IBD Archives — Thrifty Mommas Tips

Five Chronic Illness Lessons I Have Learned.

Paula — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 11:08:00 +0000

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how having a childhood illness shaped me, as a person, as a teen and an adult. I’ve asked myself often what, if any chronic illness lessons, I got out of that experience. Some of you know I have Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, also now thought to be an autoimmune disease, without a known cause or cure. I was diagnosed at 14 after a period of months when pounds melted off my frame faster than you can even imagine. My abdomen hurt all of the time, as in so much cramping that I thought I would pass out. Sometimes I still get that pain, which comes out of nowhere and blindsides me. Crohn’s Disease Symptoms There were more symptoms of course, like chronic diarrhea, bloody stools and vomiting. Weight loss, exhaustion. Inability to eat. Anemia, cramps and more. There is nothing pretty about Crohn’s disease, not that any disease is pretty, but bowel disease can be particularly gross. The year of my diagnosis I spent a zillion hours in bathrooms all over Guelph, Toronto, Collingwood and Wasaga Beach. Then I spent weeks in and out of hospitals and emergency rooms. Here’s How Crohn’s disease Changed Me Listen, having Crohn’s sucks. There’s no need to mince words. Missing weeks of school and being in hospital a dozen times in your teens is not fun. Nor is it a path anyone would choose on purpose. There’s nothing redeeming about having your body opened up over ten times to remove bits, like large sections of gut, repeatedly. Also, it feels awful missing out on life when you are too sick to be out of hospital or out working. Missing school and being in hospital for birthdays, Christmases and other holidays is a hard pill to swallow. Relearning Reconfiguring all the systems so that you can walk and eat and function again outside a hospital. Relearning how to do everything and stopping and starting school, or jobs over and over, sucks, period. Society has a lot more to do in order to build equality and support for people with disabilities. But I think that’s another post entirely. It is dead exhausting and it hurts, both physically and mentally. But at the same time, now two decades after all of the surgeries and diagnosis, I have enough distance from that initial round of brutal treatment and surgery to recognize how this changed me dramatically as a human. Five Chronic Illness Lessons Resilience Having Crohn’s oddly shaped me into a resilient person. How did it do that? How did having a chronic incurable illness make me resilient? In a nutshell, I know I am a survivor. Listen, when your abdomen has been opened up and parts removed and you are expected to stand the next day and walk around the room so your body begins to heal, or you need to resume eating after your gut has been attacking you internally for months, and you do it, you know you have got this. Acute flares of Crohn’s followed by long hospital stays and seemingly barbaric treatments, simply showed me I was resilient. Maybe that was the lesson. Bright Side Somehow, I still always look for the bright side. If I didn’t, I’d wallow in self pity and pain far too many days. So, there is a bright side, in my opinion, to this story. But here’s the thing. Lately, when I pause to reflect on how that experience shaped my life I think well there was some good that came out of that pain and this horrible digestive disease. And there’s typically always a positive. You might need to dig for it, but it’s there. I’m an Advocate I didn’t have a voice for years in the health care system as a child. Instead, I blindly accepted what doctors told me. Now, I know the questions to ask and how to ask them. In fact, I found my voice late in my journey. While I’d love to tell you it was some big internal aha moment, it was actually a new young surgeon who spoke to me as an equal in my mid to late 20s and engaged me as a patient. That simple approach pulled me out of the passive state. Sometimes it makes me nuts thinking how many doctors and surgeons were completely ableist and patronizing prior to that one experience. By the way, he still practices here in London Ontario. His patients are blessed to have him. The Lesson The chronic illness lesson there was speak up, educate yourself on your condition or illness and ask the right questions. Don’t be afraid to seek second opinions and ask about the medication side effects. As so many people on TikTok say: You ARE THE MAIN CHARACTER. Adoption I adopted my children and likely wouldn’t have otherwise. Had I not struggled with a chronic illness, pain and Crohn’s disease, I probably never would have sought out domestic adoption as the means to becoming a parent. True story. Adoption is such a rewarding way to start a family, but it is also often not the standard or first choice. The love I have for my family is immense and overwhelming and I would never ever change my family. My kids are amazing and they teach me new facts and skills every single day. The adoption community I have found is such an incredibly supportive and diverse resourceful group of parents. So very grateful that my path led us here. I wrote about Parenting and Crohn’s disease for CBC Parents in early 2020. Read that post here – > https://www.cbc.ca/parents/learning/view/im-a-parent-with-crohns-disease-heres-how-thats-worked-out-for-me Strength This could be related to optimism and resilience, but it is a lesson that I hold close. I know I am strong. There’s little else that matters really. Like, for instance, I can do hard things. Physically, I know I am capable of doing the heavy emotional lifting even in times of crisis and that I will get through whatever comes my way. Life is All About Learning Every person, every experience, is a lesson or a gift. While it might not seem like it at the time and it’s often excruciatingly hard to fight your way through the dark times, having a childhood illness can sometimes just show you who you are. That’s a huge gift, especially when so many others spend lifetimes trying to explore that very concept.

