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Whilst we are a little way away from finding a cure for Crohn's and Colitis, we can be certain that there have been some interesting results yielded from medical and scientific research in recent times. Advancements in technology ensure that we are getting ever closer to taking charge of IBD as opposed to the other way around. Use this community to find out up-to-date information relating to research and be sure to share anything you find noteworthy!
A place for Christian friends to get together, support and pray for one another. (Not to debate religion)Acts 4:30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
Want to talk about IBD and living with it? You've come to the right place! All are welcome!
I'm in desperate search for creative people to add to my forum and get it active.'Colossal Minds' is an online community that offers you the opportunity to discuss your thoughts on a range of topics including literature, music, art, photography, culture and politics... which should be of particular interest to: writers, artists, photographers, musicians, singers, emcees, djs and philosophers. It is an invaluable medium for creative people to share their work and offer critiques; discuss favourite books, artists, films, etc; and meet like-minded individuals. We operate on a non profit basis (except for banner advertising), though aim to bring exposure to a variety of talent world wide, via the root of online promotion. Our community is contines to grow by name, so don't hesitate to showcase your talents and become recognised!Let us know what makes you tick. If you've got interesting things in your head - this is the place to share them! Join us today by registering your username and password quickly and easily- IT'S COMPLETELY FREE! From there you will have full access to the forums and be able to indulge in our community with other members. If you have any questions about what we can offer your work or if you want to set something up or get reviewed, do not hesitate to get in touch.http://www.andycarrington.co.uk/forum <<<<<<<<<<< CLICK TO VISIT
There are so many Natural things we can do to help with Crohns & Colitis.I would love to share the Natural things i have learnt but also have a community of everyone sharing what they have learnt along the way, things that are Natural that can help improve your health & wellness.
This Community is for people who are enduring these illnesses without Health Insurance. I'm hoping that we can share our experiences and knowledge with each other on this subject. It's a problem that has been going on for a long time and continues to affect people of all ages. Whether it's offering advice or just words of encouragement, perhaps this community can offer some sort of support to our members without insurance.
Here's a place to come and discuss what you find helpful when it comes to dealing with the everday challenges of Crohn's Disease. Whilst we have a selection of communities that can help you with the specifics, you can come here to get quick access to guidance, help and general tips from those who know what you're going through..
Communtiy Manager, Stephen Doogan interviews Gareth about Standup Comedy, dealing with Crohn's, Relationships and what's next in his world..
Laughter saved my life, Crohn's victim Gareth Berliner tells Iain Aitch (Daily Telegraph)
There are not many who can claim that a chronic illness both saved their lives and set them on new career paths, but comedian Gareth Berliner can. Four years ago, he was feeling suicidal as a result of a seemingly never-ending round of operations and setbacks linked to the inflammatory bowel condition Chrohn's disease, but he has since turned his life around, and his experiences into a harrowing, yet hilarious, show.
Thirty-three-year-old Berliner has suffered from Chrohn's disease for more than 20 years and now - after many operations to remove sections - he has less than two feet of lower intestine. The spreading inflammations were so bad that food could not easily pass through the gut, which caused him a huge amount of pain. He also has a total parenteral nutrition (TPN) catheter in his chest, with which he hooks up to liquids that provide essential minerals and keep him hydrated. His lack of intestines means that he can barely absorb any nutrition from food.
Berliner reached his low point shortly after having the TPN line inserted. Living alone and having to be hooked up to liquids for 23½ hours a day, he sank into a deep depression.
"I had a half-hour window each day when I could go out and do things," he says. "I couldn't eat and was rationed to half a glass of water each day."
Berliner attempted to stave off the boredom and depression with marijuana, but he now believes that just added to his sense of hopelessness and isolation.
"I decided I wanted to go," he says. "I wrote my suicide note and told myself to sleep on it. But I woke up the next day still feeling suicidal. I ran the bath, felt it would be bad to be found naked, so I got dressed and then took massive amounts of painkillers. When I got back in the bath I had a bottle of Jameson's. I thought that when I felt I was blacking out I could remove my chest line. It is like being a human hand-grenade, having this. Once I undid it, I would be dead inside 10 minutes from blood loss or a heart attack."
