Living

Before becoming a new mom, I knew my Crohn’s disease and the medication I take for it could impact my ability to breastfeed. I wrote here about the questions I...

This is Part 2. Part 1 is here. As badly as I wanted to go horseback riding, I knew it wouldn't end well. My disease has caused so much trauma...

Dating with IBD can be tricky. Many years ago, I got involved with a cute brunette from Ohio. We met on vacation in Florida. A few weeks after we got...

Someone recently reached out to me, saying they are newly diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. They told me their medications and basically implied hating them. They told me they were really...

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s at the age of 22. I had just graduated from college, was living with three friends and had just started my career, so having kids...

My mental health and IBD have always been closely intertwined. Like many people with Crohn's, I worry. I worry that I'm never going to feel well. I worry that when...

It was very hard to come up with a title for this article since I am not really sure that "bathroomphobia" is a real word. Then I thought that you...

Unless you walk a mile in our shoes, it is nearly impossible to know what it is like to live with Crohn’s disease. People are always quick to judge how...

Each year we ask people with inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis, to tell us about their lives in the IBD In America survey. For the 2019 survey, 1,705 people...

One of the biggest downfalls of living with Crohn’s disease is comparing ourselves to other patients. We often hear “this worked for me, perhaps it will work for you” or...

It's coming up to 6 years since I was diagnosed. Six years isn't that long a period of my life, just under a sixth of it in fact (I'm 34)...

Today’s workforce is unlike anything predicted in the past two decades. The internet, along with technology advancements, has opened the door to so many new possibilities in the workforce. But...

Intimacy, whether it includes sex or not, remains an important factor in a person’s life, despite age or chronic health conditions. Unfortunately, chronic diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis (UC)...

During my pregnancy, I knew I wanted to breastfeed my daughter, but that my ability to do so would very much depend on my body, my Crohn’s disease, and my...

One of the most frustrating things I personally find about living with Crohn's disease is the fact we can't see our disease. Although no autoimmune disease is easy, I can't...

Before I met my wife, I was eating very plain and boring food. I didn’t know any better and was very scared to try food. My wife went to culinary...

The question "what does a UC flare-up look like?" is a common one. For those asking because you are newly diagnosed and aren't sure what your body might be experiencing...

My favorite day is a day some would consider the most difficult. Some would honestly dread my favorite day, but I love it. My favorite day is *drum roll please*...

When we were tots, getting mail was a magical thing. It usually meant a magazine, book, or gift from a relative. Maybe you had a penpal that you conversed with...

The first ostomy was a bad experience. Read about that in "Limitations with an Ostomy." Just a few months before my second stoma was formed, I had the mindset that...