Balancing Three Jobs with a Bowel Disease
When people ask me what Crohn’s is, I usually just tell them, ‘ermmmm it’s a bit embarrassing it basically gives you diarrhoea’, which is really stupid of me because then people think that shitting all of the time is the only problem I have. For example, I told some arsehole boy I went on a few dates with I had Crohn’s because we were going for drinks and I can’t drink caffeine or fizzy drinks and I also don’t smoke, and he was like, ‘yeah I get why you can’t smoke or drink coffee cos they make you like instantly need a shit’, but actually I don’t drink caffeine because I get acid reflux and it gives me chest pain until I puke – and I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to smoke because we have an increased risk of bowel cancer. Anyway he also told me after complaining I was too tame on a night out that I need to ‘live a bit more’, which is a joke – he was completely unaware of the extent to which I battle my symptoms both on nights out and within the three jobs I’m working each wee...