Lying in the bath for over an hour, Berliner drifted in and out of consciousness, but didn't feel ready for the pain that he knew would come with pulling out his TPN catheter. Then came the flash of comic inspiration that saved his life.
"I wasn't myself when I set out to do it, but when I looked down at my body in the bath I started to laugh," he says. "I had these jeans on, which were loose. Suddenly the thought came into my head that the jeans would probably fit really well now. It made me laugh so much that I realised that I didn't want to do it and had more to live for."
Feeling slightly sheepish, Berliner got out of the bath but didn't want to call anyone or admit to himself that he could still die from the huge overdose of painkillers he had taken. He tried to stay awake, gauging his chances of survival by looking up medical websites.
Having made it through the night, Berliner visited his doctor, who was amazed that he had survived the overdose - enough to kill two people. He put the miracle of Berliner's survival down to his shortened intestine.
"It was the ultimate irony of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," says Berliner. "I don't absorb, so Chrohn's saved my life."
Coming through this with a renewed zest for life, Berliner soon gave in to his friends' badgering to try stand-up comedy and he quickly wove his experiences into an act. Gutless, which made its debut at Edinburgh last year, takes its audience from sympathy to tears and then on to loud laughter. He is now starting to pick up the plaudits and is set to take the show to the Adelaide Fringe Festival. He also performs regular slots as MC at Clapham's Electric Empire club. Berliner is keen that his act should inform others about Chrohn's and show that sufferers can still have an enjoyable life. He is a keen supporter of the National Association for Colitis and Chrohn's Disease.
"I felt I should say something about it and the pluses that came from it," he says. "No one talks about it because it is technically an embarrassing illness. But things like bowel cancer don't get diagnosed early enough because people don't want to tell their doctor or their wife that they have got blood in their stool."
With hardly any small intestine left for Chrohn's to attack, Berliner has been largely asymptomatic for the past year. He knows that there is still a risk of a relapse, but for now he is simply enjoying the fact that he is still alive, as well as revelling in the high-fat, high-sugar diet that he is encouraged to eat to maintain his weight. He describes his intake as a taxi-driver's dream.
"The doctor said: 'If you want to eat KFC five times a day, then eat KFC five times a day,' " he says.
But as someone who doesn't need to drink at all any more, Berliner derives his greatest pleasure from a few sips of a soft drink.
"I really love drinking now," he says. "Every now and then I will have little binges. In an evening I might drink a glass of Coke and then a Ribena and an alcoholic drink. I don't like lager, so I drink shorts, which is not too much of a dent in my fluid balance. I can get as drunk as I like, then go home and hook up to two-and-a-half litres of fluid and don't wake up with a hangover."
He taps the line that enters his chest and marks a barely-visible line beneath his T-shirt.
"Perhaps everyone should get one of these," he says.
• For forthcoming appearances see www.garethberliner.com.
LISTEN TO GARETH'S RADIO SHOW! Event information here
Need information about Collagenous Colitis Treatments, Lymphocytic Colitis Treatments and Ulcerative Colitis Treatments? Want to know more about Crohn's Disease Treatments? Here you can find all you need to know about specific treatments, from Remicade and Humira infusions, to Remicade Side Effects find it all here!
Find out all the basic information about Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) right here! Whether it's Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Collageneous Colitis, Lymphocytic Colitis or just Colitis, you'll find everything to get you started right here.
Information about Crohn's Disease Symptoms, Collagenous Colitis Symptoms, Lymphocytic Colitis Symptoms and Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms
Crohn's disease and pregnancy
Women with Crohn's disease who are considering having children can be comforted to know that the vast majority of such pregnancies will result in normal children. Research has shown that the course of pregnancy and delivery is usually not impaired in women with Crohn's disease. Even so, it is a good idea for women with Crohn's disease to discuss the matter
with their doctors before pregnancy. Children who do get the disease are sometimes more severely affected than adults, with slowed growth and delayed sexual development in some cases.
