Inflammatory bowel disease: ‘I remember being in primary school and thinking maybe if I skip breakfast, my stomach won’t hurt’Emily Farrell: 'I try to stick to non-processed foods in my diet and I take vitamin D, vitamin C and iron supplements.'
I visited Singapore to see why it is ranked as the top education system in the world. Here’s what I learned And while efforts to replace ultra-processed foods with wholefood diets could arguably be part of a wider strategy to reduce the incidence of IBD – and other chronic conditions – the Mediterranean diet, which has high amounts of fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, lean meats, fish, nuts and pulses and Omega-3 fats , can also be part of the treatment for the condition outside of flare-ups.
Further tests, including an endoscopy at CHI Crumlin, resulted in a diagnosis of colitis for Emily. She was put on medication to treat the condition, which worked for a number of years. “It completely changed my life. But, five months ago, I changed to a new injectable medication because I was fatigued and my eczema got so much worse. Now, I have more energy and my skin is better,” she says.
Emily remembers how as a teenager she experienced an exacerbation of her symptoms: “I had a flare-up when I was 14 and was admitted to hospital where I very narrowly escaped having to get a colostomy bag.” She completed her degree in business, marketing and law in 2023. There are two specific tests that GPs could use to fast-track patients needing urgent referral. These are the faecal calprotectin test which monitors the enzyme calprotectin. Photograph: Getty Images