Hey y'all! I'm Brittanee, I'm seventeen years old, and I have Crohn's disease. I've had it for almost eight years. It's been a long battle, but I don't think I would change a thing. I remember it like it was yesterday...

I was getting ready to go to a Christmas program with my parents, my friend, and her parents. As I was getting dressed, my mom noticed that I looked a little on the skinny side. I looked in the mirror, but didn't think anything of it. I just thought, That's how I've always looked, isn't it? I went back to what I was doing, but couldn't help but look at myself in the mirror again. How had I gotten so skinny? When did this happen? I started to get really worried, but my mom and dad told me not to worry about it too much. So I didn't.

A couple of weeks later, I started having really bad stomach pains and diarrhea, and couldn't keep anything I ate down. My dad even went so far as to force-feed me, but it just wouldn't help. I later went to my pediatrician. He took one look at me, and heard my symptoms, and he knew right away that it was probably Crohn's. They did some tests, all that diagnostic stuff, and confirmed that I had Crohn's disease. I felt completely out of the loop at that moment. I remember thinking, What the heck is Crohn's disease? I was rather confused. Didn't know what it was. My pediatrician recommended I go to a gastroenterologist and have things looked at. They did the whole upper GI with the oh-so delicious barium drink, the endoscopy, the colonoscopy. Afterwards, they finally officially diagnosed me with Crohn's disease. I was immediately put on Pentasa and Imuran. They helped a lot for the first couple of years, considering I have a pretty mild/moderate case of Crohn's :)

Seven years later, I'm feeling great. I'm at a healthy weight for my age. No joint pain, no weight loss, NO SYMPTOMS! I'm on Methotrexate right now, and that has done wonders for me. I've also done some things on the SCD diet. All in all, I've been helped in every possible way. To anyone living with Crohn's disease or UC or any other IBD, I have only one thing to say: it lives with YOU, you don't live with IT. Show that Crohn's who's boss!!! :)