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The fastest way to improve IBD outcomes is not always a new drug. Sometimes it’s a better system and a team that can actually reach you before you end up in crisis. We’re joined by Dr. Corey Siegel, a renowned gastroenterologist and IBD specialist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, to unpack what “high-quality inflammatory bowel disease care” looks like when you measure it, stress-test it, and rebuild it around real patient needs.

We talk through IBD Qorus, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation quality improvement program that defines key standards for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis care and then tracks whether clinics meet them. That leads to a practical, patient-first goal: keeping people out of the emergency department by creating urgent clinic access, proactively supporting high-risk patients, and using better visit workflows that start with the patient’s top concern. These aren’t flashy changes, but they reduce prednisone use, unnecessary CT scans, opioid exposure, and the emotional toll of feeling unheard.

Then we zoom out to rural healthcare and specialty access. Dr. Siegel explains RADIUS, a telemedicine “hub-and-spoke” model where community practices connect patients early to a full multidisciplinary IBD team, including behavioral health, nutrition, pharmacy support, and nursing coordination. We also get real about treat-to-target, why symptoms can mislead, and how insurance barriers like prior authorization and step therapy can delay the right biologic or advanced therapy for months.

If you want smarter, more human IBD care and concrete ideas you can advocate for, hit play now. After you listen, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more patients can find these conversations.

Links:

• Dr. Siegel's podcast- Digesting: The Latest in IBD- apple podcasts
• Spotify option
• Information on IBD Qorus- Crohn's & Colitis Foundation
• Information about the BRIDGe Group

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An MRI, a phone call, and four words nobody wants to hear: “You have a perforated bowel.” Zach Koscuik was on the road to a comedy gig when Crohn’s disease forced yet another hard pivot, adding to a 25-year history that includes perianal Crohn’s, fistulas, abscesses, emergency surgeries, biologics, and three ileocolonic resections. We talk with him about what it’s like to grow up sick, manage the stigma that makes people minimize inflammatory bowel disease, and keep showing up to school, work, and life when your body is always negotiating the nearest bathroom.

Then the story takes a turn into the world of clinical trials and high-stakes medicine. Zach explains how severe disease and short bowel complications pushed his team toward an autologous stem cell transplant, a process that essentially wipes out and restarts the immune system. We get specific about the testing, chemo, isolation, and the surreal experience of being treated on a cancer floor without having cancer, plus the very real impact of insurance decisions that kept him hospitalized for 43 days.

The payoff lands with the kind of news IBD patients barely let themselves hope for: a one-year follow-up colonoscopy that comes back completely clean. We also keep it honest about what remains, including motility issues, joint pain, and the mental aftershocks of medical trauma. Zach closes with a simple challenge for the Crohn’s and colitis community: practice equal empathy, because two people can share a diagnosis and live totally different realities. If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people living with IBD can find it.

Links:

• Find Zach on Instagram
• Information on the stem cell trial that Zach did
• Stem Cell Therapy clinical trial site- Clinicaltrials.gov

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A ninth inning ballpark burger. Days of relentless diarrhea. Then blood. John Capodilupo’s ulcerative colitis diagnosis didn’t arrive slowly, it hit like a truck, and it sent him into a crash course on what living with IBD really demands. We talk through the early fear and uncertainty, the 28-day hospitalization, and the chaos of juggling treatment while also battling infections like C. difficile and CMV colitis. John also shares his experience with fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) for recurrent C. diff and why the microbiome still feels like one of the biggest unsolved stories in gut health.

From there, we connect the dots between health data and better decisions. John helped build Whoop, the wearable built around continuous physiological tracking like heart rate variability and sleep, and he explains what longitudinal data can reveal about stress, recovery, and early warning signs. We dig into how sleep disruption and subtle body signals can show up before you’re sure whether you’re flaring or just paying the price for Taco Bell.