Research has shown that the course of pregnancy and delivery is usually not impaired in women with Crohn's disease. Even so, women with Crohn's disease should discuss the matter with their doctors before pregnancy. Most children born to women with Crohn's disease are unaffected. Children who do get the disease are sometimes more severely affected than adults, with slowed growth and delayed sexual development in some cases.
Women with ulcerative colitis have normal fertility. In Crohn's disease, fertility may be reduced when the disease is active. Sulphasalazine can cause men to become less fertile. Fertility usually returns to normal when the drug is stopped. If possible, women should try to get pregnant when the disease is in remission. Flare-ups can occur during pregnancy but they are usually mild and will respond to medical treatment. Clinical experience has shown that the risk from steroids and sulphasalazine to the baby is extremely low. Some doctors advise women to avoid pregnancy while on azathioprine because of theoretical risks, though many successful pregnancies have been recorded while taking the drug.
Some doctors would suggest that a woman with inactive Crohn's disease should stop taking her medication(s) during pregnancy, resuming an appropriate regimen only if a flare-up occurs. Others might have different advice. Any woman who has Crohn's disease and wants to become pregnant should discuss the issue of treatment during pregnancy with her health-care providers, where her personal medical history and treatment requirements can be taken into account. Women with Crohn's disease whose disease is in remission at the time they conceive may experience increased symptoms during their third trimester, if they have symptoms at all. Many women suffer flare-ups immediately after giving birth. Doctors believe this is due to the hormonal changes of the pregnancy and postpartum period.
Created by Stephen Doogan
Members: 2
Here you can share your stories about Crohn's Disease and Colitis. Had a funny hospital visit? A colonoscopy that was particularly memorable? Any symptoms to some of your treatments that are noteworthy? Write a story for your friends here at WeAreCrohns.org - writing is therapeutic and reading is too - so moisten your quill and dip it in the ink!
This community is going to kick start the new 'competition' format we have planned...instead of Member of the Week, we are going to change the format in two ways: We are going to run the competition every two weeks, where you will have one week to submit your journal entires and in the second week the community will vote on the most popular entry.
The title of the next competition is:
'How has this site changed you and how you deal with your condition positively?'
- Submitted by Robin Buchanan
Please submit your entries into this community's journal, which can be found here
You will have until Tuesday 18th November (6pm PST/-8 GMT) to submit your entries. This is when voting for the best entries will begin and voting will close on Tuesday 25th November (6pm PST/-8 GMT)
I'm completely addicted to Mario Kart Wii and would like to get together some Crohnies to organize an online tournament. Post your Mario Kart Wii license number here and stay tuned for an announcement of when and how to join play when I'm able to organize it.
We all need a little fun sometimes and on WAC we have a lot of fun!! All fun needs games and that's why this community is here, long live FUN AND GAMES!! Feel free to add games as you wish, if you have an exciting crossword then post it here, if you stumble across a wordsearch or an enjoyable puzzle, share the fun with the rest of the WAC gang!!
Welcome to the WeAreCrohns.org Photo Contest Community! In this community, we'll be conducting photos contests to showcase and recognize the coolest, funniest, most beautiful, and otherwise awesome photos.Contest Winners receive a $10 gift card to one of following great merchants:This week's theme : Holiday ShotsAs we welcome in December, why not take a few shots around the home? Got snow? Take a picture and upload the into the 'Holiday Photos!' Album for the contest!To submit a photo, first become a member of the Photo Contest:Once you're a member, you're also set to start submitting photos! But be sure and read the below submission guidelines. Five Simple Rules (Submission Guidelines)1. No inappropriateness.2. You can submit up to five (5) photos per contest.3. You, a family member, or a friend must be in the photo (no scouring the web for cool photos)4. You must fully own rights to the photo (again, no scouring the web for cool photos).5. Your photo must be awesome.
FInd out all the most up to date information on Crohn's and Colitis right here! From news articles to interesting videos and podcasts, have your morning coffee and click through the news! Feel free to submit anything you find of interest!
