Talking about IBD: Why it's hard and how to do it

Yesss I’ve had issues with abscesses and fistulas as well and I’m currently taking the whole year off of school. I initially was embarrassed about it because it’s all focused on your gut, colon, rectum … all the “icky” stuff. And symptoms are usually “icky” too. I’m recentlyyyy diagnosed and I’m already trying to be really open about it because I want people to try to understand that it’s more than j an upset tummy ya know

Yes, exactly. I have been out of work because of an abscess and I feel like no one understands why I’ve needed to take so much time. I had complications with the abscess and a fistula.

I find that people don’t really understand the complexity of this disease. They’re just like “so you just have diarrhea sometimes?”, they know nothing about abscess, fistulas, fissures or joint pain