GBM Team – Page 2 – The Great Bowel Movement

Pack Health For IBD – Patient Health Coaches

by Comment Closed

As a patient of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, have you ever felt lost? What a ridiculous question. We've all felt lost at one time or another. Managing the chronic illness experience is confusing, time consuming, exhausting, and certainly doesn't come with a guidebook. When we recently heard about Pack Health and their entrance into the IBD space, we were extremely excited to see someone else recognize this gap - this need for a guide - and put together a program that actually works to do it successfully. Pack Health works with IBD and other chronic illness patients to be strong partners in the patient experience. The program works by matching you with an expert that's educated and experienced in navigating the specific challenges of IBD, and they do it at a professional level, so they can be trusted to provide reliable and accurate resources. This health coach connects you as a patient, to all the points you manage, and helps you get it all...

HealtheVoices5

by Comment Closed

HealtheVoices 5: A Little Heart Can Do Big Things We were honored to have attended the #HealtheVoices19 conference: A Little Heart Can Do Big Things. At some point (or probably many points, the conference was a blur!) I was asked, as a first year advisor, how HealtheVoices has changed since its inception. It took me a while to figure out how to respond to this, because honestly, there are so many things, and growth like this takes time to absorb. The first year was like a good first date. We knew there was potential, we had an idea of what we wanted, but we just needed to figure out how to build up. Year two saw some growth and familiarity come into play. By year three, we had found our groove, and from there, a really, really good thing just became greater and greater. The faces that have experienced, and contributed to, HealtheVoices over the years have brought in some different perspectives, and...

GBM’s Buttload of Prizes Giveaway!

by Comment Closed

Thanks for stopping by. This sweepstakes is now closed. Thank you for being a part of our IBD community. We’re celebrating reaching 10,000 Facebook fans with our Buttload of Prizes Giveaway! You can earn up to 4 sweepstakes entries by responding to prompts on the social network of your choice. But first, check out this amazing prize pack! Check out the IBD Prize Pack One winner will be randomly chosen to receive this ENTIRE ridiculously awesome haul. Two additional winners will be randomly chosen to receive $50 Amazon gift cards. By the way, most of the prizes here were generously donated to this prize pack. To help say 'thanks', please consider supporting these companies through purchases and social engagement! Winners will be chosen on Dec 21, 2018. I Heart Guts Plush Intestines We don’t even have to say anything about how awesome I Heart Guts is. Their intestines plush is a must-have for IBD patients, because, well, we can’t think of a single reason not...

Learning Life as a Parent of IBD

by Comment Closed

Learning Life as a Parent of IBD Guest Post by Tracy Jackson Knowledge is Power When I became pregnant, I read everything. I read parenting books, psychology books, what to expect books, you name it, I probably read it. To me, knowledge is power, the more I know the better it will be to handle things as they come my way. As my kids Sarah and Danielle grew, I read about the “terrible two’s” and raising school age children. Having kids only 15 months apart, I started to get familiar with the teenager books and hoped I could manage the road ahead that they would be facing almost at the same time. Raising a teenager is hard. The idea is you are supposed to be giving them more responsibility as they mature, guiding them towards independence & adulthood. Adding Crohn’s to the mix of teenager really complicates things. Danielle was 11 years old when she first showed symptoms of IBD. Over the course of 6...

Along the Journey of Crohn’s

by Comment Closed

Along the Journey of Crohn's Guest Post by Erica Baker I don’t know where to begin. It has been suggested to me many times that I write down the story of my journey through college, getting a grown up job, getting married, having a baby and oh, yeah having Crohn’s disease. I am not truly sure where to begin with this story, so I will begin at the beginning and go to the end, though I know it will not be straight through, as no good story goes straight from beginning to end. 2009 College can be a trying time for anyone. Moving away from home, dining hall food, partying, and stress from an insane course load is enough to cause anyone a little digestive distress; especially someone who has food allergies, such as me. I spent four years trying to figure out where the “hidden” bathrooms were in each of my academic and resident buildings to ensure no one knew it was me getting “sick”...

