Annoying things people say about your disease.

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lotte26

lotte26

Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
149
Hey I thought I would start this thread, please add any annoying things people have said about your IBD!

I've had this multiple times : "I know someone who had crohns and cured it!" if you could cure it it wouldn't be a disease... Lol
 
My Favourite - when I was at the hairdressers a few months ago.
Ohhhh and tell me how do you get that thing (Crohns) because I'd love to lose a few pounds, You're so lucky to have a skinny body, most women would kill for that!!!!
Gotta love them NOT

Gwen xxx
 
i have a friend who has told me several times:

my cousin has Crohns and she is just fine.....so as soon as you get it figured out you will be fine too.


I keep trying to explain how her cousin might be in remission or she has never seen her on a bad day or......but nope. Her cousin is just fine.....so therefore its not a big deal and we will all be fine. Good to know eh?
 
When you tell someone you can't eat something they're offering and they say, "well its not like its gonna kill you to eat it this one time."
 
That one is just a snob, she never comes to visit and when she does she eats nothing. Does she think she is better than us? Ehhhh NO she is sick and finds it hard to travel and she has to be very careful what she eats. Well it can't be that bad, sure wouldn't we all stay out of the bathroom when she's here.
If only it were that simple.
 
"are you sure you're ill? You look fine"

"Oh yeh I've heard of that, don't you just have to watch what you eat to sort it?..."

and trying to explain that you are too fatigued and the reasons why you can't/dont want to do anything is just a waste of time.
 
Mama & Mac said:
Just love it when they think it's funny!

" it's a ****** situation your in" ha ha blah!
Click to expand...

Only we're allowed to laugh at ourselves like that, huh? LOL I make that pun quite a bit with my friends... but that's funny! Someone who doesn't really know you... that's not funny.
 
I had someone say

"So that's all your illness is? You throw up and have diarrhea? Doesn't sound that bad." Umm.. yeah. It's not that bad. It's all honky-effin-dory
 
I think I've heard it all before. Except now I can exact my revenge. :devil:

I look at them, horns begin to sprout from my head, an evil grin spreads across my face....

And I look at them and say "Let me just whip this out" (think Clevon Little in Blazing Saddles). And threaten to decorate them like a cake!

Always shuts em up...I cant think why?? (hint...read my sig line)
 
"you have trouble putting weight on because of your crohns? maybe you should eat abit more"

oh really?! i didnt think of that!
 
Don't let it stress you out.... stress, depress, consume your thoughts, impact your decisions, etc

Grr, I always tell people that's like a sign that says "don't read this."
 
This is always a good one!! When you are out at a function be it bridal, baby, wedding...etc.

" what is she to good to eat with us " god I love that one.........NOT!
 
chrisnsteph1022- "i know how you feel, i have IBS"

argh! a girl at work says this to me all the time, when im doubled over in pain she says " yeah my tummy aches too"

tummy ache...TUMMY ACHE!?!? i'll show you a tummy ache
 
One day, i was in a particularly fowl mood because I was very ill. My husband and i were having a cookout for his marines and their families. Well, I was talking to a friend of mine about how I was having a lot of trouble at the moment and one of the wives that was there said "I need to get Crohn's so I can lose some weight, you're skinny!" I couldn't hold my tongue right then and lashed out and told her if she'd lay off of the Mc Donald's maybe she wouldn't need to lose weight.

The other one I love "Oh my gosh, I had a stomach flu before. I know EXACTLY how you feel" umm... yeah not really.
 
All people I ever spoke to have been really kind for some reason. Most will ask what it is and give me a "chin up, they will find something", or "oh I know someone who has it too". Never had anyone say anything bad really.

There was this lady laughing on TV when she interviewed a biologist doing research on the gut flora by examining stool, the stupid woman couldn't stop laughing, cause you know....stool is hilarious....I wanted to punch her lights out, I changed the channel out of disgust, the doctor was really serious and got visibly upset about it too. He's the biologist who found out there are only a limited amount of gut flora types.
 
Ive got a friend who's good as gold she asks all the time how things are and what my doc has said, what meds am I taking, are they helping etc an now I see her maybe once every couple of months but she's seen how my life went downhill fast and understands sometimes I can't do things an have to cancel at a moments notice .
Once I was at hers not feeling great and got stuck on her loo for an hour thinking I was dying lol an she was so nice afterwards offering me a lift or to call my husband becoz she didnt want me to drive coz apparently I was White as a sheet !

