Poo is dirty. You don’t talk about that. And especially not women. We all have stomachaches from time to time. And you don’t have to pretend. Thanks to these kinds of prejudices, assumptions and stigmas, Naomi Reesing (25) was afraid to talk for years about how Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) was controlling her life. This year she decided to be an example for others by opening her mouth and being honest TikToks about this taboo topic. And that has a big impact.
“I want to be the example for others that I never had myself”, Naomi says passionately when she talks about her TikTok Account. Until six months ago, she did little with her account. Every now and then she made a funny video, that’s all. Meanwhile, she suffered from a syndrome that ruled her life. But online, nobody knew. “Until one day I scrolled through TikTok and saw that people were talking more and more about taboos and personal topics. Suddenly the penny dropped: I have to talk about my Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Who knows, I may be able to help someone with it.”
I try to support them, motivate them to go to the doctor with their complaints or lend a hand
‘That’s poo’
By now, Naomi has dozens of videos where she talks about what life is like with IBS. She talks about the symptoms, gives nutritional tips and shares her own experiences. Sometimes those stories are funny, sometimes very painful. For example, her blocked intestines and bloated stomach are often mistaken for pregnancy. “That’s not a baby, that’s shit,” says Naomi with some cynicism in her voice when she strokes her belly in a TikTok video. In this way she tries to make IBS a topic for discussion and to break the taboo around it. “But the main thing is that people see my videos and think: hey, I recognize this. I have this too,” explains Naomi. “I try to support them, motivate them to go to the doctor with their complaints or lend a hand.”
That goal has now been achieved for a long time. Naomi’s videos are watched by as many as 45,000 followers and she gets hundreds of messages in her inbox every week. “Sometimes people want to share their own experiences with IBS, sometimes they ask for tips and sometimes they thank me for being so happy to finally see someone like them. That is very special. This is what I do it for!”
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Taboo and ignorance
Naomi herself had no one to turn to for advice or support. “Since I can remember I have had problems with my intestines. I always had excruciating stomach pains, hard, bloated bellies and trouble pooping.” At 14 she was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. “But I couldn’t really talk to anyone about it.” Her family members and closest friends knew about her symptoms globally, but no one knew in detail how IBS controlled Naomi’s life. “You don’t talk about poop. That is nasty.”
Ignorance leads to misunderstanding. At work she is repeatedly told that she ‘always has something’, while she is sometimes crying in the workplace because of an attack. ,,During such an attack I have to go to the toilet out of the blue. It’s like having diarrhea and knowing: I have to be on the toilet in a few seconds. Otherwise things will go wrong.” That feeling is often accompanied by extreme abdominal cramps, nausea and excessive sweating.
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Yet hardly anyone seems to understand how annoying such an IBS attack can be. ‘I sometimes have stomachaches’, it sounds all too often. And when Naomi has such an attack in front of her friends, it is mostly made fun of. “It was really awful for me. We were outside and there was no toilet nearby. I didn’t dare ring the bell. In the end I stumbled home in excruciating pain to sit there for hours on the toilet. Tears ran down my cheeks, but my friends didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. Then your self-confidence really crumbles.”
Tips and tricks
Thanks to social media candor and the body positivity movement, Naomi has come to love herself and her own body more and more. “Bloated or not, I’m really happy with myself now. I can be there,” she says proudly. The fact that she has learned over the years to control her IBS has helped her a lot. “I now know which foods or activities to avoid to prevent my stomach from swelling or my bowels from suddenly getting upset.” For example, she avoids lactose and certain types of fruit, she meditates to prevent stress – and therefore additional intestinal problems. And should she have an attack at an unfortunate moment, she is now well prepared. “With the High Emergency app I can see everywhere where the nearest public toilet is. And if that doesn’t work, I applied for a medical toilet pass. If I’m late, I can use a toilet almost anywhere, anytime.”
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Naomi has collected these kinds of tricks over the years and through a lot of trial and error she now knows how to deal with her IBS. But she also grants that to others. “I want to give people with the same diagnosis a shortcut by sharing my advice and experiences.” She is not a doctor, but she is an experienced expert who is happy to support others. ,,So if someone reads this and thinks: hey, I have that too. My inbox is always open!”
This article was produced in collaboration with The Best Social Media.
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