Gut Feelings: Social and Emotional Struggles with Crohn's & Colitis is a groundbreaking book that examines the inner shame and isolation that many patients experience while coping with the ups and downs of Crohn's and Colitis. It is based on more than 100 interviews with patients, parents, siblings and romantic partners. Gut Feelings describes the ways patients and their loved ones navigate Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), perhaps the most taboo chronic illness to talk about, because it involves the body's waste disposal system.
Gut Feelings dives into the realities of living with IBD. The author, who was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 16, rode the same roller coaster with the illness as many of her interviewees and so has a first-hand perspective. If you have IBD, or live with someone who does, after reading Gut Feelings, you will feel less alone with your internal emotions, more connected, and more willing to be open about your IBD. You will come away with renewed strength to contend with the feelings that naturally arise while coping with this arduous illness.
Linda Kriger researched and wrote this book after decades spent struggling with ulcerative colitis. In her personal and professional life, she hid her disease, including the urgency that made her to run to the bathroom. She went into remission for several years until she developed pre-cancerous cells in her colon. She underwent a total colectomy to remove her large intestine, and now lives happily with an internal J-pouch as a substitute. She is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism and was a reporter for the Providence Journal and a medical writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. She studied medical issues during a midcareer Knight Fellowship at Stanford University. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Jake. She has two sons, three stepchildren and four step-grandchildren. In her spare time, she reads, plays the piano and loves to cook.
" How does one move from the discovery of IBD to living with this confusing condition? Linda Kriger details an invaluable roadmap of steps and experiences that can guide one's efforts, whether parent or individual with IBD. This is a well-developed, researched book that does not ignore the emotional drama that is uniquely connected to this condition."
Christine-Kodman Jones, Psychologist Former staff member, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Department of Gastroenterology