It’s not new thing in IBD world that some terminology is used wrong by patients. That cause confusing to professionals, people around and community itself. The typical misconception is mixing IBS with IBD. I think that happened to everyone. Especially in work place, they know what is IBS so not expecting you be THIS bad just from simple syndrome. When they realized it is far much serious then starting research. Better late than none.
Now talking about mixing Crohn’s and Colitis. Some people are annoyed about mixing those two saying it’s same. But from patient and their family it’s pretty much same. It’s not for your doctor, but for diagnosed person the struggles are almost same. Sometimes they can’t even give straight diagnosis like in my case and my flares sometimes act more like Colitis more like Crohn’s. Officially I’m on tretment for ulcerative colitis at the minute.
Right… flares. That what annoys me. And really drives me mad sometimes. That apply mostly to patients and community itself. Overusing flare up term is not only annoying but can lead to confusion for your doctor. I keep hearing ‘Does coffee gives you flare?’, ‘I had massive flare up yesterday’, ‘I can’t have fruits, they give me flare up’, ‘Just wake up with flare up but now it’s all settled down’.
What is described in those sentences is just weaker day or some diarrhea accident or upset stomach. Yes we are far more prone for that and abdominal pain and hundreds of different symptoms. But flare up is very complex process and it starts in your blood stream. It’s very hard to identify when it actually started and it’s definitely not last few hours or days. It’s mostly few weeks and you lucky if they not keep you in hospital. Researches show also food can give you symptoms but never cause flare up. Flare up is very serious and in most of cases required different medication or doses. If you just had apple and that give you few runs and pain, it’s just how it is, but it’s probably not flare up yet. My last flare was building for nearly week and then exploded and it was last for another 2 weeks when it finally settled down. It took me about 2 month to be safe to say I achieved remission and recovery took me about another 3 months. If someone saying to me they had flare up yesterday, I just smile…
So if you around IBD patient or you one yourself, don’t panic when you have weak day. Try identify if it’s just from food or stress, ask your doctor to check bloods and you should be okay.
Stay healthy,
Vic
