Crohn’s/Colitis Disease Awareness: Spill Your Guts · Symptom Questionnaire · Crohn’s Disease · Colitis · Inflammatory Bowel Disease · Nutrition Info · Crohn’s And Colitis Foundation.org
The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, the leading non-profit dedicated to finding cures for bowel diseases and improving patient quality of life, launched a new public service announcement campaign to increase familiarity with the symptoms of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis among the general public. The PSAs also aim to educate people who are experiencing symptoms – like urgent diarrhea, stomach pain, and fatigue – about the importance of seeking a diagnosis with a specialist.
The Spill Your Guts campaign shines a light on these invisible diseases and starts to break down the stigma associated with IBD symptoms, which are often topics people feel uncomfortable discussing. It also tackles a longstanding challenge within the IBD community: getting an accurate diagnosis quickly.
For too many patients, it can take years and multiple hospital visits before receiving an accurate diagnosis from a specialist. There are no simple blood tests to diagnose IBD, so a correct diagnosis can require invasive testing, and eliminating the possibility of other illnesses first. Additionally, the diagnosis process is slowed down when undiagnosed patients are unaware of IBD and its symptoms, and so may ignore the early phases; or they may be uncomfortable discussing stigmatized gut-related symptoms.
The Foundation’s research has shown that some undiagnosed patients are reluctant to speak about their symptoms because they are embarrassed, or they don’t know that treatment is even possible. When patients are inspired to take action and share their symptoms with a specialist who understands IBD, they can get diagnosed and find the right treatment faster.
The PSAs were developed in partnership with FCB Health, and were generously supported by Janssen, Takeda, and Bristol Myers Squibb.