Then I have another friend who says " dont eat this that or the other "
"Don't think about it an you won't get bad" ! Grrrrrr!!!
" your just boring these days why don't you come out with me that'll cheer you up"
" I think I've got crohns coz I've got a bad belly today "
" I've looked up my symptoms an I think ive got something called ......... It's nearly the same as yours but worse " yeah ok !! Lmfao !!!
" how do you get such a lush figure please tell me how to do it " umm not eat love coz I'm in agony most days and If I do eat it goes right through me , wanna swap !!
" I wish I had crohns so I could have your figure but without all the bad bits haha " not ******* funny love !!!!

Then doctors before a diagnosis
" it's in your head "
" your depressed " no **** Sherlock !!!
" your eating the wrong foods " I can't ******* eat did you not understand that !!
" you can't be in that much pain " you try it for a week matey !!
The list could go on and on and on !!!!

I think my worst ever comment came off my husband when we were going through a big rough patch .
" I've put up with you and all your problems all these years now think of me "
PUT UP WITH !! Ass whole , as u can imagine that didn't go down too well ! An he got
around it by the old fashioned saying " I didn't mean it like that you know what I mean"

Jen xx
Just reading all that back through makes me think wow I put up with some ****** comments off ppl for too many years ! Not anymore !!
 
I agree with chrisnsteph1022. I've gotten the "Oh, you have Crohn's...I thought you'd be much smaller" comment many times. I've also gotten, "Oh, well you won't die from it, so it can't be that bad" comment. Or, I get the, "Oh, well I have back pain, so I know how you feel" comment.
 
natatak227 said:
I agree with chrisnsteph1022. I've gotten the "Oh, you have Crohn's...I thought you'd be much smaller" comment many times. I've also gotten, "Oh, well you won't die from it, so it can't be that bad" comment. Or, I get the, "Oh, well I have back pain, so I know how you feel" comment.
Click to expand...

you wont die from it?!?! ummm newsflash yes you can! i nearly did last year and it was the scariest thing i have ever been through, i lost so much blood i had 5 transfusions and the nurses on the ward were really scared for me. argh makes me so angry that people are so naive about such a serious illness x
 
You know, it is really funny. People can be so dumb about all kinds of things!! I got the same type of stupid questions when my husband was deployed "Don't you miss him?" "Are you afraid he's going to get killed?" No, seriously, I'm not worried at all that the love of my life might die! Geez. I just don't get how stupid people can be with illnesses or just anything. I guess maybe having an illness makes you not quite so dumb or you know what not to say to people about anything going on in their lives?
 
I want to punch people when they say "oh just come drinking with us, who cares if you're on medication where you shouldn't drink alcohol, everyone does it anyway."
Yes, but most of those people just have a slight infection or whatever!

And one of the teachers at college always says "my aunt had crohn's, she's fine. Why aren't you fine?"

I also get "you look amazing today! You're smiling, so you must be ok, right?" Erm, i'm just a happy, smiley person, just because I look ok, doesn't mean 1. I am ok and 2. that I don't want to punch you.
 
Have you tried (fill in the blank here)?
Or the variation
I know so and so and they have Crohn's and they did xyz and are completely better.

Yes. I have tried just about everything! Everyone's Crohn's manifests in different ways and doesn't respond to the same treatment routine. I'm the one that has to suffer through trying all of these things, so I wish people would keep their treatment opinions to themselves!

You should get a second opinion

Just because I'm not better does not mean my doctor is bad. What they don't realize that switching doctors entails undergoing unpleasant tests, rehashing years of complicated medical history and shelling out money and spending time to do all of this. My doctor works very hard and makes himself available to talk to me. With this disease, that is an invaluable quality. We need doctor's that are our advocates.

Just be positive

I know this comes from a good place, but sometimes it's hard to be positive when you're in brutal pain on a daily basis. I am going to be grumpy sometimes.

At least it's not cancer

Right. Although chronic illness is chronic illness and the number of doctors visits I go to, tests I undergo, pain and suffering that I experience, money I pay for drugs, etc., seems to be a similar experience. It is insensitive to say that one chronic illness is more pleasurable to have than another serious illness.

You don't look sick

This one is the worst.

It feels good to vent about all of this. Sometimes I just don't want to talk to anyone just so I don't have to deal with their "advice" however well intentioned it may be.
 
I have heard all of the above!
Lately everyone has been asking me if I have tried the holistic approach to boost my immune system and fight the disease. I usually say well, that would be bad because my immune system is what got me into this in the first place... Ha!
Someone asked what I take then so, I explained I take immune suppressant drugs and steroids when I flare. Did you know steroids are bad for you?!?!?! Really :0p

Lol!
 
