Hi everyone, The title of this thread says it all, and I'm really just trying to connect with others and get advice/share about having a chronic disease that effects a gay sex life. In 2011, I was diagnosed with crohns disease - severe inflammation of the large intestine. There is no known 'cause', but research links genetics and environmental factors. While a less mainstream approach suggests diet. What research does know, is that our immune system produces antibodies to fight off infection of potential pathogens in our system, but somehow, the antibodies are mistaking good gut bacteria as something that needs to be killed, which creates consistent inflammation in the gut. Like a broken sensor that never turns off, or like a high fever, because you're body is always thinking it needs to fight something. For years, I had little stomach issues that my mom never took seriously, until I started noticing blood in 2011. All hell broke loose with severe bouts of diarrhea with blood loss, pain, weight lost, malabsorption, etc. Just imagine having food poisoning, every single daily of your life. That is what crohns disease or ulcerative colitis is. I never lost my appetite, but after doing many tests, I found eliminating wheat/gluten, and dairy has done me well. Lots of curcumin (turmeric) and aloe vera juice. Anyway, I feel blessed that I've managed to keep my disease at bay through dietary changes, supplements and medicine when necessary. Doctors will never insist on diet. Imagine how many people might be healed if they gave their body what earth actually created for it, instead of shoveling out $ for prescription medicine that merely masks the issue, but fails to get to the root of the problem. I'm 23, I was diagnosed at 21 and have only been active twice with two different guys (short term) since then. My fears of ever being with someone again were squashed since conquering those feats, and I was delighted. But!... My problem, is that I really enjoy bottoming. I want to be versatile, top, bottom, whatever. I enjoy it, and I'm doing the best to give my body what it needs so that I can heal, but I'm very nervous about bottoming. After all, my anus has dealt with a lot of the last few years, blood, pain and a lot of shit. To be completely honest. I want to know if anyone else is going through something similar, with IBS? Crohns/Colitis? etc Appreciate all of the helpful advice, Happy Holidays.
Hi Zion, The illness sounds a real pain (if you excuse the reference). I hope you can improve things in 2014. I do not know it myself, but I do know a few guys on EC that have it and I am sure they will answer your post. Best wishes...
Hi Zion, I've been registered here for a few weeks, but I read your post and felt I had to respond. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2007 (aged 19), and I completely understand your worries. My boyfriend at the time was more understanding than most. His sister was a doctor and he was able to ask her question after question. Like you, I enjoyed bottoming. I was terrified of what might happen when we had sex, and considering I was tired a lot, sex gradually diminished. What changed for me was realizing that my boyfriend loved me all the same. That was such a confidence boost. I was still able to bottom and have fun! It's all about how you approach it. As long as you look after yourself (which it sounds like you are doing ), then things should go smoothly. I worried myself stupid over it, and in the end came to the conclusion that my health was the number 1 priority. I learned to adapt to the situation. Stress can make things worse, so...don't stress! (at least too much). I hope this helps somewhat, and feel free to ask more questions!
Two of my close friends have Crohns and yeah it can get in the way of their life. But they live with it they just avoid certain things like drinking too much too often etc. If someone I was dating had it I wouldn't let it get in the way. I have no idea if it will affect your ability to bottom, but as far as I understand Crohns affects the intestine, so maybe it doesn't affect the anus
Hi, I've known several people with crohn's. I know two who have had extremely good success in treating it using nontraditional methods; feel free to PM me if you want more info and I can share with you. You may want to read Gabor Maté' MD's excellent book, "The Body Says No", which talks about Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, and a number of other of diseases, and talks about emotional/psychological co-factors or correlations. His work is pretty meticulous in citing well-regarded studies, and his approach to these conditions. This condition, although poorly understood by modern medicine, has responded very well to a number of non-traditional approaches. As far as partners... I think as long as you explain what's going on, and take care of yourself, your partner will be able to look past that issue and it shouldn't affect you. You may also want to search our archive for the username "KaraBulut" and the keyword "Crohn's" because KB was our medical expert for a number of years and I'm near certain he wrote about Crohn's at least a couple of times with good information.
I don't have Crohns but my ex is a parasitologist and said that apparently a tapeworm can all but cure some people because they secrete like a localised steroid to stop the immune response in the gut from eliminating it, and therefore also stops the intestine attacking itself. Trouble is getting one safely! We evolved with intestinal worms and studies suggest that our bodies can struggle without them and hence allergies and diseases like Crohns occur.
I have crohn's disease. It gets better as you get older I'm 18 and have had it for 3 years. Eventually after failed experimentations with medication I found one that works. I was lucky as I was diagonalized early as I twice shitted blood. Also work on your diet, since I've come to university eating cheap crap has help me a lot. I have has a bowel acre for three years non-stop, probably enough to stop some people from going to work but you get use to it. I would just experiment with being a bottom, but if you can't do it, you can't do it. Hopefully you will have an understanding boyfriend.
Thank you all so much for the responses, really, this is just what I was looking for. And I hope I didn't offend anyone with negativity regarding conventional vs. alternative medicine. Greenhoudini, thanks for sharing your experience with your accepting boyfriend, glad things have worked out for you. Chip, I will look into reading The Body Says No. I think there must be some correlation of stress/anxiety/emotional trauma to the second brain (the gut). Thanks again.
It's nice to see there's other people with IBD on this site. I've never had anal sex, but I know it's always a good idea to talk with your doctors about these things, however I think you should consider other sexual activities if you have Crohn's in your anus. I was diagnosed with Crohn's when I was 17, and it has seriously screwed my life over. I'm even one of the few unlucky ones that has been given an ileostomy... this summer, after a extremely bad flare-up that steroids didn't work on..
