Gut Feelings: Social and Emotional Struggles with Crohn’s & Colitis is a groundbreaking book that examines the inner shame and isolation that many patients experience while coping with the ups and downs of Crohn’s and Colitis. It is based on more than 100 interviews with patients, parents, siblings and romantic partners. Gut Feelings describes the ways patients and their loved ones navigate Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), perhaps the most taboo chronic illness to talk about, because it involves the body’s waste disposal system.

Gut Feelings dives into the realities of living with IBD. The author, who was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 16, rode the same roller coaster with the illness as many of her interviewees and so has a first-hand perspective. If you have IBD, or live with someone who does, after reading Gut Feelings, you will feel less alone with your internal emotions, more connected, and more willing to be open about your IBD. You will come away with renewed strength to contend with the feelings that naturally arise while coping with this arduous illness.