Archive for December, 2012
Caring for Crohn’s & UC: Year in Review
This has been a great year for Caring for Crohn’s, both on the blog and personally.
After toying with the idea for several months, I finally launched the blog in June. After a few months on Tumblr, the blog was merged onto WordPress and now here we are!
In just six months, I wrote 73 posts and the blog received over 3,600 views, and gained 19 WordPress followers, 50 Tumblr followers, 124 Facebook fans, and 175 Twitter followers. Thank you all SO much for your readership and support– this blog branched out beyond my wildest dreams and I am so appreciative of all of you who made that happen.
Without further ado, here are some of the 2012 highlights for Caring for Crohn’s!
WordPress’ 2012 in review for Caring for Crohn’s
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,800 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.
IBD & Depression
If you have IBD, you know how taxing it can be, not only physically but also emotionally. It’s no surprise given the symptoms IBDers live with on a daily basis- painful cramps, diarrhea, weight loss, loss of appetite, and nausea. Living with these can wear you down and eventually, you might find that you have fallen into a bout of depression.
According to the World Federation for Mental Health,
“Quite often, physical and mental health disorders go hand in hand. Research shows that persons with severe or chronic physical illnesses often have a co-existing mental health problem.”
A Holiday Wishlist for Crohn’s & Colitis
Living with IBD, whether you are the patient or the caregiver, is taxing on everyone. I’m sure you have wished for something to help with the burden- from financial assistance to new medication and everything in between.
Every year, children (and some adults too) around the world write up their wishlist for presents for the holiday season. In that vein, here is a holiday wishlist for Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
The ABC’s of Crohn’s & UC: “M” & “N”
I may be posting intermittently from now until the end of the year with the influx of relatives that will be visiting and staying with us. However, I wanted to get one more ABC post in while I still had the time. So without further ado, next up in the ABC’s of Crohn’s and UC- “M” and “N.”
IBS v. IBD: the great intestinal debate
There is no worse feeling than someone telling you that they know what you are going through because they have IBS. Sadly, not many people realize that there is a significant difference between IBS and IBD. I know this firsthand because I have IBS while Dan has IBD. Below I explain the two illnesses and the differences between the two.
Thank you for your support!
This morning, I got the most wonderful surprise in my email box. Someone had commented on my blog (that in its own is exciting for me) and nominated me for a Reality Award! I am mighty excited about this and want to thank Lauren from The Caged Bird Still Sings for nominating me for this award. I humbly accept it and am so grateful to be part of this big blogging community that supports one another through the good and bad times.
Transplant for patients with severe Crohn’s?
Over the past few months, I’ve written posts about all sorts of new treatments being studied for IBD- bone marrow transplants and whipworms to name a few. Those sounded a little crazy to me but definitely intriguing. However, a new study published by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center suggests that intestinal or multivisceral (three or more abdominal organs) transplants are effective treatments for patients with Crohn’s so severe that they no longer tolerate an IV nutrition.
As we all know, when Crohn’s is severe, its hard to absorb nutrients or even eat. For those who have irreversible intestinal failure, they may need to receive nutrition through a tube intravenously, known as total perenteral nutrition. According to the study, those who do not tolerate the IV nutrition are often referred for an intestinal transplant.
New Site Feature!
Today, I launched a new feature to Caring for Crohn’s- a listing of IBD specialists across the country. There is now a tab on the menu on the top of the page that reads “IBD Doctors“. If you click on that, you can view doctor listings by each state.
Some states do not have doctors listed- that is because I used U.S. News & World Reports rankings of Top Doctors and there weren’t any listed for that state. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any great IBD doctors in that state!
If you know of any that aren’t listed, please email me at caringforcrohns@gmail.com.
There is nothing more important that having a doctor who is extremely knowledgeable in IBD and is helpful and listens to your concerns. I hope you find this new page helpful!
The ABC’s of Crohn’s & UC: “L”
My heart is still heavy from the Newtown shooting in my home state but I wanted to go back to the real reason why I blog: to educate people and raise awareness about Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis.
Tonight’s post is the next installment in the ABC’s of Crohn’s and UC series- the letter L.
Caring for Crohn's & UC 