Breaking the streak… Not too long ago, I had an almost two-year streak of zero hospital stays going. Sadly, that streak was broken in February. And again a few days ago. Life is unpredictable like that. Like most people, hospital stays always leave me feeling shaken, humbled…, and rattled. The hospital can be a hard place to deal with. Incredibly hard sometimes. After several glorious years of staying away from the hospital, I had forgotten…
Dealing with doctors If you are living with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, there is a good chance you are going to have a fair amount of interaction with the health system. Especially early on during diagnosis or during a flare. This usually involves a lot of doctors appointments. Unfortunately, this is just a fact of life for many of those with IBD. Picture this: you are sitting in a small exam room waiting to…
Surviving and (thriving?) with prednisone In the last post, I described the love-hate relationship most people have with prednisone. As I mentioned before, prednisone is one of the best medications available for calming IBD symptoms and bringing you out of a flare. Unfortunately, few things in life are free… The problem, of course, is that prednisone itself can cause a smorgasbord of weird and nasty side-effects that may, at times, have you thinking, “Is being…
One of my goals for the new year is to do more “mindfulness stuff” – meditation, breathing exercises, gratitude and the like… Meditation has always been one I’ve needed help with though. For the longest time, I thought that the goal of meditation was to achieve total clarity of the mind. You know…where nothing is going on inside your head and thoughts except stillness. Because I could never really achieve anything remotely resembling that (my…
Hi readers. First off, a HUGE apology to anybody who has been following my blog regularly. I haven’t posted in quite a while. Don’t worry – I’m fine. Health-wise, and all that. Nothing bad happened. Summer got busy. Life happened—competing priorities. Chalk it up to motivation fizzling. I am human, after all. But I’m not throwing in the towel yet. Not this guy! So here I am, trying to re-kindle my motivation to return to…
Hi all. Apologies it’s been so long since I’ve posted. This week we are talking about embarrassment. IBD and embarrassment kind of go hand in hand… Adventures in IBD If you live with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, chances are you have had a few embarrassing experiences. Or a lot of them. They can be hard to talk about…the humiliating medical procedures and interactions. The unpredictable bowels. The frequent sprints to the bathroom. Smells. Accidents.…
Looking back… If only I had a time machine. If I could relay some wellness advice to the “me” of 4 or 5 years ago (the “me” that was sick and struggling and suffering), what would I say to that person? There are a few things I know today that I sure as heck wish I knew then. Things nobody told me. Things I learned the hard way. Some by trial and error. Some I…
What could have been… As I said in my last post, one of the most important lessons that I am still learning in regard to living with IBD is self-compassion. By no means am I an expert. I have most likely just barely scratched the surface when it comes to the potential of self-compassion, but it has been immensely helpful. I often think how things might have turned out differently had I adopted a more…
Self-acceptance. Self-care. Self… Those words mean so many different things to different people. And in today’s fast-paced, individualistic and overly-critical society, self-compassion is often seen as indulgent. We are told to “suck it up” or “grin and bear it”. Some view self-compassion as a weakness. Or it is something we “treat ourselves with” when things are going bad. Self-compassion is none of those things. For individuals living with chronic illness (IBD or other), self-compassion is…
