Читать книгу The Good Gut Guide: Help for IBS, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, Diverticulitis, Food Allergies and Other Gut Problems - Stephanie Zinser - Страница 6

When I first started suffering with proctitis in 1987, I was told it was a mild and localized form of ulcerative colitis, which was very unlikely to become serious or ever result in major surgery. Unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky few and 11 years later my entire large bowel was removed during a complex and lengthy operation.

It was very painful but, at the age of 34, I was more concerned about the prospect of wearing a ‘bag’ for the rest of my life. I mistakenly believed I’d have to wear baggy clothes and would never be able to enjoy scuba diving, swimming, or even lying on a beach again. However, I was given an ‘internal pouch’ instead. This involved reconfiguring my intestines to make part of my small bowel into a reservoir for digestive waste, meaning that I could continue to ‘go to the bathroom’ almost as normal. I thought it was great (despite a few practical limitations and the odd bout of ‘pouchitis’) – not only did it enable me to live without self-consciousness, I was finally free of my UC. I was bursting with energy and enthusiasm.

Having spent the better part of 10 years explaining my illness to people, I was amazed at how taboo the subject of bowels was. We seemed to be at the same stage of ignorance and silence that breast cancer sufferers were 30 or 40 years previously – when women were too ashamed to go to their doctor with a breast lump and when they, quite literally, died because of their embarrassment. But look at how all that has changed – with massive health and charity campaigns raising public awareness of this terrible illness.

I wanted to see the same revolution for sufferers of bowel diseases. So, just days after leaving hospital, I made an impulsive call to the Daily Mail’s Good Health Editor at the time, Rory Clements. Despite having never written for publication before, I offered to write him an article on my experience. Amazingly, he took up my offer and the full-page feature was duly published in March 1998. It marked the start of my efforts to take the taboo out of bowel illnesses.

So why write this book now? For the same reasons I made that phone call. Statistically, you are more likely to be killed by a donkey than not suffer with some gut-related problem at some time during your life. Many gut problems – including bowel cancers – are more easily and more successfully treated when they’re picked up early. Taboos often prevent people from addressing problems until they are just too big and too serious to ignore, by which time it may be too late. Talk destroys taboos. Information saves lives.

I hope this book will help us to destroy the taboo, and enjoy good gut health.