Why social media may make life easier with Crohn’s disease in Los Angeles, Hollywood or Beverly Hills
Because Crohn’s disease is a chronic ailment, many sufferers deal with symptoms for long periods of time without remission, and this can make life feel frustrating and lonely. Even with supportive friends and family, the lack of others who truly understand your predicament can make it feel like you’re all alone.
Yet tens of thousands of Americans are diagnosed with Crohn’s disease every year, and many of them are but a mouse click away. In the 21st century, many of us turn to the Internet as our first source of information when battling a chronic disease, but the web can also connect us to other people.
Social Media and Crohn’s Disease
Social media platforms are prevalent in our modern culture, dominated by giants like Facebook and Twitter. It seems that more and more social media sites are introduced every day, many of them focusing on specific groups of people who hope to find likeminded others online. As our predilection for social media has expanded, so has the variety of options available.
One such option is Crohnology, a website that caters exclusively to those who suffer from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Started by a young man who was diagnosed with Crohn’s at age 12, Crohnology’s mission is to connect the many disparate sufferers of IBD around the world, offering a forum for discussion and interaction. The site allows you to track your symptoms, meet others in your area with IBD, learn what treatments have been most effective for others and, perhaps most importantly, vent your frustrations to those who fully understand what you’re going through.
While the website is currently in beta testing, the benefits of this kind of social interaction are clear. Crohn’s disease is common, but you’re more likely to find a needle in a haystack than to meet another IBD sufferer by chance. Social tools like Crohnology can bring you together with other patients, helping you help each other by offering advice on how to live with this often debilitating illness.
It is important to take the things you learn online with a grain of salt—you should always defer to your colorectal specialist’s judgment when it comes to your treatment—but the growth of these online communities may ultimately lead to more informed and supported patients. By banding together online, patients of Crohn’s and colitis may be able to make living with IBD a much more bearable experience.
