World Inflammatory Bowel Disease Day: Meet and raise awareness of the brave northeastern people who break the “poop taboo”

Samantha Recky chose to bravely talk to IBD experts and the spillover effects of symptoms and illness on the day of global inflammatory bowel disease, in the northeastern part of living with the disease. I talked to people. ..

Inflammatory bowel disease is chronic and lifelong cruel … Still, it is a disease that many people are not familiar with.

Over 500,000 in the UK Debilitating and sometimes suffering from humiliation.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that so many people are diagnosed with IBD every day, there are few specific studies on the disease. There is still much speculation as to why more and more people are suffering from ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. These two states fall under IBD’s comprehensive terminology.

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Illness is unpredictable. It is unclear if people are born with a genetic predisposition, but there are some certainty. Illness can develop at any age and dosing is limited, Surgery can save livesAnd when it comes to cures, it doesn’t exist.

Break the “poop taboo” surrounding inflammatory bowel disease

All the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, such as diarrhea, incontinence, and rectal bleeding, can be embarrassing to talk about.

Who really wants to talk about their poop? Fear is often called poop taboo-and in today’s society it really exists.

The anxiety surrounding poop taboos is exacerbated only if you are suffering from symptoms such as those caused by inflammatory bowel disease.

It is fear that prevents many from going to their GP to diagnose their symptoms. Embarrassment and embarrassment can be crippled. However, changes in bowel habits should never be ignored. After all, everyone has to poop.

Today, Debbie Muirhead of Aberdeen. Jamie McLeish – I live in Cheshire, but originally from Aberdeen. Sasha Braus of Tarland. Aberdeen’s Sara Anderson and Portlethen’s Karamspence bravely choose to break the poop taboo to raise awareness of IBD.

All five IBD warriors are familiar with how painful the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease are.

From being diagnosed at the young age of 10 to having completely blue symptoms at the age of 38, they all have their own journey with IBD.

Each of them spoke openly about the symptoms and experiences of living with inflammatory bowel disease and decided not only to raise awareness but also to help others suffering from the same fate.

They show that inflammatory bowel disease does not have to define a person’s life. They are all IBD warriors – yes. But despite the fight against chronic illness, there are many things in their lives.

Click on the image below to hear each person explain the unique journey of inflammatory bowel disease.

Psychological effects of inflammatory bowel disease

“Inflammatory bowel disease is very unpredictable. It has a huge impact on a person’s life and then on that person’s family and their spouse. Yes, yes, it happens to that person. But there’s a bigger picture there, “explains Jennifer Rob, an IBD specialist nurse at the Royal Hospital of Aberdeen.

Jennifer works with her colleagues to provide essential advice, dedicated support, and important treatment for patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.

“People put up with a lot before asking us for help,” Jennifer said. Jennifer found that patients were accustomed to living in pain or were afraid to seek help to manage their symptoms if they had surgery. The only option.

“Patients can be very angry and call because they can’t even take their children to school. They travel 10 minutes by car without desperately needing a toilet or having an accident. I don’t know if I can do it.

“Some patients are unemployed because they are ill and their employer does not understand what it means to live with IBD.

“Inflammatory bowel disease has an overall psychological effect. Listening can be very traumatic and it can be difficult to hear the voices of people who are missing out on normal life. . “

Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease-It’s Limited

“For problems as big as IBD, yes, there are some treatments we can offer, but only four. Better than none, but not so many, especially many. When young patients arrive, “said Jennifer, who has worked as an IBD specialist nurse for 13 years.

Inflammatory bowel disease affects the intestines, but as the name implies, the problem is actually in the human immune system. A well-functioning immune system attacks foreign threats to the body, such as viruses and bacteria. However, in IBD, the immune system is thought to accidentally cause and cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.

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The drugs provided to IBD reduce inflammation and, in a more powerful treatment option, work to suppress the body’s dysfunctional immune system. This may help relieve symptoms for a period of time, but it is often the case that the immune system finds a way to counterattack. This causes the patient to seek new treatments again.

Jennifer explained that it was especially difficult if the patient was diagnosed at a young age.

“So they move on to the next drug. The four treatments are not going to keep them going for the rest of their lives.

“Ultimately, surgery can be done, which is very big.”

Surgery is “never the end of the world”

“If everything else fails, only some people will need surgery,” added Dr. Malcolm Smith, a gastroenterologist at the Royal Hospital of Aberdeen.

“Surgery has a variety of turning points. Some people are common and have the opportunity to try medication as a treatment, but surgery is a safer option if their clinical condition is deteriorating very rapidly. . “

To relieve the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, stoma surgery to create a stoma may be the only way forward if medication cannot provide a better quality of life.

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What is included in ostomy surgery?

Ileostomy – This is when the large intestine is removed or restored before it is healed. Part of the small intestine (end or loop) is pulled through an incision made in the stomach. This forms a stoma.

Colostomy – This involves pulling a portion of the large intestine (colon) from an incision in the abdomen to create a stoma. Like ileostomy, it involves either the end of the colon or a loop.

Rectal resection – When this surgery is done, the stoma becomes permanent. It involves removing the rectum and anus. When the anus is removed, that area of ​​the body is surgically closed (commonly known as a Barbie bat).

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“Most of my patients who have had stoma surgery after a long period of IBD think this is the best decision they have ever made,” said Dr. Smith.

“Having a stoma can not only change your life, but it can also save your life. If they don’t have surgery, they’re likely not here.

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What is a stoma?

A stoma is an opening in the stomach created during surgery that connects to either the digestive or urinary system.

Stomas allow excrement (feces) to leave the body and may be small, red or pink, oval or round.

Without nerve endings, one cannot feel or control waste products. The pouch is worn over the stoma to collect waste.

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“We always tell patients that it’s better to be here with a stoma instead of being here … Unfortunately, we’ve lost some patients.

“Having a stoma is a big psychological change, but it’s not the end of the world.”

Looking for a cure for inflammatory bowel disease

Despite the condition affecting so many people, there is currently no known cure for inflammatory bowel disease. And according to Dr. Smith, it can take a considerable amount of time for a cure to be discovered.

“There are still many unknowns around IBD,” he said. “It’s complicated. I’d like to think there may be a cure in my life, but I think we’re a little farther apart.”

He added: “There is some work going on with some genetic panels that you can test. Some people say that it may be possible to identify people at high risk for IBD, which is very high. This is the early stage.

“In the future, I hope there is access to genetic testing that may or may not say if someone develops inflammatory bowel disease.

“You may be able to get a clearer view of what treatment the patient needs and whether more aggressive treatment needs to be started sooner.

“I think people tend to have IBD because people have some more common genes, but interestingly, everyone with IBD has the same gene. It does not mean.

“Currently, there is no simple genetic test that says” yes, at some point you have inflammatory bowel disease “or” no, you don’t. ” “

Dr. Smith gave a glimpse of hope for the future and pointed out: “Finding a breakthrough cure requires only one medical discovery. It takes only one.”