UKC

23 year-old Euan Ryan is a keen climber and adventure filmmaker at Finalcrux Films. Unbeknown to many of his friends and followers, Euan suffers from the debilitating inflammatory bowel condition known as Crohn's Disease. The first week of December was Crohn's Awareness Week, and Euan wrote a blog about his diagnosis and outdoor life ever since. Euan has kindly allowed us to reproduce the blog.

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In reply to UKC Articles:

Very brave to write that, respect.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Thanks for sharing, it's amazing what people can over come and endure.
On a side note, if it ever comes to having (and I hope it doesn't) surgery to create J-pouch/ileoanal pouch once recovered you should be able to perform to the same standards you always have, trust me

In reply to UKC Articles:

Funny this has been published, I was literally diagnosed last week. Good to see it's not over!

In reply to drewish:

It really isn't over. Not saying it's easy, but trust me, a diagnosis is the first step to getting it under control and powering on! Good luck.

In reply to UKC Articles:

G'wan Euan. Brilliant article. I can relate so much to the skipping meals thing. Not the best idea, but I think most of us Crohnies go through it at some stage.

I can also definitely understand the fatigue. I have AS too, and the double whammy of two auto-immune diseases makes it really hard to recover quickly sometimes. I'm often the one who goes straight to bed after a great day of climbing, and skips the pub or staying up late drinking afterwards, because I know I'll be useless the next day unless I get enough sleep. You have to learn what's best for your body and work with it, not try to fight it and just struggle on.

It would be great to hear from anyone who also has an ostomy and has carried on climbing (I know there are some out there.) I think that's my biggest fear: the stupid bowel making me stop the one activity that keeps me sane!!!

In reply to euanryan:

Goodstuff, cheers