A teenage girl has demanded more support for young people with bowel disease after her illness left her suicidal.
Abbie Gray, 18, sank into depression after being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, which is wrongly viewed as an older person’s disease.
There was very little specialist NHS help available to Abbie to help with the emotional trauma.
It was only thanks to Crohn’s and colitis charity, the Catherine McEwan Foundation, that Abbie was helped.
Abbie’s symptoms began in November 2020 and three months later, at just 16, she was diagnosed with the incurable inflammatory bowel disease.
As well as pain and bowel problems, the illness also affected her sight.
Abbie said: “When the symptoms started I had absolutely no energy. I had a massive loss in appetite and I got really skinny. I was being sick and felt sick and struggled to go to the toilet.
“I had spells with severe dizziness and got lots of headaches.
“I lost vision completely in my right eye and slightly in my left.
“I have been left with permanent damage in my right eye, everything is distorted.
“I had pain in my legs and it was difficult to walk, It was painful even to get out of bed and stand up.”
The symptoms can be life-threatening and require hospital treatment.
Abbie said: “I went from being an outgoing and really active person to the complete opposite.
“To be the opposite of yourself is a disconcerting experience.
“I was really struggling. There were days I barely left my bed. I felt everything I didn’t want to be, I had become. You lose all control of your life.
“The worst part was when I was released from hospital and there was no follow-up.
“I was given a life-changing diagnosis and couldn’t do things I used to do. I was just left to cope with it and, because of the anxiety and depression, I didn’t cope at all. There were days my family were worried I wasn’t going to make it through the night because I was that low. I wasn’t living at all. I was just getting through the day.”
Abbie is now an ambassador for the Catherine McEwan Foundation, helping to raise awareness of the counselling sessions which are widely available to patients like her.
Founder Derek McEwan said: “While we will support patients from all over Scotland, sessions take place in Glasgow but we plan to expand the service to other locations in the coming months.”
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