I have never had a problem with acne, but for some reason, this new medicine I am on, Entyvio, has given me acne in certain areas, which is both irritating and embarrassing.  Mostly just highly irritating.

Since face wash and acne cream weren't working for me, I started doing some research on how to deal with these annoying issues from a more natural point of view. 

Based on the research I found, I have created an acne treatment, which I have found to work better than anything else!

Reducing Swelling & Redness-
with Three Simple Ingredients:

Ingredients:

• Lemon or Lime Juice:  The acid in the lemon or lime works as an anticeptic treatment as well as dries out acne.  These are both good things FYI.
• 5 mg prednisone:  This was my own addition to what I found online.  Since prednisone has anti-inflammatory qualities, I thought it would be a good addition to my treatment, and I was right!  Works like a dream!
• Neosporin or similar salve:  This part is to fend off infection and to help keep the area from drying out too much.

Directions:

1. Get a small container and add several drops of lemon or lime juice to the bottom of the bowl.
2. Drop the prednisone into the juice, let sit for a few seconds, and then use a blunt object to smash the prednisone until fully dissolved.
3. Lastly, add the salve and mix all the ingredients into the salve and apply liberally to the area.

*Only use as much salve as needed to cover the affected areas.

This solution is safe to leave on over night, but I would suggest placing a small piece of paper towel or tissue on top of the salve in order to keep it from getting on your pillow.  This being said, you can leave it on for pretty much any length of time.  

I have found this treatment to be highly effective and beneficial as I struggle with dealing with my new acne problem!  Whats ironic is I finally have a normal twenty year old problem, acne, amidst my truly not so normal life.

Interviewing can be nerve-racking for everyone.  Saying the right thing, avoiding saying the wrong thing, and making yourself seem awesome.  But as I search for jobs for after graduation, I am faced with an interesting dilemma.  Do I mention my Crohns Disease.

So Tell me About Yourself...

This is probably my least favorite question of all time during an interview, because right off the bat I have to decide wether or not to share that I live a very abnormal life.  The interviewer wants to know what you are passionate about and what drives you to succeed.  Well if I'm being honest, I am passionate about educating and helping others with Crohns disease.  And my suffering is what drives me to succeed.

In the past, I have chosen not to share that I have Crohns disease in interviews because I am afraid it will make them not want to hire me.  But recently I had someone ask me if I would really want to work for a company that wouldn't have hired me if they had known about my disease.  This really got me thinking. 

In the last interview I had, when the interviewer asked, "Tell me about yourself," I chose to include my Crohns Disease.  It felt good to give an accurate and complete picture of myself, my accomplishments and my motivation behind my accomplishments.  I left the interview feeling great.

Was it something I said?

This past Friday, I found out that I didn't make it to the next round of interviews.  I was devastated.  I had really wanted this job and all of a sudden the opportunity was taken away and there was nothing I could do.

As I play the interview over and over in my mind, I can't help but wonder if telling them I have Crohn's Disease was a mistake.  I wonder if I should have just skipped over that major area of my life and pointed out the things I am proud of...I can't help but wonder, was it something I said about my Crohn's disease that made them not choose me.I know it's illegal not to hire someone because of an illness, but that doesn't mean that it didn't effect their decision. 

To be honest, I have no idea how to handle the situation, because no one is ever going to admit that they didn't hire you because you said you have a disease.  I don't know what to do about future interviews and I feel frustrated that sharing an important part of my life could have been used against me.  

There is nothing I can do to change the outcome of the situation, so instead, I just keep on wondering.  Keep replaying the situation.  And the dread for my next interview grows as each day passes in my not so normal life.  

I have a riddle and I encourage you to delve deep and see if you can figure out the answer!  

A Riddle: 
What do girls pretend does not happen at all, and guys talk when no ones around.  Little kids find it humorous, adults think it's a taboo, but everybody does it, thats right, even you!

Yup, you nailed it, its taking a poo!  Alright, I'll stop rhyming about pooping, but in my defense, making up a rhyme making fun of pooping, was highly entertaining!  To me it is ironic that based on age and gender, we all view taking a dump just a little differently, even though we all do it pretty much daily.  

