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Life

  What are lectins? Lectins are a type of protein found in many foods, but which are difficult to digest. One of the Lectins most people have heard of is Gluten. They are a kind of built-in defence system for plants to make themselves less appetising to animals that might eat them. Also, their seeds (due to the lectins in them making them indigestible) can pass through the animal or birds digestive tract unaffected, so the animal/bird can become a good means of dispersing the seeds far and wide. Some would term lectins as an “anti-nutrient” due to the attention they have received through popular media citing lectins as the cause of obesity, chronic inflammation, GI problems, leaky gut syndrome,...

“When I grow up, I want to do something that helps people” that is what I used to say to my young self. I did not know exactly what that would look like, never imagined it would be in the form of support wear, but here we are. It started with Sportswear The original Comfizz established 1998 was a sports and Leisure wear company, one of the first to bring ‘performance base layers’ to the UK. My husband, Nozar, ran the company initially from home with just one designer to help him. Then came the bowel disease The Comfizz you see today specialising in medical support wear emerged in 2004 when my dad Ernie, who had been battling with Ulcerative...

Today is world mental health day and I just want to say I am not okay. I don’t need to share with you pictures of me at my lowest because that was last year and I managed to write to you all every week and pretend everything is okay. That’s what we do isn’t it? Fake it till we make it? Social media is full of unhappy people trying to make other people think they are happy or that their life is perfect. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Take my life for example…. If you take out the fact I’m ill give or take always have been and will always be ill, the fact 00Steve is always...

Tomorrow is World Ostomy Day and I just wanted to take a minute to talk about what it has been like for me over the last 4.5 years of having a stoma both the good, the bad and the ugly. This is by far my favourite image because falling pregnant with Button was just such an uncertainty especially after losing Bean just a few months before; knowing I could get to this stage in pregnancy was so amazing and also terrifying as anything can happen with pregnancy.  My ileostomy has given me so many opportunities that I couldn't have dreamed about such as: falling pregnant twice even if Bean didn't make it they gave us hope being able to run...

So I have mentioned before that I may have to have further surgery on my ileostomy as it has retracted a fair bit and causes me a lot of hassle in my day to day like which is draining mentally and physically. This was originally mentioned back in November last year and was only briefly touched upon as due to surgical emergencies my appointment was running really late and I had to catch a bus. I have been ruminating on this since then and I was originally supposed to have had an appointment at the beginning of March to discuss everything. As we all know far too well the global pandemic of COVID – 19 happened and soon put a stop...

I spent a very long time being poorly and adjusting to life from a preteen being exhausted and thinking about where the nearest toilet was. Most people that now have an ostomy for whatever reason I’m sure have experienced that as well. Even though after my first surgery I had a little bit of remission I wasn’t able to fully enjoy my life as I went from having constipation to diarrhoea. I wanted to appreciate some of the things I can do now with toilets being the least of my worries!     Enjoying time with my kids; okay so Button came along after my ileostomy but Ra-Ra didn’t and she didn’t have much of a mum for those 2.5...

Pet therapy is a well known concept and I wanted to talk about how it has had a place in my life and to introduce my new dog Kobe! So I have worked in health care in a variety of settings for all my adult life and I have seen first hand how this kind of therapy can help many people be distracted from the pain they are in. Around the time that I started getting sick my parents got our dog Maxie she was a much loved little tart who loved a belly rub; she was never going to be a good guard dog although being a yorkshire terrier cross jack russell she knew how to bark. She used...

My opinions on my surgeries have changed over time and I certainly don’t feel the same way about ostomies as I did 12 years ago. Why 12 years ago? Well that is when I went in for my first bowel surgery and at 21 years old I had no idea what a stoma was, let alone there was the chance of having one.  The surgeon I saw decided he could do the jpouch surgery in one fell swoop which give him his due he did do and I often think now but at what cost? My newly formed pouch wasn’t given a chance to heal by not having the ileostomy which would have been a temporary measure. This popped up...

Tuesday 19th May is World IBD Day. With this coming up, I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about Comfizz and the impact they have made on my stoma journey. How I got my stoma At age 7 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Crohn’s Disease can be anywhere from your mouth to your bum, but a lot of people typically have it in the small intestine. This was where it was diagnosed with me. Being scared as a young child of having scopes (endoscopy/colonoscopy & I still am now, I can just push myself through it), I didn’t undergo tests to keep an eye on things as frequently as you maybe would with an adult with bowel...

Last year I chose to speak only about one special woman and it was our very own Lorraine but this year I have decided to change it up a bit and talk about some women within the ostomy world who aren’t just ladies I have the privilege of calling my friends but they are the epitome of strength and resilience. They each have their own vulnerabilities of which they share with the whole world via their social media channels. So without further ado here they are: Amy – @ibdwarriorprincess  Amy is my fellow blogger here on Comfizz and is the first person to check in when my mental health isn’t that great. She has Crohns and an ileostomy; her blogs were some...