11/07/2013

There’s an episode in the first season or two of Private Practice….a  pregnant woman shows up, desperate  at a doctor’s office, because no one knows what’s wrong with her.  After a while, a concerned family member and a bunch of staff from a mental institution turn up….they’re convinced she has Munchausen’s syndrome, because she keeps losing weight for what appears to be no reason, and the tests show nothing wrong with her. The doctors settle into a conference room, where they shove around a bunch of papers for a few hours, and then conclude she has Crohn’s disease (and that she and her baby are going to be just fine. Because of course, it doesn’t matter that her disease has been completely uncontrolled and she’s lost weight rather than gained it during her pregnancy).

Another show-HawethoRNe (featuring the lovely Jada Pinkett Smith). The title character is a nursing director, with a whole lot of emotional baggage. Most of it from having to care for her mother, who was horribly ill with Crohn’s disease.

I’m sure there are more examples I’m not thinking of….but according to the media, people with Crohn’s are hysterical, overdramatic, and ruin the lives of the people who care for them.

I know that’s not true. Maybe only because I’m lucky enough to have a couple people in my life who are living mostly productive, happy lives.

But the pictures in my head are so often scary.