Make an impact during Crohn's & Colitis Awareness Week. Share your #myIBD story and the challenges you face as a patient living with or a caregiver affected by Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.

IBD affects everyone, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. It can wreak havoc on your body, both in and out of the gut. It can also cause emotional turmoil, impacting one's body image and mental health.

Despite all this, the IBD community is strong. And Crohn's & Colitis Awareness Week is the perfect time to share your #myIBD story to show your resiliency while living with a chronic illness. Take any of the actions to the rightabove to share your experiences with the world to make #IBDvisible in 2018!

CREATE AND SHARE YOUR #myIBD STORY PUT YOURSELF ON THE #myIBD MAP BECOME AN IBD ADVOCATE FIND RESOURCES TO HELP MANAGE IBD

What are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis?

Known collectively as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are painful, medically incurable diseases that attack the digestive system, causing abdominal pain, persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, fever, and weight loss.

Crohn's disease may attack anywhere along the digestive tract, while ulcerative colitis inflames only the large intestine (colon). In addition to the impact on the GI tract, in some patients, IBD may also affect the joints, skin, bones, kidneys, liver, and eyes.

What is Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week?

Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week was created by U.S. Senate Resolution 199, "A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week, December 1-7." S. Res. 199 expresses appreciation to the family members and caregivers who support people in the United States living with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. It also commends health care professionals who care for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients and biomedical researchers who work to advance research aimed at developing new treatments. Most of all, Crohn's & Colitis Awareness Week is designed to bring together the IBD community around a shared goal—to raise awareness and educate the public about IBD as part of our mission to see a future free of Crohn's and colitis.

Crohn's & Colitis Awareness Week Dec 1-7

CREATE AND SHARE YOUR #myIBD STORY

Sharing your #myIBD story during Crohn's & Colitis Awareness Week is easy! Take any of the actions below to give these invisible illnesses the visibility they need and deserve. You never know — you could educate others and even show someone a vital community exists if they need it.