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Healthy Living: Align Probiotic Review

Paula — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:48:00 +0000

Probiotics have been in the news a lot this past two years so I have updated this post to include a bit more information. Align Probiotic is one of the options on the market that claims to support digestive health. This post is my personal experience with the product. My loyal readers here know that I have some health issues, mainly digestive, directly related to Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s Disease is an inflammatory bowel disorder that effects the digestive tract the entire way through. How to manage life with Crohn’s Disease is a whole other post. It flares at any time and disappears and then reappears somewhere else. In fact, even when surgically removed and digestive tract resectioned, the Crohn’s often resurfaces in a different section of gut. It is a very tricky autoimmune disorder that also comes with pain. I manage my Crohn’s disease well most of the time with diet, exercise, medicine and even alternative therapies. Over two decades, I have learned that I tolerate Vitamin C, Calcium, Vitamin E (Ascenta Health, Nutrasea Fish Oil) and Adult multi-vitamins. The combination helps me daily. At times, I have used probiotics, but not consistently. Update 2017: I now add probiotics daily in some form to support immune system and gut health. A few months ago I spotted this product Align on the shelves at Loblaw’s and was immediately interested. I started noticing Align probiotic reviews also. It claimed to aid digestive symptoms of IBS (inflammatory bowel syndrome) which is in the gut also, but significantly different from Crohn’s and colitis. Gut health and probiotics have long been linked, so IBD or IBS can probably both benefit somewhat from taking a probiotic daily. I am very conscious of maintaining the right level of helpful bacteria in my digestive tract. I eat yogurt that is high in acidophilus. And I often boost probiotics after illness especially when I have been on an antibiotic which knocks out healthy bacteria. So when I was sent the Align product to try I jumped at getting started. But then over Christmas my family got sick with the flu and I felt the results of my trial period with this new probiotic supplement were compromised. So I stopped less than three days in and started again in the New Year. My New Year’s goal for the entire family is better health in all domains, mental, physical and emotional. So what better time than the New Year? Now, I have been on Align for three weeks now and obviously it hasn’t cured me of digestive disorder. This product is still interesting to me. It is a bit expensive, but that said if I saw miraculous results I would obviously pay the $29.99 or more a month (28 count package) to use this. Align is more expensive for the 42 count package. It is taken once a day. Align can be found at most grocery stores, big box stores and at some on line hotspots like Well.ca. So how well does Align Probiotic work? I have noticed a few really clear symptoms and results since starting Align. 1. My stomach tends to – how to say this delicately – move more efficiently. In essence I noted more regular bowel movements. (which makes me wonder if my daughter needs this..please note packaging states: product intended for age 12 and up.) 2. More gas – I burp a lot more. At first I was a bit alarmed. And while I didn’t really need help in that department, I can see a small benefit to this. Better out than in, so to speak. Also the materials and information from Align indicates this is a common, but temporary symptom. Taking Align regularly and consistently will make this disappear. 3. Align does not upset my stomach. (Many things do, so don’t shrug that off.) 4. Align is not harmful in anyway because it is a probiotic supplement made from a patented bacteria called Bifidobacterium infantis and marketed as Bifantis. Bifantis has been shown to be the only probiotic bacteria that effectively reduces symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome. In my experience, this product doesn’t hurt. If I end up with a significant change once I halt use and experiment with that then I will resume use. As well, I am curious to see if the burping passes. TMI Alert: I really don’t need encouragement to burp. My whole family knows this to be true. There’s great potential for this product in retirement homes and nursing homes where bowel issues are a constant concern due to aging bodies. The price will be a concern to some. Of course Align probiotic supplement won’t cure all your digestive ailments, but it can help and it really doesn’t hurt to try. To me a package of 28 for $29.99 isn’t outrageous. Align probiotic comes with a digestive results tracking sheet which is a nice little guide to jot down your observations so you know whether or not it makes an impact. MY ALIGN Probiotic Assessment Align gets a $$$$ out of $$$$$. Docking one $ for cost. Easy to use packaging is a bonus. It comes divided in one week at a time packages and each day is clearly labelled. (not unlike birth control pills, so you don’t forget a day.) I plan to continue using this supplement until it is all gone and I will stop for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference. I received a month supply of Align for purposes of this Align Probiotic Review. This post has been updated to include affiliate links so my readers can easily find this product and buy. My opinion is 100% honest and all my own.

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