This Teen With Crohn’s Disease Wants Us To Talk About Invisible Illnesses

Buzzfeed ^ | June 3, 2016 | Caroline Kee

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

This is Aimee Rouski, a 19-year-old from Liverpool, England, who has Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the digestive system.

Crohn’s is an incurable disease which causes inflammation of the lining of any part of the gastrointestinal tract. It can cause abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition — which can become life-threatening.

Many people with Crohn’s will have at least one surgery as part of treatment, either to widen a part of the intestine or to remove portions of the intestines or the colon and/or rectum. Rouski recently posted a few selfies with her ostomy bag and surgical scars to Facebook, and the post is going viral.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Pictures and facebook excerpt in original.

[al baby]

A life long friends daughter has this pure pure hell

[Steely Tom]

Crohn’s is horrible. It is an autoimmune disease, in which your immune system attacks your digestive tract.

[taterjay]

It is horrible. MY sis in law has had it for 27 years. Mayo Clinic has been her lifeline.

[MamaB]

My daughter died from complications of Crohn’s Disease. It is a terrible disease. She was in the hospital and went into congestive heart failure. Her bd was the 2nd. We all still miss her and her daddy terribly. For some reason, this year has been one of the worst ones since their deaths. It is all I can do to get out of bed some mornings. But, God is there in the hard times. God bless.

[sockmonkey]

Prayers offered for you for strength, and consolation.

[fision]

I know your pain. My thoughts are with you.

[Ellendra]

My mother has Crohn’s. She was lucky, she was diagnosed within a few months of her first symptoms, and the medications she takes have kept it fairly well under control.

There are days, though . . .

[b4me]

just mentioning, I saw interview with Jordan Rubin some years back. He was diagnosed Chron’s disease, ended up becoming a doctor after researching how to help himself.
He wrote books (The Maker’s Diet) and started a supplement brand Garden of Life.

[Bshaw]

I would encourage anyone suffering from Crohn’s, Colitis Or IBD to reach out to The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America; an expert organization on these diseases:

www.CCFA.org

They can assist with general disease information, support groups and cutting edge research information.

[chuckles]

ping for later.

[cyclotic]

My 16 year old son was diagnosed in December. Thanks to the treatments, he’s living pretty normally right now, but there are certainly challenges.

[stars & stripes forever]

[Crohn’s is an incurable disease which causes inflammation of the lining of any part of the gastrointestinal tract.]

I am cured of Crohn’s. It took a surgery, but I believe I will never have it again thanks to the healing stripes of JESUS CHRIST.

[Twinkie]

So sorry for your losses. - We just have to put one foot in
front of the other & keep on keeping on. REST when you need
to rest & don’t feel guilty about resting.

My husband has an ileostomy resulting from ulcerative
colitis (for over 30 yrs. now). He’s had many surgeries.
I’ve lost count. Most of them caused by hernias around the
stoma area. The surgeons have reached the point with him
where they can’t do any more surgeries because the area is
weakened so badly. - So, I do speak from some experience.

[GailA]

Good friend has both Crohn’s and Celiac Disease. Both are pure He##. I have Gastroparesis..Slow Motility which has a lot of the same symptoms and the GI docs don’t really know how to treat it. Constant GI pain, very limited diet of BLAND food or baby food. Which led to Slow Bowel Transit Time. Stay away from Reglan and Domperidone both are Black Boxed for 2 weeks use only, Reglan has a ton of Neurological side effects, and Domperidone is Black Boxed for Heart Disease, it is NOT available in the USA, you are stuck with the full cost of this high side effect riddled drug. Both have bad side effects.

Other more common drugs in the US can treat vomiting Promethazine or Phanagan at a lower cost and less side effects. TRY GINGER ROOT.

Takes the GI Docs a long time and a lot of testing to realize you don’t have Idiopathic Colitis when you go to the ER puking your guts up, diarrhea that doesn’t stop and your BP in the Heart Attack range causing you chest pain.

A Nutritionist is useless as they don’t understand these diseases. No more than they understand Diabetes. They are pretty useless.

[GailA]

Add GP or Gastroparesis to that list or damage as a result of doctors removing sections of your intestines.

Gastroparesis: Know the Risk Factors for This Mysterious Stomach Condition
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2015/09/gastroparesis-know-the-risk-factors-for-this-mysterious-stomach-condition/

[GailA]

You have to eat totally Gluten Free to help. Not as easy to do as one one think. Gluten Free products cost a lot more and don’t taste very good which makes it hard for people to adhere to the GF diet.

[GailA]

Inspire is a Patient board, they cover a lot more than digestive disorders, and you can learn from those who are going through different diseases.

hhttp://corp.inspire.com/

[al baby]

I have been using I grad as of late seems to help

[UB355]

https://www.facebook.com/ImproveCareNow/?fref=nf

My daughter runs a national patient support group out of Cincinnati Childrens Hospital.