![\"Aishling](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5080269_6_articleinline_9._Aishling_Condon_Healy.jpg\" "\\"Aishling")
Aishling Condon Healy was experiencing severe pain – it was ulcerative colitis<\/p>\nIn 2022, Aishling Condon Healy was doing a master\u2019s degree in early childhood studies when she got severe abdominal pain. Condon Healy says: \u201cI was experiencing a lot of pain and an unsettled stomach after eating. I was putting it down to food allergies or some kind of intolerances.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Galway woman, who was 24 at the time, changed her diet and underwent blood tests to identify rogue foods. During one of those tests, a dietitian asked if there was any Crohn\u2019s or colitis in her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know anyone in my family who had Crohn\u2019s or colitis, so I dismissed it. At that time, I had convinced myself that it was a food intolerance, and I just hadn\u2019t pinpointed what the problem food was yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
After months of uncertainty and pain, her symptoms escalated to dramatic weight loss and extreme fatigue. She visited her GP, who did blood tests.<\/p>\n
The iron in her blood had dropped to a \u201ccritically low level\u201d and she was admitted to the emergency department of Galway University Hospital. \u201cI ended up having to get a blood transfusion, and, at that point, the team at the hospital recommended I get a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy, so we could find out what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Condon Healy was scared and felt that what was happening to her was \u201cout of my control\u201d.<\/p>\n
Following the colonoscopy and gastroscopy, she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, or an inflamed colon. The disease falls under the umbrella of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), says Professor Anthony O\u2019Connor, consultant gastroenterologist with Tallaght University Hospital.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor says: \u201cInflammatory bowel disease is a cover-all term. The two most common types of IBD are ulcerative colitis and Crohn\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat defines ulcerative colitis is that it only affects the colon, for the most part. Whereas, Crohn\u2019s disease can occur anywhere from the skin around the mouth, all the way through the digestive system, to the skin around the anus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around 40,000 people in Ireland live with IBD, with ulcerative colitis more common than Crohn\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
The diseases within IBD share several common symptoms, including rectal bleeding, anaemia, weight loss, obstructive-type symptoms, and abdominal pain, says O\u2019Connor. With ulcerative colitis, in particular, some of the red flags are \u201cbleeding, anaemia, weight loss, obstructive-type symptoms, and frequent diarrhoea\u201d.<\/p>\n
Low iron can be common in people with IBD, says O\u2019Connor, and they may lose blood from an inflamed gut, while the condition also reduces the body\u2019s ability to absorb iron.<\/p>\n
On top of that, long-term inflammation interferes with how the body absorbs and uses iron.<\/p>\n
Aishling Condon Healy was experiencing severe pain – it was ulcerative colitis<\/p>\n
Following her diagnosis in June 2023, Condon Healy was prescribed anti-inflammatory medication for her colon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat worked wonders for me for the first two months. It was such a big relief.\u201d But then she experienced a \u201cflare-up\u201d of her symptoms and was put on a short course of steroids. For the past year and a half, Condon Healy has been self-injecting a biologic treatment. She admits to being nervous about injecting herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, like a lot of things, it\u2019s just mind over matter. I was seeing the results and feeling better. So if it means two minutes of a bit of discomfort or a bit of squealing before I have to self-inject, it\u2019s well worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biologic treatments are targeted immune therapies made from biological sources, such as antibodies. Their use in treating conditions like Crohn\u2019s and ulcerative colitis has grown in the past few years. While there\u2019s no cure for Crohn\u2019s disease, O\u2019Connor says that \u201cthese medications can keep most of our patients in remission for the vast majority of the time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Though inflammatory bowel disease is a disease of the gut, \u201cwhat\u2019s actually malfunctioning is the immune system\u201d, says O\u2019Connor. \u201cFor reasons we don\u2019t fully understand, the immune system of someone with IBD identifies the normal bugs that live in the bowel as invaders. It sends out messages to attack these invaders and these \u2018bullets\u2019 hit your bowel and cause inflammation. The biologics we use essentially stop the \u2018bullets\u2019 and reduce the amount of inflammation, damage, and scarring the gut is subjected to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biologic treatment has made a dramatic difference to Condon Healy. \u201cI\u2019ve had a great year, with very few symptoms. And when I have had symptoms, it\u2019s been very manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now 27, Condon Healy completed her master\u2019s degree the same year she was diagnosed. She works as a finance and compliance manager in the early childhood sector. A keen traveller, gym-goer, and sea swimmer, she tried to continue with her hobbies while she wasn\u2019t well, but because of her low energy, going to the gym wasn\u2019t always possible.<\/p>\n
Condon Healy says: \u201cI\u2019ve continued to travel and explore, and I have progressed in my career by taking on larger roles. These are things that I\u2019m really proud of, especially given my health challenges. I hope to continue building my confidence and managing my condition and to live life without limitation, as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
With her energy returning, she was also been keen to get back to socialising with friends and fully embracing exercise again. \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said colitis didn\u2019t have a huge impact on my life. It definitely impacted me socially, in the early stages. At my worst, I\u2019ve had to cancel plans, make excuses, and drop out of activities and sports, just to prioritise my energy to get through the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn saying that, I\u2019ve since learned to listen to my body better and I am consistently learning ways to adapt, so that I can continue doing the things that are important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2022, Aishling Condon Healy was doing a master\u2019s degree in early childhood studies when she got severe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[33970,26054,103,61,60],"class_list":["post-450585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health-body","tag-health-life","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}