Guest Writer - Harriet

To say I was flattered to be asked to write for Me and IBD would be an understatement.

When I began my blog in January of this year, I wasn’t expecting hardly anyone to read it – let alone have over 15,000 views in a few months and now have a registered website! Thank you, one and all!

I had toyed with the idea of starting a blog for a few months, as I wanted an additional outlet for me and my Crohn’s. So the lead up to my biggest op to date seemed like a perfect opportunity to get online and get writing…

Bloated Medley

Which brings me nicely to my topic of choice for my guest post: my bloat.

But in more general terms, I suppose it’s looking at weight and Crohn’s – as no one wants to read about my plonker of a stomach the whole way through!

If you’ve happened to stumble across my blog already, you may have noticed that I have quite the problem post-op, with what I refer to as my flamonge: it is the overly rotund part of my stomach that doctors believe is due to an abdominal fistula.

I’m still under investigation with it all and I imagine it will only end up leading to another operation and maybe even an ileostomy. Ho hum. Such is life and all that.

But regardless of what’s happening on my insides, it’s my outsides that seem to be getting the most attention; mainly from strangers, most of them thinking I’m pregnant. I’m not. I’m just a female with a round stomach that’s completely disproportionate to the rest of my body. Easy mistake to make, I guess!

I seem to have always had a problem with bloating, but I guess I had so many other things happening with regards to my Crohn’s, it essentially took a back seat. Except this time it’s for a particular reason and it’s out of control…it’s so frustrating. But on the plus side at least they can pinpoint why it’s gone nuts…?

Skinny Malinky!

My body has fluctuated in weight a ridiculous amount since my official journey with Crohn’s began, (by official, I mean after diagnosis). At my lightest, I was around 7 stone and super thin. When I look back at pictures it makes me sad, as I know at that time I was so confused about what was happening to me and what it meant for my future.

Yet I still worried about wearing tight clothes because of my bloated stomach!?!

I’d take that mini molehill over my Mount Everest any day…

Similar to other guest writers on here, I was at university, in my second year when s**t literally hit the fan. I was bombarded with a cocktail of medicines and steroids after diagnosis, and naturally this started to change the shape of my body.

It didn’t take long before I hit a healthy weight – and then it kept going. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been ‘obese’ but my BMI for my 5’3” frame is currently classed as ‘overweight’; I should not have hit just under 11 stone in recent years.

The reason why I wanted to talk about weight in my guest post, is because losing weight is a

The 'Human Weeble'

common symptom of Crohn’s; I’ve had first-hand experience of this. But I’ve also had first-hand experience of ballooning due to meds, and then never being able to shift weight.

For one of my posts on my blog, I decided to look into it, as surely I’m not the only person having to deal with this weight conundrum?!

And it appears I’m not.

There is almost a subculture of Crohnies who really struggle to lose weight and don’t know why. I find it quite interesting as I was always warned off dieting by my consultants as you can lose weight so quickly.

WELL IT HASN’T HAPPENED TO ME IN A LONG TIME! *weeps into the keyboard*

It got to the point where I basically started morphing into a human weeble; bloat included. And I only have a small head – my bodily proportions are so off key!

There doesn’t seem to be much out there for how to intentionally lose weight with an IBD. However I did read on Livestrong.com that in 2010 the American College of Gastroenterology recognised that more people with these conditions (e.g. Crohn’s) are experiencing problems with being overweight and obesity than formerly realised. Research is ongoing to find the reason, but it seems it’s to do with the metabolism slowing right down, which makes it difficult to shift the weight.

Me, Now

So what do I do? I make a conscious effort to eat well, and although I would love to exercise more it is pretty tough when I’m still post-op and Ms Sleepy all the time.

My only hope is that whatever happens with my flamonge, it will kick start some weight loss and let me get back to my day-to-day life. I just want to feel more like myself again – it’s been too long! 

To keep up to date with me and my Crohn’s, you can visit Harrietsgotcrohns.com