This is an essay from Jen Brown. It is about dealing with depression that comes from Crohn's. If you have any questions or comments, e-mail her!
I am writing to an audience of all ages who have Crohn's disease or Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD.) This paper is written to let Crohn's patience' know that they are not alone in this world, and that there are many people who are going through the same ordeal. Many people experience depression with any disease. This paper has a few suggestions to help lessen depression and help lessen the blow of people learning that they have Crohn's. I myself, have gone through severe depression to the point where I hated myself and did not want to live anymore. This advice is true from my own experience. I want other people to know that I made it through my ordeal with a smile on my face, and I now have a great attitude and respect towards living with Crohn's. I feel that if I can make it to remission, so can anybody else if he/she really wants to. I also feel that I can help anyone who has Crohn's to get through it better and not to give up on themselves. The reader is supposed to feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel and that there is hope to feeling better. I really hope my essay can help other people go through the ordeals of Crohn's. I want to help other people to come to terms with their disease, because I know it helps to keep healthier in the long run. This essay only touches on the surface of what I have gone through in my life with dealing with Crohn's and how other people treated me. I thought you might want to know some of this to know that this essay is true from the heart and it was the way I got through the pain of of my Crohn's.
Dealing with Crohn's Disease Depression
Crohn's disease has no mercy. It can affect a one month old baby, a twelve year old child, or even a ninety year old adult. Crohn's disease or IBD can be very painful, embarrassing, and unappealing. Many people, especially young children have an extremely hard time adjusting to the idea of having a disease and often experience severe depression. They will often withdrawal from their family and friends. If you follow these simple steps of acceptance, learn to be positive about your treatments, and talk to other people with Crohn's disease, it will help reduce your depression level immensely. It is definitely not easy living with a disease. I have been living with Crohn's disease for over six years. I have been through it all: depression, rejection, treatments, and finally remission. The worst thing for you to do if you have a disease, is to deny that fact that you do have a disease. The faster you accept the fact that you have Crohn's, the easier the treatments will be, and then the treatments will work better. Most of all, the severe abdominal cramps, the diarrhea, the weight loss, and the vomiting will ease up and eventually will go away. If you are constantly feeling sorry for yourself, you will become extremely depressed and you will start shutting out the people who love you and want to help you get better. If you think positively, you will become healthier much faster. You will also stay healthier for a longer period of time. You do have Crohn's for life, but it can and will get better if you want it to.
Treatments can be painful, uncomfortable, and embarrassing. You always should keep in mind that the treatments will not last forever. The steroids and all the other medications and treatments may have painful or uncomfortable side effects such as bleeding in your bowels, hemorrhoids, severe bloating, weight gain, or ulcers. Once you stop the medications and treatments, most of the side effects will go away. If you have experienced Vital (a liquid diet fed through a tube that goes down your nose), you know it is very uncomfortable and embarrassing if people see you with a tube down your nose. You do eventually become depressed because you think nobody else has to go through the same problems that you are going through. Remember that all the treatments will not last forever; they will eventually make you well. Keep a smile on your face and think positively that you will get better; chances are, you will. Then you will not experience the pain and loneliness that depression brings to you.
The most important step for you to take in order
to beat the feelings of depression is to talk to as many other
people with Crohn's. There are a couple of excellent places to
talk to other people. The first place is the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of
America or the Crohn's and
Colitis Foundation of Canada.
There will usually be one close to you. You can get monthly
newsletters and learn about new treatments that are coming out.
You can also learn about how other people are dealing with their
own Crohn's. The next best place to talk to people is over the
Internet. There is one site where you can read and respond to
other people' stories, or even submit your own story for other
people to read. Talking to other people with the same disease as
yourself, lets you know that you are not alone. Knowing that you
are not alone, will help you deal with the depression that you
are experiencing by letting your feelings and concerns known, so
that other people can help you. If you come to terms with your
disease, keep a positive attitude, take your treatments with a
smile on your face, and talk to other people with Crohn's, you
will be happier and healthier in the future. When you do hit
remission, like myself, all the pain, treatments, and torture
that you are put through, are worth the pain free and healthy
times in the future. Depression is basically inescapable, but you
can lessen the effects of depression by simply following my
advice and just learn to live with the fact that you do have
Crohn's. It will eventually get better. For myself, it took
surgery to be in remission, but it was definitely worth it in
order of having over four years of a pain free life.
Return to Teens With Crohn's