Is UC/Chron’s as bad as a cancer diagnosis? (Post in honor of #IBDawarenessweek)

I’m writing this post in honor of IBD awareness week. IBD stands for inflammatory bowel disease. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that term on my blog yet, so I wanted to clarify. Chron’s and UC are the two different types of IBD.

My intentions here are not to diminish the seriousness of a cancer diagnosis but to raise awareness to the seriousness of a UC or Chron’s Dx.

It was always hard to explain my disease to anyone who would ask. Usually they would already have something in their mind about what UC meant. So, they would say something like, “ and that just means your stomach hurts a lot right?” Usually, because the last thing I felt like doing was giving a pathophysiology lecture to someone not truly interested in my disease, I would just say, “yea, kinda.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.

With IBD you feel tired all the time, like cancer patients.

With IBD you are on medications that are said by medicine to help you, but also run so many risk of hurting you further, like cancer medications.

With IBD there is no cure, like cancer. Sure, major, extensive surgery could be the cure for UC, but there is a 5% chance UC will return or not work to begin with. Same story for many cancers. Remove the organ with the tumor, but there is a chance the cancer will return.

With IBD many patients are on medications that have to be infused into them weekly. Same goes for many cancer patients.

With IBD often times the patients immune system is severely diminished due to the medications taken to manage the disease, much like cancer patients.

Like cancer patients, IBD patients have to battle through the awesome (insert sarcasm) healthcare system to make sure their care is paid for and that they can receive the care needed.

Like cancer patients, for IBD patients there is truly no end in sight to battling their disease. It comes into their life and takes over, before they ever even have a chance to realize what is happening. Just. Like. Cancer.

The only thing I can point out that is different between cancer and IBD is no doctor ever told me my life was threatened by the disease, but why not? It most definitely was.