IBD Awareness Week

Sorry I missed posting about IBD Awareness Week last week.  Autism gets a month, but IBD only gets a week.  Figures.  As we should all know, IBD stands for inflammatory bowel disease.  Yes, I know, its gross.  That's why its called IBD.

IBD is the overall name for 2 related conditions:  Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.  Sounds even more gross.  Yep.

As diseases go, IBD is impossible to talk about in polite company.  If you are on Letterman, its easier to discuss testicular cancer than IBD.  One thing you learn right away-NOBODY wants to hear about your guts.  Millions of people have IBD, but its not really a topic of conversation.  If you are talking about diseases, you ultimately have to get into symptoms.  Not happening.  No one wants to hear about your bowel problems.  Cancers of all types have come out of the closet, IBD is still stuck in the WC.  Breast self-exam--no problem--you can watch it on youtube.  Prostate cancer--put a ribbon on it.  Looking for blood in the toilet?  No, there's no ribbon for that.

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 1983.  My symptoms began in 1979, but the doctor I went to didn't suggest I had something chronic.  Probably ate something that didn't agree with me.  Lay off the peanuts.  Drink plenty of water.

In 1983, when I was finally diagnosed correctly, there really wasn't a lot they could give you, either.  Lots of steroids--you bet.   Shove them in from both ends.  'Roid rage?--I had that before it was popular.  Nasty sulfurous tablets that made you stink to high heaven.  I always found it ironic that nausea was a sympthom, but was also a common side effect of the drugs.  Learning to live with the idea that every few years, you would get very ill.  Abdominal cramps, pain, hours in the john on a daily basis.  It won't kill you, but you will want to die, first from the pain, then from the embarrassment. 

It was a bit of a shock.  I was glad that the gastro put a name on it, but I was not pleased when I asked about the cure.  Cure?? What cure??  Live with it.  And, by the way, shove this up your . . .  The only cure was a total colectemy.  Yep.  Not a step you want to take.

Today, there are a lot of options.  There a bunch of non-sulfurous tablets that can keep you in remission.  Other drugs to keep the surgeon at bay.  They even have ads on TV for Humira and Remicade.   There have been phenomenomal strides made in the last ten years. 

But, still, no one wants to hear about your problem.