DIGESTIVE GUIDE
Trust Your
Major digestive disorders are on the rise in Canada. If you’ve got a bellyache that won’t go away, read on to find relief.
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PHOTOGRAPHY, GETTY IMAGES
BY JACKIE MIDDLETON
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OUR YEARS AGO, when Lauren*, a Toronto advertising director, experienced a spell of constipation, she didn’t stay home from work or put her social life on hold. But when two days stretched to two weeks and over-the-counter medications failed to deliver relief, the then-35-year-old became concerned. “I was having cramps and pain,” she says. “Then, it spiralled into vomiting, weight loss and nonstop bloody diarrhea. I couldn’t leave the house for a week because I was going to the washroom every 15 minutes.” Lauren’s physician booked her an appointment with a gastroenterologist, but the ordeal was far from over. “My symptoms weren’t improving, and it took six weeks to get an appointment,” she says. “I didn’t know what was happening with my body.” A colonoscopy eventually revealed she was suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
MARCH 2015 | CANADIANLIVING.COM
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