Then we get into Throne, the smart toilet monitoring system John now co-leads as Chief Product Officer. Throne clips onto the toilet and uses computer vision and sensors to track stool and urine trends passively, aiming to reduce guesswork, improve symptom recall, and open the door to research like flare prediction, medication durability, and future screening signals such as blood detection for colon cancer. We also cover the “real life” questions: multi-user households, cleaning, cost, and a privacy approach built around de-identified data and opt-in research.

If you’re curious about ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, IBD tracking, gut health technology, or the future of smart toilets, listen now then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review.

Links:

• Throne's website
• Fun article about the founding of Throne
• Buy Throne for $50 off! or use code ListenToYourGut

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Sara Herring lived with stomach pain so long she thought it was just life, then at 21 she finally got the word that changed everything: Crohn’s disease. Sara joins us for a raw, funny, and unexpectedly tender conversation about what it’s like to be dismissed as a kid, spend months chasing negative tests, and reach the point where you’re writing goodbye letters because you’re not sure you’ll make it.

Sara walks us through the turning points of her IBD journey, from the relief of being believed to years of medication trial and error that end in a surgery she never expected. We talk about how chronic abdominal pain can become so “normal” you don’t even notice the ways you’re bending, bracing, and shrinking your life around it, and why learning to describe pain can be a powerful tool for self-advocacy with doctors.

Then we shift into the practice that helped her reclaim her life: a bucket list book that’s part scrapbook, part journal, part proof that small moments matter. We dig into presence over perfection, creativity, therapy, boundaries with social media, and the complicated truth about remission, including the guilt that can come with feeling better while others are still in the fight. If you’re searching for Crohn’s disease support, IBD mental health tools, or hope that doesn’t ignore reality, this one’s for you.

Subscribe for more real talk, share this with someone who needs it, and please leave a rating and review so more people in the IBD community can find us.

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Five years post J-pouch surgery sounds like a finish line, but our bodies do not read the brochure. We’re together in person for a live catch-up with our favorite recurring guest and IBD Registered Dietitian, Stacey Collins, and we get real about what changes with time and what still blindsides you when you live with a J-Pouch after IBD.

We talk through the wins that matter most day to day: more capacity, less urgency, and the quiet joy of doing normal things without panic, like waiting in line, taking long road trips, hiking, skiing, and traveling. Then we dig into the stuff patients whisper about but rarely get warned about, especially gas pain. We break down what it feels like, why it can block emptying, what actually helps (yes, including “toilet yoga”), and why travel, altitude, fasting, dehydration, carbonation, and food additives can make symptoms spike.

We also cover the scary gray zones: when symptoms feel like a Crohn’s flare but turn out to be SIBO, why antibiotics may be part of J-pouch life, and how to rebuild the gut microbiome afterward with food you can tolerate. Finally, we get blunt about the “surgery is curative” myth, the need for ongoing monitoring (iron deficiency anemia, B12, folate, fatigue), and what better post-op care should look like, including pelvic floor physical therapy and honest expectations at 3, 6, and 12 months.

If you found this helpful, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review. What’s one thing you wish your care team had told you before surgery?

Links:

• Stacey's website- sign up for her waiting list, find resources
• Stacey's additives guide
• Stacey's oral rehydration guide
• Info about SIBO- Mayo Clinic
• Info about the ENIGMA Study- National Institutes of Health
• Info about the ENGIBMA Study from Stacey's website

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The word “surgery” can feel like a threat when you’re young and already worn down by Crohn’s disease. Michael Morgan, author of *The Secret Life of Crohn’s*, joins us to talk about being diagnosed at age 10, cycling through medications, and living with the kind of urgency that forces you to plan every minute around toilets, school schedules, and the fear of being noticed. We get into the part people don’t always see: the constant anxiety, the shrinking world, and how much mental energy IBD can steal long before anyone calls it mental health.

