The above video is a really good primer on what IBD (the broader term for Crohn's and Colitis) actually is. I highly recommend watching it to understand the core of this disease - it's short and easy to digest.
Now that you have an understanding of this disease, let's talk about flares. Flares for me consist of two main issues, internal pain and frequency/urgency to use the bathroom. There are two types of crippling pain that often leave me curled up in a fetal position, unable to move. One type feels like eating broken glass and rusty nails - it's more of a sharp shooting pain in my gut. The other is like getting thousands of little paper cuts inside your intestines and then having lemon juice poured on them - a slow burning that won’t go away.
I'm lucky since I don't experience pain quite as often as some other people with IBD (although my pain frequency seems to be increasing lately). What I do experience is LOTS of blood and mucus in my stool as well as an increased urgency and frequency to use the bathroom. Losing that much blood really takes it's toll on the body and tends to leave me exhausted a lot of the time.
In order to help you get a feel for what the frequency/urgency portion of a flare is like, I've put together a little experiment:
- Take an 8 oz glass and fill it 3/4 of the way with cranberry juice.
- Then take a 1/2 finished mocha frappuccino that's been sitting out for an hour and has mostly melted and fill the rest of the 8oz glass with that chocolatey slush. All the way to the rim.
- Now, when you're done reading this sentence, you have exactly 10 seconds to get to a toilet, get your pants off, and dump that lovely 8oz red and brown concoction into the toilet - try not to spill any on your way!!
10…
9…
8…
7…
6…
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
Didn’t quite make it? Dump the contents of the glass down the back of your pants. I hope you had a change of clothes with you or else you get to waddle your way back home, feeling every single eyeball staring at you and questioning how an adult managed to get themselves into such a shitty situation.
Even if you managed to make it this time, don’t get too comfortable… you’ll have to repeat this process 20 random times throughout your day in order to get a real understanding of what life is like with Crohn’s/Colitis.
Not fun.