Your IBD Stories - Rebecca Mckenna

Name: 

Rebecca (Becka) McKenna

What year were you diagnosed and with which form of IBD?

Diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in Oct 2014 at 15

Have you identified anything that triggers you, and if so what? 

Loads of triggers (mainly my favourite foods) which include 

Chocolate

Citrus Fruits

Apple

Fast Food

Spicy foodStress

Highlight an invisible symptom of Inflammatory Bowel Disease which you feel affects you:

One of the hardest invisible symptoms for me has to be the fatigue. I mean at the tender age of 16 or 17 "how can you be exhausted from doing normal things?" like getting dressed or walking up the stairs or even into the next room? How can you be exhausted just from the bus journey to school, after all you're just sitting on a bus right? As a result of this constant fatigue other parts of my life have been affected, mostly my academic performance & social life. I have been forced to miss school and cancel plans with friends because I simply don't have the energy to go. I'm aware that this probably doesn't sound like too much of a dilemma for those who don't have this disease, after all what teenager wouldn't love an excuse to miss school and stay in bed for most of the day? But trust me it's not all that it's cracked up to be. The hardest part of having fatigue is that people just don't understand. You constantly have to listen to 'helpful advice', 'common sense' or snide remarks from everyone around you. It's not easy to hear the same things over and over again especially from people who have never even heard of your disease, never mind know anything about it! "Maybe if you just went to bed earlier you wouldn't be so tired all the time", "You'll feel better if you eat healthier" (bearing in mind I can't eat a lot of fruits or vegetables), "What do you mean you're still sick?" and probably the hardest one to hear "Stop being lazy. You should just exercise more"

Name one thing you feel like you’ve learnt or gained since having Inflammatory Bowel Disease:

I've learnt more than I ever thought I could just from having this disease. The hardest one was realising that "friends" aren't always who you think they are. Some people who you thought were friends disappear after they find out or after you keep cancelling plans due to poor health. Some even try to avoid you because "you're diseased" and they're afraid that they'll catch it even though they can't. They lean away or take a step back when they hear that you've a disease and they think you don't notice but of course you do.

Despite losing so many people I thought were my friends, I've also gained loads of real friends who kind of understand the situation and are there for me even though some of them don't have IBD or have never heard of the disease before.

What makes you an #IBDSuperHero?

Every day is difficult living with IBD. Life is all about the little victories. You have to take each day as it comes. The biggest achievement so far for me has been joining rugby just a year after getting out of hospital and not being able to walk due to complications of the disease. Rugby is a physically intense game with a number of different ways to get injured. It is very demanding on the body and requires both physical and mental strength. It was really difficult for me due to the constant fatigue and the fact I've no hand/eye coordination (an essential skill for playing rugby) but I'm proud to say that I didn't give in to the fatigue that I pushed through it. We managed to get to two semifinals and I've every intention of returning to play next season.

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