Crohn's Disease: How to Begin to Fight Uncertainty

Frustrated, fearful, unreliable, fatigued, depressed, stressed, anxious and worried. These words describe how someone with Crohn’s may feel at times. IBD affects more than just the bowels of a patient with the disease. It deeply affects mental health as well as the physical. And those effects are felt by friends and loved ones too. People with Crohn’s may miss holiday get-togethers with family and birthday parties with friends. They miss simple uneventful things too; things like pizza on a Friday night or going to the movie theater to see the latest comedy. People with Crohn’s can feel like they’re strapped by the unpredictability of the disease.

Day in and day out, Crohn’s patients deal with pain, stress, and fatigue. Their minds want to live a normal life but their bodies hold them back. Fear of incontinence hover over. “What if”s overflow in their minds. Sometimes, they make plans just to break them.

It’s easy to let the negatives override the positives, but striving for a better life is essential. It's important to push out of comfort zones and do your best to live free of uncertainty!

Crohn’s is never an easy medical condition to be dealt with. It can make a person feeling depressed, fatigued, anxious, unreliable, stressed out and fearful. Apart from the physical aspect Crohn’s is known to impact the mental health of the individual as well in the negative sense. Hence in such cases the individual should fight off the disease in order to live a normal life and have a quality living rather than letting the medical illness eat them up. Remember that just because one has the disease, it has now overtaken the individual. It is perfectly normal to have certain mental emotions such as anger, fear, guilt, and resentment. One can start to join support groups and talk it out with counsellors or therapist about how you feel exactly. Though they may not clearly understand what you are going through but at least they can listen what you have to say.

Start to being prepared for carrying out the day to day tasks. This can in some way provide relief from stress. Ensure that you have your medications on a timely manner. When you are prepared for an untoward incident does not make you feel weak, it rather makes you feel strong and get going with the disease. Do not restrict any of your activities. You can carry out your daily exercises, go for a stroll or a lunch date. Do not let the disease over take you completely. Another thing is communication plays a key role out here. No one chooses to live with a disease but once you have been diagnosed with the disease you cannot allow the disease take hold of your life and live in the guilt as to what you did wrong to get into this situation. There is no point being in this guilt mode or explaining to others about the disease. Do not feel ashamed of the medical illness. Whatever you have in mind, do share it with your close people so that it can help in providing relief from any stress or anxiousness. 

When it comes to the intimacy part, trying talking it out with your partner and how things can be taken further. If you feel comfortable then you can also speak with the doctor on this issue. Probably based on your issue, they can refer you to a therapist who deals in all of these things. Always be open and honest with what you have in mind about the intimacy and relationships. It is always better to have an open as well as caring conversation with the partner so as to overcome any concerns. Also start to make healthy lifestyle changes in order to fight back the symptoms and the disease. Watch out for what you eat, ensure to exercise regularly even though it is moderate ones, reduce the intake of alcohol, try and get enough of sleep at night without any disturbances, and stop smoking. All of these small changes can help you live a better life without the worry of what will happen next.