Category: wegener’s granulomatosis

My colon’s photoshoot

This morning, I had a very early photoshoot for my colon. And not unlike a runway model, I arrived starving for my 6am location call at the hospital Â— having not eaten for over a day. IÂ’ve had more of these ‘scopies than I can count on two hands and I must say that every bowel prep is a reminder that hell for me is not a place of fiery brimstone. Nope, it mainly involves anything with sodium phosphate (and hives, now that I think of it).

My brother always tells me that Â“every day is a good dayÂ” and while I would usually beg to differ that no day that includes a colonoscopy could be a Â“good day,Â” it was indeed for me. This was my first truly healthy colonoscopy, ever. No sign of inflammation was found for the first time since IÂ’ve been on this journey for over a decade. And while that doesnÂ’t rule out the extraneous symptoms IÂ’ve continued to wrestle with from vasculitis and extraintestinal CrohnÂ’s, this is still a big f***ing deal (for me) as Mr. Biden would say. And further proof that IÂ’ve got one incredible NASCAR team at UCSF.

IÂ’ll now pour a slightly tall glass of ginger ale and watch an episode of The Wire in celebration. My colon is apparently ready for fashion week. Bon week-end to you all.

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The $10 cure-all

Post author By Katie Clark
Post date April 9, 2012

I’m forever amazed that at the end of almost every traumatic health experience I’ve been through — heart surgery, lung surgery, anaphylaxsis, Wegener’s flares, Crohn’s episodes, knee surgery, inflammatory arthritis, etc. — prednisone is always a major part (or at least 50%) of the final answer. “We know you don’t like it, but we’re going to have to put you on a high dose of prednisone, and then taper you off.” That’s how it usually goes. I frown and get ready to be Ms. Cranky Pants Puffy Face for the ensuing 3 months.

I often joke that if I decided to shift careers entirely and become an M.D., I won’t need to go to medical school. I already know that this $10 a bottle drug seems to be the prescription for everything from asthma attacks to breast cancer. Maybe that’s why Vijay Govindarajan’s piece “Health Care for 1% of the Cost” resonated so well with me.

Govindarajan discusses the idea of reverse innovation from his book of the same title and points to several incredible examples of healthcare solutions from outside of the U.S., including an artificial leg from Thailand for literally 1% of the cost.

“In the U.S., the approach is to spend more money on major technological advances and come up with innovative products and solutions. In poor countries, the innovation paradigm is just the opposite: spend less and innovate new business models. Poor countries face severe resource constraints. They just cannot afford to spend a lot. Constraints need not be limiting, they can actually be liberating,” says Govindararjan.

Reminds me of something David Kelley (IDEO) has told us all along, “Designers pretend they don’t like constraints but it’s actually easier for us to be creative and innovate when we have constraints, when it’s more challenging.”

cancer chronic illness crohn's disease nutrition tools Vasculitis wegener's granulomatosis

Cure-all or quack remedy?

I get a lot of advice from people who donÂ’t have CrohnÂ’s disease or WegenerÂ’s about what I should be supplementally taking and/or eating Â— and last time I checked, none of them were nutritionists or doctors (she says, cynically). I know, I know…everyone is just trying to help.

IÂ’m all about the science though Â— and perhaps that is why I absolutely love this infographic (left) from Information is Beautiful around the scientific evidence for many health supplements (thanks for pointing it out Lindsey!).

View the interactive map here. And throw out that giant bottle of resveratrol already.