Regardless of how you feel about pooping, the nasty odor that it leaves behind can be embarrassing.  Luckily, I have found a product that naturally erases bathroom odors.   This product is called Poo Pourri and it is amazing!  

Yes this is a real product and yes it actually works.  

My Very Personal Now Sweet Smelling Experience:

To be honest, the first time I saw this product, I was at Mayo Clinic having some tests run, and I saw it in the hospital gift store.  I actually thought it was a joke and didn't believe that it could possibly mask my monumental bathroom stench.  But when I finally tried the product, it was like magic, pure sweet smelling magic!

I don't know if you know this, but people with Crohns sometimes go to the bathroom a million times a day, and by a million, I mean I go about 10-15 times a day.  

This means that 10-15 times a day I get to sneak out of the bathroom, pretending it wasn't just me who stunk up the bathroom.  It's a rough life.  But with Poo Pourri, going to the bathroom has become a lot less embarrassing.  Now I leave the bathroom letting everyone think I poop rainbows and butterflies.  Which every girl totally does...duh!

Poo Pourri: 
Spritz the bowl before you go, and no one will ever know!

Before you go to the bathroom spray the toilet a couple of times, this will coat the top of the water with natural oils.  When you take a crap, your personal stink will be locked underneath the oils.  So instead of stinking up the bathroom, a pleasant aroma will fill the stall, making you coolest pooper on the block!

This product is environmentally friendly using a secret blend of essential oils to eliminate those embarrassing bathroom odors.  It also has a 30 day money back stink free guarantee!

They have a variety of pleasant aromas that you can use to eliminate your smelly poop and every one that I have tried has worked miraculously!  My family and friends thank me for using this product, and trust me, yours will too!

Check out their website and freshen up your poo! http://www.poopourri.com/company/about/

This isn't a normal blog post for me, but I believe that I have a rather unique perspective on the issue of dating. Therefore, this post is written to women and men everywhere, but especially the ones who claim that chivalry is dead. 

It kills me to see young women lower their standards for guys, because I think these women are doing a disservice to both themselves and the male population.  Lowering one's standards is not something that women do consciously, but it starts with things like "no guy opens the car door anymore" and then all of a sudden we stop expecting the guy to "woo" us.  

It's Only Dead When we Stop Expecting It:

I am not the average 21 year old and I have not had the typical college career.  In fact, I've barely made it to my senior year in school and have had to fight very hard to stay at school.

Despite everything that I've been through, something that has never ceased to amaze me is how certain guys I have dated, have stepped up to the plate when I have become ill and genuinely taken care of me.   I am an extremely strong and independent female.  I like to do things myself and take great pride in my ability to survive, but sometimes I just can't do it on my own, sometimes I need help, and that is something I have just had to accept. I want to say that this has nothing to do with feminism and I do not in any way think that women are inferior to men, but instead it stems from real life experience and my opinions on this issue. 

I never once went into a relationship planning to get sick or expecting them to take care of me if I did get sick, but even without those expectations, certain guys, really showed their love and respect for me by helping me deal with my health issues.   Lets be real for a minute, if a 21-year-old guy can carry his post surgery girlfriends books to class every single day until she is strong enough to do it herself, don't you think every guy should be able to open the door for their date?  

And if a college guy can hook his girlfriend up to IV fluids every single night for almost 4 months, can't your date take the time to make reservations?  It's not that we can't open the door ourselves or make our own reservations, but rather when a guy is chivalrous and opens our door, pulls out our chair, calls to make reservations and pays for the bill, it shows us that they are willing to put our needs above their own immediate needs.  

The point that I'm fumbling around trying to make, is that when we stop expecting guys to "woo" us, we stop respecting ourselves and stop expecting them to respect us as well.  In my experience with an illness, guys are capable of a lot more than we sometimes give them credit for or expect from them, and if we don't expect it from them, why would they put forth the effort?

