What have you done when you couldn’t get anyone to take the symptoms of IBD seriously and you found yourself out of options? For Meredith, the road to a Crohn’s disease diagnosis was long and so frustrating that she wound up pleading for help from a specialist she’d never met. Going online to connect with other patients also took Meredith to places both light and dark, and she, Jaime, and I sort through our various experiences with social media as well as how we can work towards creating more hopeful content for new IBD patients in the future.   Concepts mentioned on this episode: What Are Mast Cells?: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-are-mast-cells-1944889 What Is Gastroparesis?: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-gastroparesis-1741788   Find Meredith Smolen at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShearTruth/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere282/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/been_foiled

Find Jaime Weinstein at:

• Blog: http://prettyrottenguts.tumblr.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaimeEditor
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slightlyjaided/
• YouTube: http://po.st/prKAKf

Find Amber J Tresca at:

• Verywell: https://www.verywell.com/ibd-crohns-colitis-4014703
• Blog: http://aboutibd.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aboutibd/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/aboutIBD
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/aboutibd/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/about_IBD/

  Additional sound engineering courtesy Mac Cooney, https://www.facebook.com/michaelandrewcooney/ "About IBD with Amber Tresca" © Cooney Studio http://cooneystudio.com/