{"id":631426,"date":"2026-04-26T05:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T05:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/631426\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T05:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T05:35:14","slug":"crohns-disease-diagnosis-doctors-told-teen-with-incurable-disease-to-just-lose-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/631426\/","title":{"rendered":"Crohn’s disease diagnosis: Doctors told teen with incurable disease to ‘just lose weight’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Amelie Russell, 21, has been living with an incurable disease<\/a> since she was a child but doctors refused to diagnose her for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

First they said her stomach pain was from something she’d eaten, then that it was caused by stress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When she hit puberty, they claimed her period or weight<\/a> was to blame.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"AmelieAmelie was just a child when the mystery symptoms first started. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The truth is that the Russell had been living with undiagnosed, untreated \ufeffCrohn’s disease for years.<\/p>\n

Crohn’s is a form of \ufeffinflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an incurable condition \ufeffthat affects about 180,000 Australians.<\/p>\n

Common symptoms include diarrhea, stomach pain, bloody stools, unexplained weight loss and fatigue.<\/p>\n

These \ufeffsymptoms can be debilitating but about one in three Aussies with IBD wait over a year for diagnosis, according to Crohn’s and Colitis Australia (CCA).<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Vanja went in for a routine procedure and woke up with cancer\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Nikki’s been keeping a six-figure secret for nearly a decade<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE: Mum of twins hit harrowing ‘rock bottom’ weeks after arriving home<\/a><\/p>\n

\"DataData from Crohn’s and Colitis Australia shows more that 10 per cent of patients wait five years for a diagnosis. (Graphic: Polly Hanning)<\/p>\n

One in ten wait more than five years \u2013 just like Russell, who struggled to get doctors to take a young woman with vague gastrointestinal symptoms seriously.<\/p>\n

“They just downplayed it every time,” she told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

She was about six the first time she \ufefflanded in the emergency department with mystery stomach pain and was told there was nothing wrong with her.<\/p>\n

Doctors said the same thing the next time she went to hospital, and the time after.<\/p>\n

The pain got worse as she got older but medical professionals just kept dismissing it and finding new ways to explain away her symptoms.<\/p>\n

“They said, ‘it’s probably just your period, you should go on the pill and see if that’ll work,'” Russell claimed.<\/p>\n

\"WhenWhen she hit puberty, doctors started to tell Russell her period was the problem. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Multiple doctors told her to \ufeff”just lose weight and see if that will help”.<\/p>\n

“I was already getting bullied in high school for being a little bit on the heavier side,” Russell said.<\/p>\n

“Having doctors saying that as well… I kind of spiralled into disordered eating.”<\/p>\n

\ufeffRussell was desperate for relief from the stomach and bowel symptoms that had started to affect her daily life.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Sometimes the pain was so bad she couldn’t sleep.<\/p>\n

Her parents hated watching her suffer while being told over and over that there was nothing wrong with her.<\/p>\n

Even a gastroenterologist who performed a colonoscopy and endoscopy on Russell when she was 17 couldn’t give her any answers.<\/p>\n

\"AmelieRussell was hospitalised multiple times with severe stomach pain and bowel symptoms but doctors insisted she was fine. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Fed up with being told she was fine, Russell sought a second opinion about a year later.<\/p>\n

The second gastroenterologist she saw took one look at her colonoscopy results \ufeffand said three words that changed her life.<\/p>\n

“There’s inflammation everywhere\ufeff.”<\/p>\n

After a series of tests, including an MRI and another colonoscopy, Russell was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.<\/p>\n

She was both relieved and terrified.\ufeff<\/p>\n

At just 19, she had to come to \ufeffterms with managing an incurable disease for the rest of her life \u2013 a disease no one even believed she had for years.<\/p>\n

It was \ufeffa bitter pill to swallow, especially while trying to afford treatment.<\/p>\n

\"AmelieRussell was relieved and scared when she finally found out she had Crohn’s disease. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

There are a number of treatment options for Crohn’s disease that can reduce inflammation, ease symptoms and \ufeffsometimes result in remission.<\/p>\n

Even after diagnosis, close to half of IBD patients take more than five years to bring their condition under control and the costs add up quickly.<\/p>\n

“It was very expensive trying to pay for all this stuff, and a 19-year-old doesn’t exactly have an abundance of extra money,” she said.<\/p>\n

And while treatment can help manage symptoms, it’s not a cure.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“It was really frustrating too because I was like, why am I not getting better?”<\/p>\n

Diagnosis delays can lead to higher healthcare costs, as well as preventable complications and long-term health impacts, emotional strain, social and career issues.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Aussies with IBD spend about $5900 per year managing the disease and it costs the \ufeffeconomy an estimated $7.8 billion annually.<\/p>\n

Though Russell’s found a medication that helps manage her symptoms, she will have to pay to stay on top of the disease for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n

Even medicated, Crohn’s still affects the 21-year-old’s personal and professional life.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Russell often has to take time off from her job in childcare or cancel plans with friends when flares make her too sick to leave the house.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes I still do get very upset about it,” Russell said.<\/p>\n

Just disclosing that she has the disease to an employer or new friend can be embarrassing, but she’s learned to live with it.\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n

She just wishes it hadn’t taken so long to get a diagnosis and treatment.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"NowNow Russell is on medication and has her Crohn’s under control, though it will affect her forever. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Russell suspects she would have been diagnosed sooner if she was a man and urged other young \ufeffwomen and girls to be their own advocates if something doesn’t feel right.<\/p>\n

“Just keep going to the doctor, keep trying new doctors,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I know it can be expensive, but it’s awful not knowing what is going on, and the relief that you get when you do find out that’s worth it.”<\/p>\n

May is CCA’s Awareness month and this year the not-for-profit is focusing on the cost of delayed diagnosis. Learn more at the CCA website.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffFOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Amelie Russell, 21, has been living with an incurable disease since she was a child but doctors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-631426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}