Living with Crohn’s

Hello friends!

Life has been life-ing, as I am sure you all know. The world feels like it is crumbling on the daily, our democracy in America is gradually being dismantled, and personally, I’ve had to make some major life changes for my health, so feels like now is as good a time as any to share with y’all. Maybe some other folks dealing with similar things may find this helpful or encouraging. I’m open about these things, always have been, so for some, my condition may not be surprising, but if you don’t know, now you know.

I have Crohn’s Disease.

I’ve lived with it for about eighteen years, and have always considered myself lucky that my chronic illness is mild compared to others I know. I’ve never had major surgeries to remove any of my organs, or even parts of them. I am still on good days, able-bodied, and I have more good days than bad. I don’t take any of that for granted. And yet, at the same time, I think that way of thinking has led me to, for the most part, live eating and drinking whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, with little consequence (minus the occasionally flare ups that are very unpleasant). However, that is now changing.

I am very diligent about my health. I go to routine appointments for my medicine infusions and my follow ups with my gastroenterologist. I look at my bloodwork results and course correct, even though no one ever calls me with concerns. (I once noticed my LDL levels were high, looked up what that meant and causes, and realized it was the result of way too much microwave popcorn, so I cut that out immediately.) My body doesn’t take well to iron, so I rarely eat red meat (bye bye steaks, bacon, and beef burgers). I try to stay on top of my daily vitamins and supplements (still a work in progress - fellow IBD folks, if you haven’t chatted with your doctor or nutritionist about Forvia, I highly recommend you do so. It’s a life changer).

All of that above to say, my recent bloodwork wasn’t as good as I expected. I know, I shouldn’t be surprised. All those years of college parties and pandemic shut down drinking, and the diet of McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches, burgers, and pizza have caught up to me, and while it may not be a huge concern yet, I’m okay if I’m overreacting. I’d rather prevent things from getting worse to the point where they are very concerning. My liver needs time to heal, my kidneys need to not get to a status of disease, and my mom’s side of my family has a history of diabetes, so, I have stopped drinking, increased my water intake, and am strictly on a mediterranean diet, which isn’t too off from what I eat normally anyways. I also started working out more. Once or twice a week was not cutting it, and I’ve been trying to lose this shut down weight for a while. (Shout out to Mia Vivens, the best friend and trainer you could ever ask for.)

So far, I feel so much more energetic and better in the gut. I don’t wake up bloated or feeling like shit after sharing a bottle of wine with my husband the night before, or a few bottles with family, as we often did. So if you are still a drinker, prepare to be getting lots of good bottles of wine from me for special occasion gifts. I am looking forward to seeing what my bloodwork looks like in July, and how my body looks and feels by then too.

I’ll post an update then, and in the meantime, I may occasionally share some really good recipes that I love. My friend Nick came over last week and made the tastiest cabbage wedge I have ever had, and let me tell ya, ya boi is hooked! If you have any good recipes to share, feel free to comment them my way below!

Until next time!