{"id":13085,"date":"2025-12-02T11:13:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/?p=13085"},"modified":"2025-12-03T09:08:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:08:30","slug":"living-with-ibd-building-support-and-breaking-stigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/bladder-bowel\/living-with-ibd-building-support-and-breaking-stigma\/","title":{"rendered":"Living with IBD: building support and breaking stigma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-atomic-blocks-ab-profile-box round ab-has-avatar ab-font-size-14 ab-block-profile ab-profile-columns\"><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-avatar-wrap\"><div class=\"ab-profile-image-wrap\"><figure class=\"ab-profile-image-square\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"711\" class=\"ab-profile-avatar wp-image-13086\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/02110820\/vicky-1764673699-Victoria-Spillane_Headshot-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ab-profile-column ab-profile-content-wrap\"><h2 class=\"ab-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Victoria Spillane<\/h2><p class=\"ab-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Interim COO, Crohn&#8217;s and Colitis Ireland<\/p><div class=\"ab-profile-text\"><\/div><ul class=\"ab-social-links\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), the umbrella term for Crohn\u2019s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, affects around 50,000 people in Ireland, yet remains one of the most misunderstood chronic illnesses.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>These conditions cause persistent inflammation of the digestive tract, leading to symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fatigue, joint pain and weight loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IBD doesn\u2019t discriminate by age. While most diagnoses occur between <strong>ages 15 and 35<\/strong>, we also see a second peak in later adulthood, and cases in children are rising. This means IBD can impact anyone at any stage of life, often striking during critical periods for education, career and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-hidden-costs-and-stigma-of-living-with-ibd\"><strong>Hidden costs and stigma of living with IBD<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite advances in treatment, there\u2019s <strong>no cure for IBD<\/strong>, and its impact extends beyond physical health. A recent survey by Crohn\u2019s &amp; Colitis Ireland revealed that <strong>52% of patients experienced a flare in the past year<\/strong>, and <strong>35% reported stigma or unfair treatment<\/strong>. Alarmingly, <strong>60% face financial hardship<\/strong>, spending over \u20ac3,000 annually on care, while nearly half delayed treatment due to cost. These figures underscore the urgent need for systemic change \u2014 from expanding medical card eligibility to recognising IBD under the Long-Term Illness Scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The burden on our healthcare system is significant. Delays in diagnosis remain common, with <strong>14% waiting more than a year for confirmation<\/strong>, and almost half presenting to A&amp;E before being diagnosed. Beyond clinical care, mental health support and workplace accommodations are lacking, leaving many patients isolated and struggling to maintain wellbeing and employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>IBD can impact anyone at any stage of life, often striking during critical periods for education, career and family.<a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-call-for-urgent-action-and-inclusive-support\"><strong>Call for urgent action and inclusive support<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This week marks Crohn\u2019s and Colitis Awareness Week (December 1\u20137), an opportunity to challenge misconceptions and advocate for better supports. Crohn\u2019s &amp; Colitis Ireland is leading the charge with education campaigns, peer support groups and resources for patients and families. We\u2019re calling for investment in specialist services, equitable access to healthcare and public facilities that accommodate hidden disabilities.Policymakers must prioritise IBD in national health strategies, employers must create inclusive workplaces and the public must stand with us to break the stigma. Together, we can ensure that living well with IBD becomes the norm \u2014 not the exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), the umbrella term for Crohn\u2019s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, affects around 50,000 people in Ireland, yet remains one of the most misunderstood chronic illnesses. These conditions cause persistent inflammation of the digestive tract, leading to symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fatigue, joint pain and weight loss. IBD doesn\u2019t discriminate &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/bladder-bowel\/living-with-ibd-building-support-and-breaking-stigma\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":13087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5955],"tags":[5998],"class_list":["post-13085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bladder-bowel","tag-bladder-bowel"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/02111249\/vicky-1764673966-GettyImages-1497228824-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com\/cdn-site.mediaplanet.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/94\/2025\/12\/02111249\/vicky-1764673966-GettyImages-1497228824-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Mica Robertson","author_link":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/author\/micarobertson\/"},"vicky_category_order":[{"category_id":5955,"order":"3"}],"vicky_index_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13085"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13089,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13085\/revisions\/13089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthnews.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}