It Take Two to Tango

All this being said, relationships are a partnership; it truly takes two to tango.  What's the point of dancing if you are dancing all alone?

Despite being ill and needing help with my health.  I always find ways to show that I care in relationships.  It looks different in every relationship, sometimes it's as simple as making cookies or surprising them with a small gift.  Other times, its spending quality time together or writing notes , and other times watching their favorite sports game, means the world to them!  The point is that just as we should expect the guy to be chivalrous, he should expect us to put effort into the relationship as well, it's a two way street.

I know that personally, my love language is gift-giving, so I tend to show the other person that I care by surprising them with small gifts or buying them well though out gifts.  But everyone's love language looks different, the trick is to identify yours, and hone that skill!
  
Like I said before, this isn't my normal type of post, but it's something that I feel is extremely important.   I also have a unique perspective on the issue due to living through college with Crohns Disease in my not so normal life.

Someone the other day, told me I need to really delve into how I feel and share that with my readers.  And it's true.  Emotions and real life experiences make a person relatable to others! 
But for me, right now, sharing my feelings is much more complicated than examining how I feel.  Because to examine how I feel, I would have to feel something.  Which right now I don't.

The magical switch:
People don't believe me when I tell them I have the ability to shut off my emotions.  They think I'm exaggerating or being Facetious.  
It's as if when my heart switch is "on" I can feel everything, but there is a switch to my heart.  When things get rough with my health, I flip that switch, turning things "off."  This ability can be incredibly useful when dealing with a disease.  It helps me take it all in stride and deal with things analytically.  It means that bad news doesn't hurt and hard days are tough, but doable. 
Doesn't this seem great? But there is a downside to this ability...

It only flips one way:
...the downside, is that I don't know how to turn it back on. Sometime I go for weeks without feeling and other times its month. I have no idea when my emotions will come back on or what will trigger them to come back on.  It can really suck the joy out of life.   

Someone the other day asked me how I felt about having to go to the hospital.  I told them it was no big deal.  They didn't believe me.

Now this is what is tricky.  Because I know I didn't like going to the hospital, and it sucked, and I don't want to do it again any time soon.  But the truth is, I felt nothing.

It's Just the Unfortunate Truth
Just like the person  I was talking to about the hospital.  Most people don't think it's possible to shut off emotions.  But it definitely is possible and at times very helpful.  It's surprising how many people with Chronic Illnesses develop this coping mechanism. It's something that both makes life easier and makes life harder, but sometimes it's necessary in order to deal with my not so normal life.

Long Car Rides: Too many Bathroom Breaks

So this past weekend was my fall break and my mom and I traveled to Wisconsin to meet my new little nephew.  I don't know if you know much about traveling to Wisconsin, but it takes FOREVER!  This being said, between sleeping most of the 8 hour drive, I had to stop at the bathroom 1 or 20 times.  Most of these trips were entirely uneventful, but a couple were suuuuuper awkward.  

Everybody has awkward bathroom trips but I seemed to be plagued by them on this trip.  My favorite, and by favorite I mean, the winner of the awkward bathroom trip of the year award, was on our way back from Wisconsin.

The Cringeworthy Bathroom Trip 

So on the way back, I all of a sudden really really had to use the bathroom, and low and behold, there was a rest stop. Awesome.
No one is waiting, but all the stall doors are closed.  I have no idea if guys have this problem, but if the doors are closed, then you have to do one of two things to check if someone is in the stall...

Either you do the door push: Where you tentatively push on the door to see if it's locked and hope that someone didn't forgot to lock the door.

Or you look under the doors of the stalls by very awkwardly bending over to see if there are feet present.  

The awkwardness begins....
I decided to go with the less awkward option of checking for feet underneath the stalls.  I ducked down and the first two stalls had feet.  They were occupied.
The only problem is that I couldn't see the feet in the last stall...but I didn't really want to potentially offend the occupant by pushing on the door.  So I waited.

Strange Noises (never a good thing in the bathroom)
So I'm waiting outside the stalls I start hearing huffing and puffing.  That is literally the only way I can think of to describe the noises I was hearing.  I mean I guess she was kind of moaning too, but to be honest I was trying not to listen.  

