Original article written by Sam Cleasby<\/p>\n
1. You don\u2019t look sick<\/strong> This is a biggie, IBD like many other chronic illnesses is sometimes referred to as an \u2018invisible illness\u2019 because on the outside you can look OK. \u00a0People don\u2019t realize that it may have taken every bit of effort to get showered and dressed. \u00a0That I may have painted on a smile just to get through the day and may be dealing with pain, bleeding, multiple toilet visits, fatigue and just feeling terrible.<\/p>\n 2. You have gained weight! <\/strong>Yes, I probably have. \u00a0Because I\u2019m taking steroids that make me gain weight quickly and screw up my body. \u00a0If you are interested the drugs are also making me have insomnia and I\u2019m growing a beard. You wouldn\u2019t mention anyone else\u2019s weight, so please don\u2019t think you can talk about mine because I am sick.<\/p>\n 3. You have lost so much weight!<\/strong> You look great. Just don\u2019t talk about weight at all\u2026 People with IBD can have huge weight fluctuation, if someone has lost a lot of weight it may because they have such horrific diarrhea that they can\u2019t absorb any nutrients. \u00a0The weight loss may make them feel weak and terrible, just because society says that thin means beautiful doesn\u2019t make it so.<\/p>\n 4. I know what you are going through<\/strong> When people with IBD tell someone about their condition, they often hear all about that person\u2019s digestive problems, it\u2019s probably better to keep details of your diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome to yourself. Unless you have the same condition, it is very difficult to actually understand what it like. \u00a0You can sympathetic but unless you are in the same faces filled boat, you can\u2019t sympathetic.<\/p>\n 5. \u2018You should eat meat\/dairy\/no dairy\/only vegetables\/no vegetables\u2019<\/strong> Please do not feel you have the right to comment on my diet. \u00a0I have an auto immune disease that causes my illness, though diet can have some affect on symptoms, IBD\u00a0is not caused by eating junk food and I can\u2019t be cured by going vegan.<\/p>\n 6. My aunt\u2019s neighbour’s\u00a0brother-in-law cured his IBD by\u2026<\/b> No. \u00a0No he didn\u2019t. \u00a0Because there is no cure. \u00a0If there was a cure then I wouldn\u2019t have had my entire colon removed would I\u2026<\/p>\n 7. Can you hold it? I can\u2019t.<\/strong> \u00a0If I tell you I need to go to the toilet, then it is likely I have to go straight away. \u00a0Being in a situation where you have an accident is mortifying, upsetting and humiliating. \u00a0If I could hold it then I would, and I do try my best so please be sympathetic and try to understand if I run off mid sentence or if you have to wait around for me because I am a long time in the bathroom.<\/p>\n 8. Why are you so tired?<\/strong> You don\u2019t do anything.<\/strong> Fatigue can play a huge role in IBD. \u00a0Either because I have been up five or six times through the night on the toilet or because of medication I am on, or because I am losing a lot of blood or sometimes for a reason I do not know. \u00a0Sometimes I have a tiredness so deep in my bones that I feel 100 years old, I am so exhausted that I can\u2019t keep my eyes open and I could cry. A side effect of the fatigue is massive guilt, I feel terrible that I am so tired and that I can\u2019t be \u2018normal\u2019 \u2013 your comments just make that guilt worse.<\/p>\n 9. If you exercised more\/relaxed\/were more positive\/took vitamins\/did yoga you would feel better<\/strong> You may be only trying to help, but offering ideas for how I can feel better can feel patronize and annoying. \u00a0I would try anything to feel better and I have probably thought of all those things.<\/p>\n 10. You seemed OK\u00a0when I saw you out last week<\/strong> Despite my illness I still want to try and lead as normal a life as possible. So yes, sometimes I go out and get drunk, sometimes I go on holiday, sometimes I go walking in the countryside. It is often\u00a0really, really hard to do these things and I have to paint a big smile on my face and do it even when it is tough. That photo of me smiling on the beach doesn\u2019t tell the story of how exhausted I am because I barely slept the night before, that I cried that morning because I was in pain or that I had an accident an hour before.<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t judge me or think I am faking anything. Life is tough and if I can get just a little bit of time where I pretend to be the same as everyone else, then I am going to take it.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Original article written by Sam Cleasby 1. You don\u2019t look sick This is a biggie, IBD like many other chronic illnesses is sometimes referred to as an \u2018invisible illness\u2019 because on the outside you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,37],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/jelleke-vanooteghem-kabtmcdcAbk-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2335,"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions\/2335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esthersmusiccreations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}