I was young when I was told I had ulcerative colitis. From then on, medication was simply part of my life. I took it year after year without really questioning it. That was just how things were. I worked hard, studied a lot and, above all, looked after everyone but myself. My own body came somewhere near the bottom of the list. As a nurse, I was used to pushing through. Symptoms were part of the job. Resting was not.
During an appointment with the gastroenterologist, I was told that food would make no difference to my symptoms. That stuck with me. Not only because it was said, but because deep down I felt this could not be the whole story.
I was pregnant at the time. And suddenly it was not just about me anymore. I wanted to do something for my child and for myself. Not to keep hoping it would be fine, but to actually understand what my body needed.
My search led me to a different way of looking at gut problems. Not about suppressing them, but about cause and connection. For the first time, I took an honest look at my lifestyle. At what I was eating. At how I worked. At how little space there was for recovery.
My diet turned out to be anything but supportive. Gluten, sugar and processed food had been the norm for years. Step by step, that changed. Not because it was easy, but because it finally made sense.
The scariest part was coming off the medication. I had been on it for fifteen years and knew nothing else. Even so, I felt my body grow calmer. Steadier. I started trusting what I felt, rather than what I had always done.
Today I am a mum of two boys. I still work as a nurse, but I see it all completely differently now. I carry the things I have learned with me every day. Not as a gimmick, but as a foundation.
What I have learned is that health is not a one-off decision. It takes attention, honesty and keeping at it. But it gives back something priceless to me: calm, trust and control over my own body.