COLOR MY WORLD IS A BACKGROUND & GRAPHICS COMMUNITY TO SPRUCE UP YOUR PROFILE. ADD YOUR OWN PERSONALITY WITH A COLORFUL BACKGROUND AND GRAPHICS TO YOUR PROFILE PAGE. YOU CAN SEND GRAPHICS TO YOUR FRIENDS ON THE SITE. WE HAVE THANKS FOR THE ADD, HAPPEY BIRTHDAY, GET WELL, BATHROOM HUMOR AND MANY MORE. THE BACKGROUNDS AND GRAPHICS ARE LOCATED IN THE PHOTO SECTION. DIRECTIONS FOR POSTING THEM ARE BELOW. IF YOU WANT PERSONAL ATTENTION, JUST SEND ME A COMMENT OR EMAIL. I CAN MAKE YOU A BACKGROUND FROM YOUR OWN IDEAS. IF YOU NEED HELP, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. IF YOU HAVE IDEAS TO CONTRIBUTE, YOU WILL BE CREDITED FOR THE CONTRIBUTION. YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR PAGE AS OFTEN AS YOU LIKE. I CAN HELP YOU WITH OTHER THINGS ON YOUR PROFILE AS WELL, JUST ASK.IF YOU HAVE INTERNET EXPLORER, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE THE
BACKGROUND. YOU CAN STILL PUT IT IN FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO ENJOY YOUR
PERSONALITY.HERE ARE THE DIRECTIONS:FOR BACKGROUNDSMAKE SURE IF YOU HAVE TURNED ON PRE-MADE SITE BACKGROUND THAT YOU TURN IT OFF BY TURNING SETTING TO (NONE) YOU CAN TURN IT OFF JUST BELOW WHERE YOUR PAGE SAYS OVERVIEW ON THE LEFT.COPY BACKGROUND CODE. GO TO RIGHT OF YOUR PROFILE SCREEN WHERE IT SAYS MY PROFILE (edit). CLICK ON THE WORD (edit). A PAGE WILL OPEN. GO TO THE NEXT TO LAST BOX . RIGHT CLICK INSIDE THE BOX AND PASTE THE CODE INSIDE IT. GO DOWN A LITTLE TO THE LEFT AND CLICK ON SAVE. ENJOY!FOR GRAPHICSCOPY CODE. GO TO THE BOX WHERE YOU WANT GRAPHIC TO GO AND CLICK ON “HTML” ICON (THE LAST ICON ON THE TOP RIGHT) THE BOX WILL EXTEND DOWN. RIGHT CLICK IN THE TOP LEFT CORNER OF THE BOX TYPE <P> RIGHT CLICK AGAIN AND PASTE CODE. TYPE ANOTHER <P> (IF YOU WANT TO COMMENT AT THIS TIME, GO AHEAD AND TYPE IT HERE. WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED, TYPE ANOTHER <P>. IN OTHER WORDS THE GRAPHIC MUST HAVE <P> BEFORE AND AFTER IT. AND THE COMMENT MUST HAVE<p> BEFORE AND AFTER IT. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT ORDER YOU PUT THEM IN. JUST SO THEY HAVE THE<P> BEFORE AND AFTER EACH PART. CLICK ADD COMMENT.
THIS COMMUNITY IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE PET LOVERS OUT THERE! COME AND SHARE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY PETS. THEY LOVE US UNCONDITIONALY! THEY ARE GREAT FOR OUR HEALTH! WE ALL HAVE PHOTOS AND STORIES WE LOVE TO SHARE ABOUT OUR PETS. THIS IS THE PLACE TO SHARE! WITH PEOPLE WHO APPRECIATE HEARING THOSE STORIES AND LOOKING AT THOSE PHOTOS! GET OUT THOSE BRAG BOOKS! YOU KNOW YOU HAVE 'EM!BE SURE TO GO TO CALLING ALL PET LOVER'S FORUM FIRST AND FILL IN THE FORM ABOUT YOUR PETS!
This community is for you to come and meet, interact and share your ideas with the Site Leaders! Site Leaders are here to help and get your voice heard, so hop on board and join the community!