I started this blog to share my journey with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), specifically Crohn’s disease, and how fitness and food have played a role in my quest for better health. While I’ve shared quite a bit over the years about my Crohn’s journey, I haven’t shared much about my more recent diagnosis of IgA nephropathy. So, I thought I would go ahead and dive in!
Category Archives: My Journey
Get the book!
Crohn’s Fitness Food and My Rocky Road to Health, written and narrated by Stephanie Gish Available now on Audible, Kindle, and more. I’m excited to announce that my book, Crohn’s Fitness Food and My Rocky Road to Health, is now available online (audiobook, eBook, and paperback). 👇 I experienced my first symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseaseContinue reading “Get the book!”
Meeting my new gastroenterologist
A few weeks ago, I finally met with my new gastroenterologist in the VA community care network. In stark contrast to my October visit with the gastroenterologist who blew me off, this one actually took me seriously and listened to everything I had to say, even though I’m feeling well and doing good overall right now.
IgAN and Crohn’s disease
I recently had a follow-up appointment with my nephrologist at the VA hospital here in Florida for IgA nephropathy. Overall things are good (yay!), but the long and the short of it is that I need to eat more food and drink less water. I’m so used to being told I’m dehydrated that this was definitely new advice for me!
My health timeline with PicnicHealth
Finally, access to all my medical records in a way that’s easy to digest! Listen to this post, click on the play button below! 👇Or scroll down to read 😀Need a voice-over or narrator: http://www.voicebystephanie.com I grew frustrated with my health care over the past year as things were starting to feel too compartmentalized acrossContinue reading “My health timeline with PicnicHealth”
Dismissed, frustrated and not wanting to go back to my doctors
“Assuming you even had it [Crohn’s disease],” he said. My new gastroenterologist’s words hung in the air. I stared blankly from behind my mask, a deer in the headlights, unsure how to respond. Just like that, I was dismissed and invalidated. I said my intestines were bleeding for the past three months straight and hadContinue reading “Dismissed, frustrated and not wanting to go back to my doctors“
Stress and Crohn’s disease
The last four months have been an adventure. Between major life changes and a health scare in my family, during June and July I was facing an overwhelming amount of stress that led me to sobbing in the shower and brought my Crohn’s disease out of remission for about three months. In mid-June, my husbandContinue reading “Stress and Crohn’s disease”
Fatigue
Some of you have asked, so here it is. Time for Crohn’s talk again: Fatigue. Overall, when people ask how I’m doing, I’m doing fine — not optimal, but certainly not anywhere close to being at my worst. My GI symptoms are minor, which, once you’ve had an IBD flare up, anything short of thatContinue reading “Fatigue”
Kidney disease and my upcoming biopsy
As I’ve navigated my Crohn’s disease journey over the past 15+ years, I’ve often heard that if you have one autoimmune disease, it’s not uncommon to develop another. After a quick Google search yesterday, I found that according to this article in Maedica, about 25% of patients with an autoimmune disease have a tendency toContinue reading “Kidney disease and my upcoming biopsy”
Inside my head with chronic illness
For three years, I walked with a broken sesamoid bone in my foot while on active duty in the Army. To this day, I still remember the constant looks from people who clearly thought I was either making up or exaggerating the pain I felt. They gave me looks in passing — judgement written onContinue reading “Inside my head with chronic illness”