Gutless, Glamorous, and Going After Awareness

by Comment Closed

American Eagle’s intimates brand, Aerie, has always been a leader in featuring real, unretouched women in their product campaigns. They do a great job of not making the individuals featured seem like outliers, or the spotlighted exception to the traditional model – rather, they’re there. They’re featured in ads and product listings, no big deal, as if they were the norm. Because, guess what, they are the norm. So this week when we tapped into our social feeds, we were super excited to see a face we recognized right there on the product listing, our friend Gaylyn Henderson of Gutless and Glamorous. There’s no denying Gaylyn is gorgeous and brave and strong and unashamed. She’s the perfect representation of ostomates and IBDers for a spot like this. We’re SO proud of her and so overjoyed to see a company like Aerie include her among others with varying diseases and disabilities in their product features. Having women like her featured is a total...

Listen. #HealtheVoices18 Recap

by Comment Closed

"Listen" wasn't the theme of the 2018 #HealtheVoices conference. It was actually Stronger Together. The #StrongerTogether theme was reflected throughout the entire conference, as empowered patient advocates and industry experts came together for valuable sessions on things like podcasting, caregiving, photography, social media, and so much more. Attendees informally got together to host impromptu Facebook live sessions, Twitter chats, and even in-person meetups. Nearly everyone brought their skills to share, enough for the whole class. Collaborate, learn, and become Stronger Together, we did. That same theme was reflected as attendees shared their own disease stories and experiences within their own condition communities. Being diagnosed with one condition made individuals stronger for when a second diagnosis came along. It has made people stronger when chronic conditions turn, and now the patient is the caregiver. Every single person in attendance has grown stronger because of the things life has handed them, and then, because of the communities they've built around them. An empowered patient advocate...

Conquering Crohn’s

by Comment Closed

Conquering Crohn's Guest Post by Robbie Kochs I want to start by saying one thing to anyone and everyone, whether you have Crohn’s Disease, IBD, a chronic illness, or anything at all. If you have a dream, a goal, a vision, go out and get it. NEVER let anything stop you from reaching this dream. You are too good for that. If you are passionate about something then go do it. If people tell you that you can’t accomplish this goal then go and prove them wrong. Fight the fight. Just know that when you begin the fight for your dream you will get knocked down. It’s inevitable. Obstacles will get in your way, but you know what you do? You get back up and NEVER give up. One of my favorite quotes comes from a very famous man by the name of Rocky Balboa, and he says, “It’s not about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you get hit...

Crohn’s, Colitis, and Being a Parent

by Comment Closed

Crohn’s, Colitis, and Being a Parent We had the chance to sit down and chat with two very special people about an important topic – IBD and Parenting. In this post, we compare, via discussion, parenting roles with IBD. They share their emotions, fears, and what it means to be a parent. Frank Garufi, Jr of the Crohn’s Colitis Effect doesn’t have IBD, but his young son does, and he’s just as involved as if he was the patient. Sharon Saeed of IBD Journeys has IBD and has been through her share of hospital stays, all while being the best mom she can to her amazing kids. GBM: Tell us about your family. How has IBD touched your family? Ever since my kids could remember, they know Mommy sometimes goes into the hospital. Especially in the past two years, it has really turned our lives around. Prior to June 2011, I was probably one of “those” moms - if there was an activity, my kids would be signed...

IBD and the Weight Loss Struggle

by Comment Closed

Thanks and admiration to our friend Eliza for opening up about this sensitive topic, and reaching others who may need to hear her story. Weight, a topic most people care not to always talk about. Add in having IBD and that’s a whole new ballgame. I’ve struggled with my weight for more than half my life, I’ve only lived with IBD for 5 years. I’m not sure which I dislike more, dealing with Crohn’s or struggling with my weight. To be completely honest, one of the first things I knew about IBD was that it could cause weight loss, and the saddest part, I was excited about that fact. I didn’t understand the consequences that came along with weight loss from IBD. I was almost angry and bitter at first when my Crohn’s didn’t cause me to lose any weight at all. I saw people who struggled with keeping weight on as “lucky,” and now, looking back, I can’t believe I ever thought that...