I just realised I never really talked about my chronic illness on Twitter. I've spoken about it on Facebook, Instagram, ever THR Raaga but I forgot about Twitter.

For those of you who do not know, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease last year around this time. -

Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disorder whereby the immune system thinks your digestive tract is an intruder, hence attacks it and tries to kill it. (WHAT A BITCH RIGHT?!) Mine is focusing on my bowels. My ileum and large intestine.

I went undiagnosed and misdiagnosed for 3 whole years. I lost a drastic amount of weight in 3 weeks; 25 kilos. My hair fell off in chunks. I puked almost anything I ate. I developed abscesses the size of tennis balls around my vaginal and perianal area. Couldn't walk, sit,nothing

I did my own research and came to the conclusion that I have Crohn's. Tried telling my mom and doctors but no one wanted to believe me. So I had to undergo unnecessary procedures and surgeries and take unnecessary medications in the span of 3 years. No one listened to me ffs.

At this point, my levels was drastically dropping. Haemoglobin, protein enzymes, iron, etc. Severely dropping. I was dying and no one knew why. But I knew. But no one wanted to listen. I had had enough and I put my foot down and demanded to get an MRI done on me.

Because the abscesses wouldn't stop coming one after another and they were THE MOST PAINFUL thing I have ever endured. I had a whole year of pain every single day because of this. Crying and dying on the inside; smiling and laughing on the outside.

So I went to get my MRI results, and my doctor told me I was right. I had FIVE fistulous tracts forming from my bowels to my rectum causing these abscesses. Fistula is basically holes in your flesh. The ulcers in my bowels penetrated my flesh and made holes leading to my rectum.

So I gave my mom the I was right look and laughed. The cure? Surgery. How? They cut of chunks of your flesh depending on how long these tracts are and they dont stitch it back. I had 5 going from 1.5cm to 6cm long.

Google 'perianal fistulectomy' if you wanna know more. So I consulted a well known colorectal surgeon in Pantai Bangsar and he did a rectal examination by inserting his finger into my rectum and it was covered in blood when he took it out. He told my mother it could very much be-

Crohn's disease. To which I gave my mother THE LOOK again. I was right all along. If someone had listened, we would've found a solution 3 years ago yo. So I was scheduled for an endoscopy and colonoscopy to confirm my diagnosis. TW: Imma show you my bowels in the next thread.

This is what 1 year of my abusive relationship did to me. My Crohn's got triggered because of abuse. The stress was too much to handle and my body went on self-destruct mode.

So my case was considered moderately severe and pretty complicated because of the 5 fistulous tracts. I was transferred to University Malaya Medical Centre for further procedures and discussion of treatment options.

This was me last year. If you're wondering.

So fast forward at UMMC, after on failed surgical procedure, they wanted to do an Endoanal Ultrasound on me. Basically shove a rod up my ass for detailed scanning. I was on the procedure table when my surgeon told me they wanted to do an ileostomy on me. To which I broke down.

I cried and begged for another option and she told me she could do a double fistulectomy on me but it would mutilate my vaginal area pretty bad. At this point, I didn't care. I said go ahead. If you're wondering what an ileostomy looks like (not my photo):

After further discussion with my gastro specialist, she was against the surgeon cutting me up and told me to go forward with the medications first. If that didnt work, only then we'd opt for surgery. So I did. I receive a biologic immunosuppressant called Infliximab through IV.

Here are some of the side effects of Infliximab:

Another one:

I've been responding to the treatment well so far although I do suffer from the side effects of the medication on a daily basis. This is me now:

My specialist recently put me on chemotherapy as well. It's called Methotrexate and is in pill form. These are the side effects:

I recently went for my second MRI to check the recovery of my fistulous tracts. 4 of them have completely healed. Only one bugger left.

Everything that happened to me happened because of my abusive relationship. I was THIS close to losing my life. All that I have endured completely changed me as a person and my outlook on life. Life is good now. There is no cure for Crohn's but I'll be okay.

Just need me a boyfriend now lmao kthxbai.