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Body Image Issues

Thu, November 12, 2015 9:36 PM

Hey everyone!

I've was diagnosed with colitis when I was 5 and rediagnosed with crohn's when I was 14 (I'm now 20) and all my life I've been struggling with body image issues (coupled with being raised in a patriarchal culture as a young woman) due to being malnourished and going through puberty a couple years later than all my peers (and even now being 5'4 and just slightly over 100 lbs) and since I was 15, I've had an ileostomy. It was especially difficult to cope with being made fun of for being so small and underweight in my youth (people would tease me or ask constantly if I had an eating disorder) and in high school, it was very hard to start dating or explore "young love" with both a clear ostomy bag and a teenage boy.

While having crohn's hasn't affected my romantic life at all, the constant pressure to look "average" either coming from doctors or my peers or the media has really messed with me and even after putting on a little weight and adapting to opaque ostomy bags, I still struggle with well, feeling in any way beautiful.

I was wondering if anyone else has shared similar body image problems and had any advice?

anhowert
Joined Oct 13, 2015

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