In walks another bathroom user
As the lady is making these super weird noises, another woman walks in.  We avoid eye contact.   I very awkwardly ducked again to check again for feet. 
Nope couldn't see, but what I could see is the  look of disapproval from the woman behind me.  

Of Course she would finish first
A weird amount of time passes for all the stalls to be full and the awkwardness increases.  As I'm feeling awkward for myself, the moaning/sighing/grunting/huffing and puffing gets even louder.  There are like 5 people in line at this point and nobody is making eye contact.  
All of sudden, there is silence. Flush.   Out walks the lady who was making weird noises from the first stall.

Now my first instinct was to back away slowly, I don't know what was going on in that stall, and I don't want to know.  At that point, I took one for the team and thought happy thoughts before entering the stall.  Just thinking about it grosses me out.

I can now say I've had one of my most awkward bathroom experiences, and it was even more awkward than having to ask the person next to you for toilet paper.  And to think I thought that was awkward....

Think back to the last time an unexpected crisis affected you and how you felt at that point in time.   Maybe a family member got sick and/or died, maybe you got injured in sports or you didn't get the job you had banked on. Although all of these events are different and affect you in various ways, they all have one thing in common, they happened suddenly and BOOM, change your life forever.

In most cases people tend to not dwell on the fact that a crisis can happen at any time, instead they focus on present events and think that nothing bad will happen to them.  This is because they have no reason to think that something bad will happen to them soon and chances are, they are right.  They will likely only have mild disappointment and struggles in the near future.

But living with a severe chronic illness is different.   You spend your time dreaming about remission and waiting for the next explosion.  You do everything you can to keep things from exploding, but you know that at any moment, your body might flip a switch, and boom goes the dynamite, your world is shattered.   You can't see the fuse, but you can feel it, you know that at any moment your life might explode.

This happened to me a couple weeks ago (thankfully it was only a minor explosion).   I had gone home for a conference and was excited to be participating in events I had helped plan.  But Monday night when I got home, I started not feeling well, and I could feel the fuse.   When I started throwing up over and over, I prepared myself for the dynamite to hit.  The next day, I got up, went to my event, and started to feel the sickness hit me again.   Five hours later, I found myself laying in a hospital bed.

I spent the rest of that week getting tested for everything they could think of to test me for.   They didn't find anything and I was released on Friday, returning to school on Saturday.   But at that point damage had already been done.  I was behind on school and feeling terrible. The explosion had hit, changing the course of my life in an unforeseeable way.   

I don't know when my life will explode again, but I know it will at some point.  It's a weird way to live life, but its a necessary evil of having a chronic illness.   You hope for the best and prepare for the worst.  I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist, based on past experience, my life is capable of changing drastically at any moment, and it would be entirely naive of me to not prepare for the dynamite to hit.  Because at any moment the dynamite can go BOOM in my not so normal life.

Starting a new medication can be both exciting and scary.  A new medication brings the hope of remission.  It can also bring the fear of another failed drug and sometimes even fatal side effects.  I have been on an unbelievable number of medications and have learned that being intentional and intelligent about how you interact with your doctor in-office when talking about a new medication is crucial to understanding your new medications!

In Office Advice:

