My Story: Julie and IDA

A severe Crohn's flare-up sent Julie to the ER. Crohn's disease was not allowing her body to properly absorb iron and she needed an iron infusion. That was her wake-up call to live more healthy. Watch Julie's story of taking back control.

Transcript

00:00

Always be in tune with your body. And if something is off, definitely look into it.

00:06

Iron-deficiency anemia is when our bodies are unable to metabolize and absorb iron

00:14

at an efficient level. So it leaves us feeling chronically exhausted. I thought it was normal to wake up feeling exhausted.

00:22

Pushed myself through work being exhausted, just living on caffeine. The old Julie used to love being social

00:29

and used to love going out. And I always was extremely optimistic. And it kind of took that all away from me.

00:36

Because I couldn't foresee a future. I couldn't imagine a day where I wasn't feeling exhausted.

00:43

I was only 24 when all of this happened with my first Crohn's flare. So I was naturally in denial and just thought

00:50

that I had extreme bloating. I called my doctor because of this. And he didn't like how my symptoms sounded

00:56

and how extreme it was. So he said, you know what, just go to your nearest emergency room just to make sure.

01:03

And then they found that it was a severe Crohn's flare, which involved a distended stomach.

01:09

I had extreme gas and bloating. And I had a golf-ball-sized abscess on my intestine. After they did a series of blood work, I had the bloodwork run.

01:19

And they saw how dangerously low my iron levels were. And it was because of my Crohn's disease. I wasn't properly absorbing the iron in my diet.

01:28

So I had to get an iron infusion immediately to get my iron stores back up to a healthy level. And it was a wake-up call to me when my daughter was

01:36

born that, now, not only was it important for me to manage my own health for myself, but now I had a daughter that's relying

01:44

on me to have energy and feel well all the time. Finally, in the summer of 2016, I was declared in remission.

01:52

And I have been in remission since. I have been gluten free for seven years. I have been better managing my stress.

02:00

I suddenly woke up with energy. And I was being really productive at work, and energized, and not because of coffee.

02:08

If you are diagnosed with Crohn's, colitis, or IBS, it may seem completely overwhelming.

02:15

As long as you're taking it day by day, and you take control over what you can control, there is no reason to think that you are completely helpless