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My name is Jasmine (Jas for short!) and I have had Crohn's Disease since I was ten years old. It was just coming up to Christmas and my eleventh Birthday, however instead of cutting cake & celebrating with friends I found myself tendered to multiple intravenous drips in a hospital bed. I had never heard of Crohn's Disease and had never imagined that something like this would happen to me. I was doing really well in school and particularly enjoyed English. I was looking forward to taking my SATs in the spring...

I was ill for a very long time before my parents and I really fully realised that something was not quite right... I just could not eat without vomiting or having to run to the toilet. I was incessantly tired and I actually don't remember a lot not because it seemed there was a type of fog in my brain (which I now recognise as fatigue). There are a lot of symptoms connected to Crohn's disease, but it is an illness that manifests itself in your gut. Crohn's disease is a form of IBD that means that you can get inflammation, ulcers, fistulas & abscesses all along your digestive tract, from mouth to anus. Common symptoms include vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea and cramps, and some people get joint problems, muscle problems and eye problems, too.

As Crohn's Disease sufferers, we go through some shit, literally. We've all had those days and nights spent writhing in pain, just wishing that it could end. We've all had those times where we've felt like a flake or like you're making excuses when your Crohn's Disease stops you from meeting up with friends or doing something that you want to do. We've spent days on end in hospital beds, hooked up to painkillers and anti-emetics and all manner of different vitamins (we have a tendency for vitamin deficiencies)... We've been poked and prodded at with needles for the entirety of our histories with Crohn's. I personally have scarred veins and nurses now struggle to get blood from the veins in my arms. One thing that all of us sufferers have in common is this: we all manage to function normally everyday through a very deliberate and specific course of treatment designed for each of our own versions of Crohn's Disease.

I despise the fact that I have to live on chemicals in order to keep me pain-free and functioning as a normal human being. I've experienced a lot of nasty side effects, too - I am currently experiencing hair loss & dermatitis and eczema from the mixture of immunosuppressants (which SUPPRESS YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM) I am on... I have tried and tested what feels like an entire pharmacy's worth of medicine. The first combination that I remember working was Budesonide (a low-strength steroid) and Azathioprine (an immunosuppressant). Since then, I have stayed on Azathioprine (so about 8 - 9 years now!) and have been through many different medications, eventually settling on Humira, Azathioprine, Omeprezole & Colestyramine to manage my illness. This enabled me to - for the first time in around nine years - finally reach remission! This means that my disease is currently inactive, but like a dormant volcano, with the right trigger, it could all come back. There is no cure for Crohn's Disease. But imagine if there could be.

The MAP vaccine is a really exciting piece of research that's being conducted by King's College, London. Testing for MAP ("Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis") has seen it show up in its DNA form in 92% of Crohn's Disease patients. MAP is proven to cause Johne's Disease, which is a type of inflammatory bowel disease affecting domestic livestock. - http://crohnsmapvaccine.com/ 

"Professor Hermon-Taylor believes that MAP is contaminating the human food chain. While it may be tolerated by most people, the consequences for a minority who are susceptible can be disastrous. A study by the Food Standards Agency this year established that the bacterium can survive pasteurisation and found it in more than two per cent of both pasteurised and unpasteurised milk samples." - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/1376695/Vaccine-to-treat-crippling-Crohns-disease-developed-in-London.html 

A specialist team at King's College are currently developing a vaccine that could give Crohn's Disease sufferers a final and finite end to their pain. If you could spare the cost of a Costa/Starbucks, then I can assure you that your money will be going towards a venture that is giving hope to sufferers of Crohn's Disease all over the globe! Whether you donate or not, please do share this page. More awareness is needed for the wellbeing of over 80,000 people in Britain alone who suffer with Crohn's.

TO READ MORE ON MY STORY PLEASE VISIT https://hildaandme.wordpress.com/

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Thank you for reading, and no matter what: stay happy!