Making friends with crohns

[fishylove]

I was wondering if anyone here has friends with crohns or colitis. If so, how did you make them? Sometimes I just feel so lonely and I just have a longing to have a friend with crohn's. Someone who will understand exactly what i'm going through and who i wont feel embarrassed to talk openly around. I know that i have all you guys and everyone else on this forum to talk to- but it just isnt the same as knowing someone in person.

I'm sure all you know that teens are very judgmental, especially in high school. it sucks sometimes. I have like 2 friends that know i have a crohns disease, and i am pretty sure they think i just have stomach problems. I want to be more open with people but its hard to tell my best friends "i know we have been friends for years but i have been hiding this from you..." The one friend who i can sorta talk to has a lot going on also and anytime we talk it turns to one of us venting out our problems. - and when i'm so stressed i feel like banging my head against the door and screaming at my fish, i dont really want to hear about how she got in a fight with her parents.

Anyway, Camp Oasis has been suggested, but that isnt really a likely possibility. Doing a ccfa walk is a possible idea, but it probably wont happen.
What ideas do you have? Has anything worked for you?

thanks

 

[valleysangel92]

Hello

When I was in school, people were very judgemental, I was undiagnosed and they saw me struggling to eat and keep on weight and assumed it meant I was anorexic, it's a horrible thing to have thing said and at the time it was devastating. Now though, I realise I am better off without those people, and most of them were just jealous that I was slim as most of the ones making comments were struggling to loose weight.

I know it is hard, but I found that your friends find out eventually anyway, or at least your closest ones do. If you feel like you want to tell them but don't know how you could maybe write them a letter explaining everything or just show them little bits of the forum. Take it one step at a time, at your own pace.

Making friends with this condition is hard, but it's more common than it seems. Maybe one day at the hospital you can get talking to someone and you'll just connect.

I usually get put in ward's with people a lot older than me. One of the times I was in I was with one other girl slightly younger than me who has crohns. And we chatted a lot and we talk now. Crohns and IBD is being reported more and more, it's slow, but awareness is starting to rise, and with awareness comes better understanding, so there is hope that this sort of thing will become far easier.

Also, I know it's hard sometimes when others offload on us and we can feel as though they are fussing over nothing, but those things are a big issue to them, it can be hard to rationalize what seems like a major drama. You must be a very good friend for them to feel like they can share that with you.

Are there any support groups in your area? Sometimes they have break off groups for younger patients.

 

[zilla7777]

I found that being open to whoever is curious really helps. Like don't just lay it out on everyone, but if someone is giving you a hard time about your weight or time off or something, just let them know. There's nothing to be ashamed about or anything. Just explain it in simple terms and I've found the response is usually quite good. Pretty much my whole extended social group knows, but it's never really brought up in conversation unless I'm really sick, or home for long periods of time. Even then, the talk is usually "Are you doing alright?" Ahah.

I know the term 'disease' scares a lot of people off, but if you just refer to it as 'Crohn's' you seem to get past that sort of iffy bit. I've also found that as you get into the later teens, people start to become a bit less immature about things, and are always there to help

 

[TiagoMorais]

Hey what's up, if u need to talk, dont hesitate in add me on facebook : /tiago.bombista , 15 yrs old, crohn's...

 

[ev_read]

I just mention it in passing, I have one friend with IBS and I found out about it when we were discussing medical marijuana (he uses it) and I said I could probably qualify for it too, and then we started going a bit deeper and found out we both suffered from similar things. It's great having someone you can be comfortable around and who accepts you for you.

 

[pdx]

i sometimes go to things like support groups or camps for people with IBD. sometimes it doesn't help that much, but i now have a few friends to keep in touch with.

and even though regular friends can't emphasize, they can be supporting. at first i was worried about opening up about my disease to my friends at school, but when i finally did they were really supportive and sympathetic, and sometimes that can be enough.

 

[E22]

yeesh, sorry. that last reply was by me. it was logged in under the wrong account. so sorry!!!!

 

[PixieGirl]

I actually have friends that admitted to me that they have IBD, and I'd be like, "Me too!"

 

[ronroush7]

Support coming your way.