Michael also shares what it was like to hear ostomy surgery discussed as a teenager, the misconceptions that fueled his fear, and the moment he realized life on the other side could be bigger than the life he was trying to protect. We talk about the adjustment period, confidence building, and why so many people with ostomies describe freedom and relief once their disease is under better control.

From there, we dig into practical realities: asking schools for accommodations, using tools that make bathroom access easier, staying on top of Crohn’s management even after major surgery, and navigating rare symptoms like inflammatory disease in the mouth. And yes, we go deep on travel with an ostomy, including packing supplies, hostel bathrooms, and the small “tricks” that make big adventures possible.

If you’re facing a big treatment decision, supporting a child with IBD, or trying to make your world bigger again, this conversation will meet you where you are. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who needs a little more hope and a lot more real talk.

Links:

• More of Michael's Story- Crohn's & Colitis UK
• Order Michael's book
• Article about Michael and his book- Hackney Citizen
• Traveling with an ostomy- United Ostomy Association

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Medical care can be doing everything “right” and you can still feel wrecked, anxious, and trapped in a never-ending cycle of symptoms, appointments, and fear. That gap is where GI psychology lives, and it’s why we wanted Dr. Anna Katherine “AK” Black. AK is a licensed clinical health psychologist at GI Psychology, with a focus on gut-brain therapies, trauma-informed care, and medical fatigue in chronic illness.

We get into what clinical hypnosis actually is (no stage tricks, no mind control) and why gut-directed hypnotherapy has decades of research behind it for GI conditions. AK explains the gut-brain connection in plain language, including how stress can hijack the system, how visceral hypersensitivity turns the volume up on sensations, and why you can’t just tell your gut to “calm down” with conscious thoughts alone. We also talk about how fear and pain overlap, and why techniques that shift the nervous system toward parasympathetic regulation can change real physical symptoms.

Then we name the thing so many people feel but rarely hear described: medical fatigue. If you’ve ever canceled yet another appointment, struggled to keep up with meds and procedures, or felt judged as “noncompliant,” this conversation puts words to that burnout and offers practical next steps. We also cover trauma-informed care, what providers can do with better language and screening, and why integrated teams work best. AK shares resources and explains the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation partnership group that combines community with skills like CBT and hypnosis.

Subscribe for more real talk about living with IBD, share this with someone who needs it, and please leave a rating and review so more people can find the show. What part of the gut-brain story hit closest to home?

Links:

• Join the IBD Psychotherapy Group
• Info on Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy

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A Crohn’s diagnosis at eight can shrink a kid’s world down to fatigue, fear, and the nearest bathroom. Nicole Thornton took that same reality and built something bigger: community, advocacy, and a blueprint for how young people with IBD can lead without pretending it’s easy.

We talk through Nicole’s early health journey and the moment Camp Purple Live in New Zealand changed everything by giving her friends who truly understood Crohn’s and colitis. From there, Nicole shares how she petitioned the New Zealand Parliament at just 12 years old to improve toilet access for people with inflammatory bowel disease and other urgent health needs, and how that effort evolved into the “I Can’t Wait” campaign where busin

esses voluntarily welcome patients to use staff bathrooms. We also dig into the everyday stakes behind “bathroom access” and how stigma and public accidents can shape mental health, confidence, and relationships.

Nicole also brings a global lens from her work with the International Federation of Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis Associations (IFCCA) youth group, including what she’s learned about medication access, healthcare funding, and how different countries support young patients. Finally, we get into why she’s studying nursing, how small acts of care can change someone’s life, and what it takes to balance advocacy, school, work, and chronic illness without burning out.

If you care about Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic illness advocacy, bathroom accessibility, or patient leadership, hit subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a rating and review so more people can find the show.

Links:

• Camp Purple Live- Crohn's & Colitis New Zealand
• IFCCA- Youth Group
• Article on Nicole's NZ parliamentary efforts
• Story on CCNZ on Nicole's trip to Brussels

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