An Invisible Illness: Raising Awareness of IBD

It’s called the “invisible disease,” but the 30,000 people who have Crohn’s or colitis in Tennessee will tell you it is anything but. These are inflammatory bowel diseases that cause pain, weight loss, exhaustion and other symptoms that are not curable.
Michelle Chianese, the executive director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America in Tennessee, explains that since stress often aggravates the illness, many people are diagnosed between ages 15 and 35, when they’re in school or starting families and careers.
“It happens a lot during a very productive and busy time in someone’s life, and sometimes it can be missed as food poisoning, or just some kind of virus,” she explained. “And then, it’s not until months and sometimes even years later when it’s officially diagnosed.”
This week is Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week. The causes of Crohn’s disease or colitis are not well understood, but diet and stress are known to aggravate symptoms. Those symptoms include persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, abdominal cramps, fever, weight loss and night sweats.
Jordan Sorrells has lived with Crohn’s disease for 20 years and said it’s always a challenge to educate people about it, simply because some of its effects are unpleasant and hard to discuss.
“It’s definitely one of those diseases that people don’t want to talk about,” he said. “It’s not polite dinner conversation. Things that I’ve had to deal with over the years, the main things that I deal with, are fatigue, weight loss, and they just depend on my stress level and everything that’s going on.”
And since it isn’t obvious that someone has an inflammatory bowel disease or IBD, Chianese said awareness and support from friends and loved ones is key.
“It’s important for people to talk about these diseases and let everyone know how severe these diseases can be, and how they can impact patients’ lives,” she said. “And just have it be part of the conversation.”
According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, as many as 70,000 new cases of IBD are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, with as many as 80,000 children living with the condition.