So most of my close friends know this about me and I’ve mentioned it a few times here, maybe? But I have Crohn’s disease. Symptoms are wildly different for everyone that has it, but we all struggle with our digestive system/gut health in some way, since the disease can affect

anywhere between your mouth and your anus. For the last several years, my symptoms have been mild compared to most with the exception of a dozen flares. However, I do get symptomatic from time to time and for the last three years I’ve struggled with something that, in my

experience is more embarrassing than my original symptoms of just vomiting or shitting all the time Because my guy works at maybe like 20-30% the capacity of a healthy person and because I have a lot of scar tissue I suffer a LOT from bloating and gas. In order to minimize my

symptoms I basically have to eat like a bird and try to ensure I’m eating high-nutrition things that aid in digestion as opposed to hurting my gut flora and making it harder for my body to work. I’m REALLY bad at doing that. I love sugars and breads and beer and all the things

that ruin healthy bacteria and allow bad bacteria to flourish and worsen my symptoms. Or sometimes, I’m just so HUNGRY so I eat a lot and even if it’s healthy I get bad symptoms. For instance tonight I look like this:

My gut is bloated to about 3-4 times it’s normal size and it’s *EXTREMELY PAINFUL* if an air bubble gets stuck By air bubble I mean a fart. So when this happens I basically just have to roll around in my bed pushing on my belly and fart like, 100 times, (no exaggeration) until

most of the air is out and I can rest (or go about my day) comfortably. The good news is, it’s just air so it legit doesn’t smell like 90% of the time and 60% I can usually get through it with no pain outside of the absolutely bizarre gurgles where I can SEE THE AIR BUBBLE MOVING

straight up looks like when a baby is kicking pregnant mom. My skin sticks out all wonky and it looks like a damn alien is inside and it feels even weirder. The other 40% of the time something gets stuck, or I ate something wrong and it causes excruciating pain until whatever

needs to pass, passes, and those high-pain episodes usually last 3-4 hours and afterwards I’m absolutely EXHAUSTED. Typically I can only get through those with CBD oil, lavender oil/cold wash rags, Enya, and meditative breathing. Eventually that combo of things makes me fall

asleep, where *usually* the pain receptors pipe down until I feel better. Sometimes though, it’s hebpin breaks through the sleep and I have VERY WEIRD DREAMS relating to the pain. (Usually the pain = something wrong in a spreadsheet/magic grid and if I can just figure out how to

Manipulate the spreadsheet/magic grid, I can make the pain go away. My mind is bizarre.) Anywho. I’m having a flare this week so I figured I would share that because even though working through this stuff has become so second nature to me and it legit doesn’t phase me anymore, it

is still a big part of my life and I think authenticity is so important and it’s too easy sometimes to only post about the good stuff and to hide then embarrassing or painful stuff, especially when it’s physical health and really something pocket friends can help with. So I guess

I wanted to share this part of my life and my reality with y’all. My for sympathy or anything but just to be like “Yo, this is a thing I deal with.” I’m pretty lucky too, to have met several fandom friends that ALSO have Crohn’s disease or similar chronic illnesses and it can be

good sometimes to what about other people’s experiences or learn ways they manage things that perhaps I haven’t tried or are aware of. That said, being a spoonie I also know how frustrating it is to receive unsolicited advice from folks. That said, if you’re curious and have

questions for me, or if you have Crohn’s or colitis and want somebody you can feel comfy talking about poop n stuff with — I’m your girl. That said, please don’t be upset if you reach out and I don’t reply to you right away I’m the fucking worst at timely communication

https://twitter.com/walkonwildlife/status/1264066018407784448?s=21 https://twitter.com/walkonwildlife/status/1264066018407784448

Note to self: stop saying “that said” so much