Since I have always been a picky eater and the disease has made it worse people always call me difficult when we go out and it gets to the point where they make me uncomfortable.
"you're such a baby" ( because I always have something going on with my body)
Oh my so and so has that. They smoke weed and that cured them. No I do not and will not smoke and it didn't cure them
You take forever in the restroom.
 
Yeah, I hear quite a bit of those too. I've had some people trying to guess my weight because I'm so thin. Ask me if I've been losing weight again. Tell me that I must be able to eat anything I want. Been told that this worked for so and so maybe it will work for you.

One time when I'd been called to maybe work on my day off and turned them down because I'd been in so much pain one of the girls acted like I had made the thing up just so I wouldn't help them out and could stay at home with my husband.
 
"It's not that big of a deal." Really? You have no idea how many people have died from it nor the number that still die from it to this day or know that I would have died from it without the help of modern medicine.

Really its more frustrating or mind boggling that anyone would say such a thing.
 
Referring to my crohns - " yeah all of us get sick sometimes, but you just need to get over it. "
.. Person who said this was a qualified nurse.. Lol
 
Lotte26, after my recent hospital stay, I go back ti work and had issues with my diagnoses. My then boss tells me to get over it and get back to work. Told me its not a big deal and piled on the stress. Granted he is a nurse or doctor he was like a father ti me.
 
I got really pissed off once, i was in hospital, going through bowel prep and laxatives for endoscopy and a biopsy, in amazing pain cuz i hav tons of ulcers and people who come visiting go
"you lost 2 stone?! I need to get your disease"

Really? Really? u want ******* crohn's disease? I HOPE U FLIPPIN GET IT -.-
 
When I first started having my symptoms in 2007/2008, I had bloodwork done (no clue for what), and t he results were normal according ot the nursing staff. Then they went righ ton to say it's nothing and I must be eating too much fruit.
 
Thank you Lotte26 for this thread.

I get "But you look so good..."; "I thought crohns people were skinny"; "Have you tried..."
 
My therapist actually said this to me, while we were discussing the difficulty I am having biting the bullet and filing for disability at my Gastro's recommendation....
THERAPIST I have a friend who has Crohn's and she works and leads a "normal" life......
ME... does she **** her pants at least twice a day? Does she have to run to the bathroom at least three times an hour, does she not eat to keep from going to the bathroom, I bet her meds work for her....did you every think I am at a point where the meds have all but failed?

THERAPIST looked at me and said well you obviously don't want to work.....sigh......

ME you obviously don't UNDERSTAND.
 
i think my worst so far is what hasnt been said. A friend who i have known since...we were children..so more then 30 yrs. I sent her off an email the one day filling her in on my latest news, appts and procedures. We touch base once in a while and she always wants up dated.

As soon as i told her it was CD i havent heard from her........and when i see her out and about it, i swear she avoids me.

When i had a miscarriage years ago, she was the same way.

I realize some people dont know what to say, but sometimes not saying anything is bad too.
 
Haha...yes I've only been diagnosed with Crohn's for the last couple of months and I've already had a whole range of well meaning but frustrating comments...

' I know how you must feel...Ive had three poos today' (THREE POOS! If only!)
'Are you sure your not just stressed? I get an 'upset tummy' when I'm stressed...I'm sure it will go away soon'.
'What foods trigger it...it must be something your eating?...and then getting disapproving looks for eating something unhealthy because I'm obviously bringing it all on myself'!
'You look really well...you can't be that bad' (if only they could see my bowels!:))

So yeah all pretty annoying but I suppose people just don't understand. Every time I proceed to give them a full on Biology lesson (I am a Science teacher anyway!) Which normally shuts them up! :) Us Crohnies need to educate the world!

Current Meds: 30mg Prednisolone, Mesazaline
 
After my surgery, I was told by my surgeon that I am lucky to be alive. He was so angry that I had been misdiagnosed go so long. Yes you can die from it.
 
One of my friends is really, starting to get healthy but were only young and she is already super skinny, I swear all she eats is fruit and oatmeal, well I am on an ensure diet and she said that after i am off( one week) to try and avoid all unhealthy food and eat more raw veggies and fruits! I know she means well, but it is very frustrating. Also she is losing weight because of her healthyness and she wonders why? Huh, maybe because all you eat is fruit :)
 
When my former GI refused to believe my stricture caused a 20lb weight drop...

"I think we should up your Zoloft to 75mg and start you on Abilify...."
 
I hate it when people tell me they know someone with crohns who cured it by going "gluten free". They keep telling me to change my sons diet and he will be fine. "It's all about the diet" they say. As if crohns would be cured if everyone just had the discipline to follow a simple diet!
 

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