1. Just Ask!- I sometimes do not ask the questions I am thinking about a new medication, because I don't want to seem dumb.   First off, you are not going to seem dumb, trust me when I say, your doctor probably sees a lot of dumb patients and are not one of them.  The fact that you have a question about the medication means you are invested in your health and want to learn more, therefore, don't ever be afraid to ask questions.  But for real, just ask.
2. Consider your lifestyle- Remember that you are the person who is going to have to take the medication that is being discussed.  This means that if you think  the medication regime is too intense for your lifestyle,  you need to bring up that concern with your doctor.  Sometimes they can offer tips about how to best use the medication and other times you both decide that it isn't a good fit for you.  
3. Ask about Side Effects- There have been times that I did not ask about side effects of a medication and ended up having to switch medications because I couldn't deal with the side effects.   It is always good to go into the medication with all the details and unfortunately most medications have a variety of side effects.  If you don't know what those side effects are prior to starting the medication it can be scary to experience those things. So just ask, you need to know them!
4. Drug interactions- Don't ever forget to ask if the medication is going to interact with your other drugs.  Sometimes doctors just forget to look at this (they are only human) and drug  interactions always need to be considered!
5. Drug information print off:  Most doctors offices can provide you with information sheets on the drug you are being prescribed.  Sometimes these are helpful and sometimes they are not, but at the very least you are able to learn more about the drug you are about to take!
6. Previous Drugs: I have often found that the best way for me to understand the drug we are talking about is to ask "how it compares to other medication I have been on."  By asking this question I am drawing from my previous medication experience and am better able to relate to the drug.  Often this question helps me know what to expect with the drug and I can guess how my body is going to respond!
7. Other patients: Asking my doctor about her experience with this drug and other patients is one of my favorite questions to ask my doctor.  Sometimes my doctor does not have a lot of experience with the drug, and that is totally fine, but in general, she has used the drug on a number of other patients.  This means that she is able to tell me how they have reacted and give tips and tricks for using the drug.  I am a big advocate of learning how a drug has effected other patients, so this question really helps me know what to expect!

Always remember that doctor visits should be a collaborate effort.  You are the ultimate decision maker about medications, so listen carefully and raise any concerns you may have!  Just ask!

In my opinion, these are really the main things to keep in mind when being prescribed a new drug.  If you look back over the suggestions, you will notice that they all help you know more about the drug and what to expect when taking it.  
Each medication is different and how your body reacts is going to depend on your chemical makeup in comparison to the drugs chemical makeup, but the more you can know about the drug, the better your experience will be!  I never take a drug without interrogating my doctor about these various aspects and therefore am confidently able to take each new medication I am prescribed in my not so normal life!

There are very few things in life that truly last forever, you can change how you look, you can change partners, people die and families change, you can change your personality, and you can fall in and out of love. In fact, I am having a hard time thinking of something personal that truly lasts forever.  So what does forever feel like?  It's something you have probably never thought about because you've never had to. 

When I was twelve years old, I was diagnosed with a disease that is incurable.  I was told the disease lasts your entire life, but to a twelve year old, your entire life is only twelve years.   When someone says forever, you think they mean next year and growing old means going to high school.   In all truth it is almost impossible for a twelve year old to comprehend what forever means.   But forever is a very long time and as I grow older, I begin to realize just how long it is, and what that means for the rest of my life.

Forever feels impossible, it feels as if, you are climbing a ladder with weights on your back, and as you climb you see everyone else climbing past you and reaching their goals.   But the weights on your back slow you down and as you look up, you search for the end of your ladder, but you don't see it.  You keep climbing, getting more tired as you go, but no matter what you do, the end is never in sight.  When you stop to catch your breath, you still have to hold on to the ladder and hope you don't fall.  When you get too tired you fall, and your weight drags you down, and you start again.   All the while watching people pass you by and accomplish their dreams.

With a disease, no decision is short term, not when forever is at stake.  Every decision can and will effect me.   A mistake today, leads to a flare tomorrow, which leads to scar tissue next month, causing surgery next year, which removes more of my intestines, eventually leading to short bowl syndrome.  There is little room for error when you are dealing with a disease that lasts forever.   

Forever is daunting, especially for a 21 year old college student, its taken me 9 years to comprehend forever, and I am just now starting to understand it.   I suppose I have chosen to deal with forever by accomplishing the seemingly un-accomplishable each and every day despite my disease.   I work hard at the things I believe are important and learn to take what my disease throws at me in stride.   It's not easy and often depressing, but I refuse to let my forever be dictated by my disease.  I may be sick forever, but I am so much more than my disease and will never ever forget who I truly am.   So although my disease will be with me forever, and has forever changed my life and my body, I refuse to let my disease dictate "my story" and will fight to make my own "forever" each and every day in my not so normal life.