How to deal being diagnosed with IBD

Finding out the you now have a chronic disease can be very frustrating and depressing. It can make you feel many different emotions at the same time, especially confusion. You may be angry that this happened to you, scared about what the future holds, a fear that your life will change for the worst, depressed that you are no longer "normal", in denial that this is really happening to you amoung and many other possible feelings. It can take a long time to control these feelings and move on with your life, but it is essential to properly controling this disease and continuing to have an enjoyable life.

You may be disheartened to learn that all form of IBD have no known cure. The cause of the disease is not even fully understood, and its supposed cause varies depending on who you ask. There are some things you should know though from the beginning.

Important things to know right away

While IBD is not curable yet, it is treatable.

Many people are able to have a seemingly normal life while controling the symptoms of their disease. People with IBD can still have normal lives, jobs, become married, travel, participate in social functions and anything else they desire. They can even play professional sports and run for high level political offices (as some famous people with Crohn's have). Your disease can be controlled and through vigilance, patient, lifestyle and medical care. As a result, you can have a fairly normal and high quality of life.

IBD will not kill you!

This disease will not prematurely end your life. You may need to take medications, or have surgeries, but it will not result in your death. You can continue to look forward to a long life, and still accomplish all of your life goals.

It is not your fault that you have this disease.

No matter what misinformed people tell you, you did not have control in preventing this disease from happening. The cause of the disease is not totally known, but is often suggested to inlcude a variety of factors including: genes, enviornment and bacteria overgrowth/invasion in the intestine. While eating junk food is not healthy for you, there is no direct link between bad eating causing IBD. There are better 's that you can follow to control your condition, but never guilt yourself into believing it is your fault or you brought your disease onto yourself. Even if this was ever proven to be the case, you cannot blame yourself for not knowing about something that was never commonly or made widely known.

You are not alone.

Never even heard of the disease you now have before the doctor mentioned its name? IBD is not a mainstream disease, but that does not mean it doesn't affect millions of people worldwide. You may be surprised to learn that people you have known for a long period of time actually have the same or a simular disease as you, but they did not share this information or it was not obvious as it did not seem to impact their quality of life. There are many online communities and support groups that can allow you to meet others who are going through or have the same disease as yourself. Realizing you are not really isolated can help you deal with your disease, as you can learn from the thousands of people who have taken control of their lives and disease.

What Should I Do Now That I Have Been Diagnosed?

Acceptance: The best thing you can do once having been diagnosed is to accept it. There is no point arguing with yourself or spending time being depressed, as this will not help you at all with treating the disease. You should accept your diagnosis and then make the decision to control it and live the life you want to live. Living the life you want to live does not mean treating your body poorly though or not taking care of your health. It means that you can accomplish anything you want to without having the disease be a barrier for you to do anything.

Get Educated on it: Educating yourself on your disease is key. Knowledge can be empowering, and allow you to have a better understanding of what your disease is. Without this knowledge there is an unknown aspect to this disease. When we do not know what we are dealing with, are imaginations can often run wild. This is why we often fear the unknown, as we usually build up images and scenarios in our heads that are much worse than what the actual situation we are dealing with is. You should also ask your doctor for any reference materials they have, or sources they recommend for information. You should also get into contact with any IBD-related foundations or organizations, as they can provide you with a lot of information. Be careful of just searching the internet though, as you can easily become overwhelmed with all the information you can find. Some of this information does not deal with your situation at all, is misleading or just plain wrong! Doing this may give you a false image of what your condition is and what type of life you will experience, and will just make you more worried and scared than you were before.

Find Support Groups: Another way to gain knowledge about this disease is through support groups of people with this condition. This knowledge base itself was started by a A Crohn's Disease Forum that is a community of people who are in some way affected by IBD. These Online Communities are a great place to meet others all over the world who share your condition, and can allow you to get fast answers to your questions from people who have experienced what you are going through. Alternatively, there are many support groups that are run through organizations that can help you deal with your new condition. These are a great way to meet people in your communtity affected with the same disease as you, and allows you to talk, learn and get support in a more direct approach. The human-aspect of support groups can usually make you feel less alone and isolated, and you should look at contacting IBD organizations to see if there is a group in your area.

Allow for Time to make this all more 'digestible': One of the greatest things that will allow you to deal with your diagnosis is time. Today's news may have come as a great shock, but when you wake up tomorrow the shock will have warn off a bit. In a weeks time it will not seem as shocking, and as you continue to learn more and more time passes, it will not seem like something mysetious or new at all. Be patient with yourself, and do not worry about the future. Realize that you are alive right now, and that this disease will not change that at all. Your life may have just changed paths a bit, but nothing says that this path is not better than the original path your were on. This disease may make you re-evaluate your life, and allow you to find what is of greater importance to you. You may determine it is not worth putting the time and energy into things or people you do not enjoy, and make you spend more time with the things you do enjoy. Do not cower from your new life course, but rather embrace it. Use this disease as the start of a new path for your life, where your new goals will be larger and more meaningful than anything you ever had before.

External Links

• Crohnsforum, a community of people who discuss living with Crohn's disease and Ulcerative colitis.
• Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America
• Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada