Rhea’s Story #findyourinnerwarrior
This is Rhea, she is a 23 year old teaching assistant from London. She has recently got into hiking and cycling; basically anything outdoorsy is a bit of her when she does get some me time. From knowing Rhea personally for several years I can tell you she is a very down to earth, kind hearted person who has always helped others. However it was only after doing this interview with her that I got see a different side to her story that I didn’t know existed.
At the age of 15 (in 2013) Rhea was diagnosed with a condition called ulcerative colitis. Now for those of you that don’t know what this condition is or how it effects people you’re not on your own. While I was interviewing Rhea she explained her condition to me incredibly well so I thought I would share her explanation with you all. There are two types of IBD or inflammatory bowel disease called ulcerative colitis and crohn's disease. Crohn’s disease effects your whole digestive track from your mouth all the way to your bottom and ulcerative colitis only effects your colon. The main symptoms of ulcerative colitis can be diarrhoea, weight loss and deficiencies due to not being able to digest food normally. This means you can be more susceptible to fatigue, joint pains, mouth ulcers, eye infections and more.
TOP TIPS FROM RHEA FOR DEALING WITH THESE SYMPTOMS: Epsom Salt Baths and eating Fenugreek (consume it raw and on an empty stomach after soaking it in water overnight) to help with joint pains.
For Rhea the worst symptom of having this condition is bloating and her weight fluctuations because of the pressure society puts on women to look a certain way and to be skinny. This has caused her to have insecurities about her body image and it is something she still struggles with. She spoke to me about how her struggle to come to terms with her body weight was not helped by social media and how at times she looks at other women and thinks ‘why am I not skinnier in this area’. However I think you can all agree from these photos that she has an amazing, natural figure and I want to highlight that women do not need to look certain way or have certain attributes to be beautiful.
When Rhea was younger and was first diagnosed with this condition she was not sure how to deal with it. She often hid it from her friends and even ended up taking actions such a eating things that hindered her condition to hide her ulcerative colitis. There was an instance where she had volunteered to help out for an event but because of her condition she had to be taken into hospital at the last minute and therefore explained she couldn’t make it. Instead of being sympathetic about her situation the organisation told her she would not be allowed to volunteer again as she was unreliable. There were times where she felt misunderstood and lonely because she couldn’t speak to people that knew what she was going through.
In 2019 she had found out that one of her younger relatives had been diagnosed with the same condition and while in hospital in December she told herself that she didn’t want her relative to go through the same thing she had to so she created an organisation called @changefdn. The aim of Change is to break all stigmas and stereotypes. This can be done by starting a conversation and educating yourself and others so that people going through conditions like these do not feel alone. It can create a community that feels supportive. For anyone wanting to know more about these topics I definitely recommend checking out the Change Instagram or Facebook page. In April 2021 she also started a joint podcast called ‘Discussing Socie- T’ (loving the name by the way) which is dedicated to talking about about issues such as IBD, dealing with mental health in a minority, being in an interracial relationship, accepting your true self and many more. Highly recommend everyone checks out her podcast, it’s not only informative but entertaining too. If anyone is effected by this story, needs someone to talk to or just wants to learn more please feel free to message @askariclothing or @changefdn and we will do our best to help.