would be like a carousel as I stumbled my way through labyrinthitis — an inner ear infection — and a symptom that can occur along with the influenza virus. This happened nearly two years ago, but the images are still vivid in my mind. I had been dizzy for over 72 hours when I decided to go to the hospital. It was December, and the streets were festooned with Christmas…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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All of these exceptional women have won awards this year for their public advocacy efforts

October 16, 2018

Winner, winner! Inspirational role models we look up to. Ostomy awareness involves advocacy, and to be effective in advocating for change we need influencers. Advocacy can be standing up and speaking out for a cause, voicing concerns about misconceptions, or connecting with individuals and organizations who need support. All of these exceptional women have won awards this year for their public advocacy efforts. Amber Wallace won a WEGO Health Award. View image on Twitter WEGO Health@wegohealth Congratulations to 2018 #WEGOHealthAwards Best Kept Secret winner Amber Wallace! @ostomydiaries Check out all the finalist & winner videos from this year’s celebration here: https://wegoh.co/2OWMWdb 4:50 PM – Oct 8, 2018 4 See WEGO Health’s other…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Real Talk about Ostomies

October 5, 2018

On the eve of World Ostomy Day, I write this blog post in hopes of debunking many of the myths surrounding living with an ostomy. So here goes nothing… I always get super excited when friends and family muster up the courage to ask about my ostomy. It makes me feel so connected to them and like I’m being recognized for all of me and not just the healthy-looking parts of me. I feel their concern, their love and most of all, their interest in how I live my life, chronic illness and disabilities abound. See, the thing is, living with an ostomy is often the proverbial elephant in the…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Sepsis Is a Severe, Life-threatening Complication for IBD Patients

September 22, 2018

It’s Sepsis Awareness Month, so I’m discussing what sepsis is and how it is often a complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal surgery. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “sepsis arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs, potentially leading to death or significant morbidity.” WHO statistics show that more than 30 million people contract sepsis each year, and 6 million die from it. But aside from all these scientific terms and statistics, what is sepsis? To me, sepsis looked and felt like the following: It all started with a 103-degree fever, a high pulse well into the 130s, low blood pressure hovering around…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Throwback to La Caverna 2006!

August 30, 2018

Throwback to the summer of 2006 at La Caverna in New York City, just a few months after my IBD diagnosis when I was 22 (you can literally see how pale and anemic I was). My buddy, Sunil, and I were always the ultimate dance partners wil’in out on the dance floor. Some really fun times that I’m glad I had the chance to enjoy back then. Fast forward 12 years along with countless medications and surgeries, here Sunil and I are again at La Caverna. This time with our amazing husbands recreating dance moves from our college days. As friends for many years, we have come a long way…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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The Value of Support Groups

August 26, 2018

In a world where medical professionals have only a few minutes to go over a whole slew of symptoms, medication interactions, and surgical complications, it is impossible to cover the psychosocial aspects of one’s condition(s). These aspects include methods of coping with the emotional roller coaster of living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).This is where support groups come into the picture. They fill that gap between doctor-patient interactions and provide real-time support and understanding to patients caught in the rigmarole of hospital visits, health insurance, and invasive testing. But more than this, the true value of support groups lies in empowering patients by fostering lifelong friendships through a deep understanding of…

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