Five Things I've Learned from Ulcerative Colitis

Written by Jon Paladini

Being diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) before the age of three meant that I was born into an existence that harbored pain, anxiety, and uncertainty about the future. My norm was almost always abnormal. Because I had no understanding of what that “normal life” felt like, I tried to carry on with life as best as I could. This was all while dealing with the negative effects of the disease and also the occasional mismatch between my physiology and cocktails of drugs.

Steroids, low-dose chemo, hospitalizations, infusions, and injections were, and are, all a part of my life. They are the required steps necessary for betterment and sometimes those steps led me to the wrong place before I got to where I needed to be. Other times, the stable ones fell out from underneath me with no notice. I have accepted that by having this condition, it will define me in both bad and good ways. Saying something won’t define you is already the nascent stage of a new definition; one which only came about because of the initial catalyst - in this case, Ulcerative Colitis. I am many things because of these experiences. Here’s what I’ve learned and want to pass on.