Go your Crohn Way is, in the Scottish author Kathleen Nicholls words, a gutsy guide to living with Crohns disease and aims to ease those diagnosed with, or expected to be diagnosed with, crohns into dealing with the reality of the condition. It is not a self help guide but assures those reading that yes…Crohns sucks but that they will survive and can have a life which makes room for the condition but is not completely stopped by it.
Nicholls writes with an extremely witty tone and argues that with such a awkward illness one must approach it with humour. She notes how you end up hiding the gross side of the condition like a girl hiding a crush might and that its hard to overcome how taboo it is to discuss one’s bowels when you are ill in this.
The book reflects on how crohns is , the majority of the time, an invisible illness and therefore how it can make your pain and problems not as apparent as someone with a visible illness or disability. As someone with autism, a.d.d ,dyspraxia who also has raynauds, an abnormally straight spine and a connective tissue disease which has not yet been diagnosed I relate greatly to Nicholl’s feeling of invisibility. When I first started using my stick outside I felt self conscious using it and after being judged on a bus I got up for a mostly able-bodied old lady who wanted my seat despite my pain meaning I needed it. Another time my brother heard a woman say “I bet she doesn’t even need that” when we were at a supermarket. When you are young(twenty three in my case) and your disabilities/illnesses are not obviously visible they can be invalidated and ignored.
The book can be read by those with other conditions as when it comes down to it this guide is there to provide insight into how you can be the same you that existed before illness. That the dark can be looked at in a comical way to rob it of its negative power. That you can live with a condition like Crohns and be okay. I cannot recommend this book enough as a fellow spoonie and as a reviewer.
