Crohn's & Colitis shirt and attention?

I bought one of the C&C Tees at Zazzle and I've been wearing on some occasions.

I met up with some of my old friends recently and ended up meeting some new people. Some asked about my tshirt.

Two of them said, they have family members who have been diagnosed with Crohn's and suddenly, the conversation went on and on about what this disease is about for 40 minutes until we arrived at Penn station.

The girls were in shock and disgusted by the symptoms of IBD in a sympathetic manner. And the guys were worried that I would pass it on to them. But I told them that it's not contagious. lol.

Also, the girls and boys were shocked at the fact that the causes of this disease is idiopathic and how our medicinal advancements is futile in curing such autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and Behcet's syndrome.

This took place in the train and we were unknowingly loud (after all there were about 15 of us) and I think this conversation grabbed some people's attention in the train. I didn't really want this attention but didn't mind.

Most of my friends said, "You look healthy"
It was true though. I looked healthy and more physically built than some guys. I've been bodybuilding for more than 6 years now. Off for several months several times when I was flaring though.

So my question is, has anyone experienced this? maybe from wearing the shirt?

And do you have any recommendations for other C&C Tees? Mine looks very cheap and the designer of this Tee must be a newbie.

I like the ones at Cafe Press. The material is high quality for a tee.

I have one that says "unfortunatley" in small letters

And in large letters "I've got guts."

I also have the one that says IBdarned

***Oh, it autocorrected my curse. The IBD is all capitals, of course.

Post Edited (Levi) : 8/17/2011 11:11:47 AM (GMT-6)

Cafe Press has good IBD t-shirts. I like the IBdarned one. I had j pouch surgery so I have one that says Semi-Colon ; . It's fun explaining that one!

Props to all of you for being up front and advocating. Myself, I still avoid telling people, because to most people it will just gross them out...need to get better at this dB

Just checked them out on cafe press and I like the IBDarned and Cuck Frohn's sweater.

It's definitely not an easy thing to share with people about this burdening disease. Some can be real imbeciles.

I remember, I actually ended up getting into a physical fight with one of my GOOFY friends two years ago.

He was calling me, "Wsup Crohnnie??" with some laughter. I took the name calling with no feelings and since he's my high school friend and go to same college, I didn't take it that seriously.

When he called me that.. maybe like for the 15th time? I beat the crap out of him. Although he weighs 230 and we've known each other for almost a decade, I took some initiatives. He was never close with me but sometimes, I had to hang out with this kid included since my best friend is close with him.

Thanks for the Tees. I should probably only wear them during the Crohn & Colitis walkathon, only if there is one around NYC or Long Island.

CollegeStudent said...

Also, the girls and boys were shocked at the fact that the causes of this disease is idiopathic and how our medicinal advancements is futile in curing such autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and Behcet's syndrome.

It's actually a real eye-opener to see how simplistic our knowledge of medicine is. I never realised it until I actually was diagnosed with UC but for so many illnesses (aside from the common cold) doctors still don't understand why they occur.

 We have really only begun to scratch the surface of the human body.

But most people aren't sympathetic until they have to live it themselves. I have a very close friend whom I've shared about my UC with, and even though she prays for me, it wasn't till she got a bad bout of diarrhea that she really kind of "got it".

My sister suffers from RA (sucks that autoimmune diseases are hereditary), and I never really understood her till I was living with a chronic condition myself.