Former Made In Chelsea star Louise Thompson has revealed in an Instagram post that following years of battling with ulcerative colitis, she has been fitted with a stoma bag.
In the caption she said: ”... Hey look I’ve got a stoma!”
Describing the bag as a “new friend” that “represents life and hopefully a better one”, the public figure and author said that the stoma bag is the price she pays for a good life and added: “I say good riddance to that menacing little colon!”
She told her followers the announcement was “not glamorous”, but that she didn’t want to keep it hidden forever.
Louise was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis back in 2018 and has been open about her experience of it since. In an Instagram post earlier this year, she revealed that she’d been hospitalised following a particularly rough flare-up saying that she was going to the toilet every 20 minutes and losing cups of blood.
Until now, she hadn’t expanded on what the result of that was but the announcement today has shed some light on the ordeal she experienced.
What is ulcerative colitis?
According to the NHS, ulcerative colitis is a long-term autoimmune condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed. The colon is the large intestine (bowel) and the rectum is the end of the bowel where poo is stored. Small ulcers can develop on the colon’s lining, and can bleed and produce pus.
The main symptoms of this condition are:
- recurring diarrhoea, which may contain blood, mucus or pus
- abdominal pain
- needing to poo frequently
While this can be manageable for patients, a flare-up of the condition can bring on difficult symptoms such as:
- painful and swollen joints (arthritis)
- mouth ulcers
- swollen fat under the skin causing bumps and patches – this is known as erythema nodosum
- irritated and red eyes
- problems with bones, such as osteoporosis
What is a stoma bag?
According to Crohns and Colitis UK: “A stoma is an opening on the wall of your tummy that brings your bowel to the outside. If you have a stoma, the contents of your gut do not travel all the way through your bowel to come out of your bottom. Instead, they come out of the stoma into a bag you wear on your tummy.
“An ostomy is another name for a stoma. Some people who have stomas call themselves ‘ostomates’.”
They are often fitted once other treatment options have been exhausted and the medical team believe it will improve the patient’s quality of life.
Sam, a patient with a stoma spoke to Crohns and Colitis and said: ”[The stoma] began a new life for me really. Because all of a sudden, I wasn’t tied to the toilet anymore.”
She added that it’s given her the freedom to make plans without worrying about a flare-up and been an overall very positive experience for her.