About IBD

What is the next innovation in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)? Is it the microbiome? Stem cells? Or, is it the emerging field of bioelectric medicine?

IBD is a complicated disease to treat and can bring complications and other, related conditions. The problem is the immune-mediated nature of the disease and how it affects the entire body. For Kelly Owens, who lives with Crohn’s disease, bioelectric medicine has bumped her into remission and changed her life in several ways. Today she goes by "Vagus Nerve Girl” because she had a device implanted in her chest that stimulates her vagus nerve. For her, this treatment has been a resounding success.

Episode page and transcript can be found at: https://aboutibd.com/?p=1984

Concepts discussed in this episode:

• TED Talk: How electricity could replace your medications - Neurosurgeon Kevin Tracey
• Discovery and Functions of Acetylcholine
• What Is Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)?

Find Kelly Owens on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and on her blog, Vagus Nerve Girl.

Find Amber J Tresca at AboutIBD.com, Verywell, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Credits: Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney. Theme music, "IBD Dance Party,” is from ©Cooney Studio.

Motherhood comes in all shapes and sizes. The intersection of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and motherhood is often left out of the discussion and single motherhood and IBD is pretty much ignored altogether. That's why I asked my close friend and co-founder of IBDMoms, Brooke Abbott of The Crazy Creole Mommy Chronicles, to tell me about her challenges and her successes living with IBD, a j-pouch, and being a single mom of a young son.

Concepts discussed in this episode:

• What Are the Five Love Languages?
• An Overview of Asacol (Oral Mesalamine)
• How Does Implicit Bias Influence Behavior?
• Black Women Suffer Most From Restrictive Reproduction Policies, Study Shows
• Racial Disparities in Maternal Health May Be at a Pivot Point
• How Prince Shook Up the Music Industry
• Motherhood Unplugged on Lights, Camera, Crohn's

Complete show notes and transcript found at https://aboutibd.com/?p=1965.

Find Brooke Abbott on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and on her blog, The Crazy Creole Mommy Chronicles.

Find IBDMoms on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Find Amber J Tresca at AboutIBD.com, Verywell, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Credits: Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney. Theme music, "IBD Dance Party,” is from ©Cooney Studio.

It's one thing to talk to your physicians about becoming pregnant when you live with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. But what about getting the benefit of experiences from the mothers who have been through a pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding journey? Former news anchor and current blogger and Crohn's patient Natalie Hayden gives her experiences with pregnancy and receiving biologics, as well as how she has participated in research during her pregnancies and the benefits it offers her family.

Concepts discussed in this episode:

• What is Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction?
• An Overview of Sacroiliac Joint Pain
• IBD Parenthood Project
• Mother to Baby Studies - Crohn's Disease
• Mother to Baby Studies - Ulcerative Colitis
• Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist
• What Is Colostrum?
• Motherhood Unplugged on
• The PIANO Registry

Complete show notes and transcript found at https://aboutibd.com/2021/05/16/about-ibd-podcast-episode-93---motherhood-unplugged-with-natalie-hayden/

Find Natalie Hayden, MD on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and at Lights, Camera, Crohn's.

Find IBDMoms on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Find Amber J Tresca at AboutIBD.com, Verywell, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Credits: Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney. Theme music, "IBD Dance Party,” is from ©Cooney Studio.

We used to be told that women with IBD couldn’t have children. We were also told people with IBD shouldn’t have children.

The truth is this: women with IBD get pregnant and have healthy pregnancies and babies. We have more evidence and guidance than ever before. Gastroenterologist Dr Jill Gaidos, Associate Professor of Medicine in the section of Digestive Diseases and the Director of Clinical Research for the Yale Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Program discusses the finer points of pregnancy and IBD. When to seek help for fertility, what medications should be continued in pregnancy, and the risk of passing on IBD to children.

Concepts discussed in this episode:

• The PIANO Registry
• Conversations with Women in GI
• Updates on the Safety of Using Newer IBD Medications during Pregnancy

Find Jill Gaidos, MD on Twitter and at Yale Health.

Find Amber J Tresca at AboutIBD.com, Verywell, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Credits: Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney. Theme music, "IBD Dance Party,” is from ©Cooney Studio.

Hey, it's Amber. I want to tell you about my limited podcast series, Healthcare Disparities in IBD.

IBD used to be thought of as a Western disease. Something that happened in developed countries like the United States, Canada, the UK, and Australia. IBD was also thought to mainly affect White people and people of Jewish heritage. However, these demographics are changing, and IBD is now considered a global disease.[1]

A harmful and pervasive misconception is that IBD does not affect people of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Minority patients are sometimes told that they can't have an IBD because they are of African, Latinx, Native American, or Asian descent. This leads to a delay in diagnosis and care. In the setting of IBD, which is difficult to treat, this can lead to significant complications that negatively affect every aspect of a person's life.

In this limited series, we explore the ways in which the healthcare system is underserving minority and LGBTQ patients who live with an IBD. We cover the spectrum of this issue including the lack of research in minority populations, how cultural ideas around nutrition affects patients, how patients of color can be better supported, and how legislation can play a role.

As a long-term IBD patient myself, it's my goal to help physicians, industry, and legislators understand how inequalities affect the IBD community and what they should be doing to improve patient care.

Subscribe to Healthcare Disparities in IBD wherever you listen to podcasts.

[1]Molodecky NA, Soon IS, Rabi DM, et al. Increasing incidence and prevalence of the inflammatory bowel diseases with time, based on systematic review. Gastroenterology. 2012;142:46-e30. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2011.10.001

Credits:

Healthcare Disparities in IBD is written, produced, and directed by Amber Tresca.

Theme music, mix, and sound design is by Cooney Studio.