Today I wanted to take a moment to write about a symptom of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) that doesn’t often get mentioned: fistulas.
When we read about IBD, we often learn about how debilitating stomach pain, bleeding and constant diarrhoea can be.
But, fistulas – which are defined by Crohn’s and Colitis UK as ‘as an abnormal channel or passageway connecting… Read the full story
I’ve worked in the catering industry for more than 10 years in various roles, from pot-washer to department manager.
I’d like to call myself a veteran of the trade, and I’ve sustained various injuries over the years – mental and physical – but I haven’t always been the perfect employee.
I spent my early years being a… Read the full story
Pregnant women can’t seem to catch a break.
In 2016, Aussie fitness blogger Chontel Duncan was criticised for having rock hard abs just weeks away from giving birth, while last year, six months pregnant fitness blogger Sarah Stage was blasted for having a flatter stomach than most of us who were non-pregnant.
If future mums aren’t being shamed for their lack of bump, they’re being made to… Read the full story
There are few things more heartbreaking than forgetting your beloved grandparents’ voice.
A grandad who is losing his voice to Motor Neurone Disease has decided to avoid this by recording it so his grandchildren can hear his voice when they’re older.
62-year-old Tony Plant has recorded 1,200 sentences which will allow him to respond to loved ones in a computer-generated voice which sounds just like his own.
He hopes that this will preserve his true voice for his granddaughters, two-year-old Charlotte and three-year-old Chloe.
Speaking about the importance of ‘banking’ his voice for his grandchildren, Tony said: ‘I feel useless at most things and I can’t move but I will still be… Read the full story
The last thing we expected to spark a debate about abortion was Black Mirror.
The dystopian Netflix series normally deals with issues around tech and humanity, but has been embroiled in something of a parley around reproductive rights instead.
One episode from the new season which aired on 29 December features a mother called Marie who uses a chip to monitor her daughter’s thoughts and behaviour.
When she finds out through the chip that her daughter is pregnant, she spikes her milkshake with an ’emergency contraception’ pill. Many viewers have pointed that it would’ve been an abortion pill rather than emergency contraception, and to conflate the two is dangerous and… Read the full story
The festive season is over and we have now entered a new year. Call us psychic but we’re guessing you’re still feeling the effects of the festivities and are now feeling a touch of the January blues.
As the nights draw in and the rain and cold begin to really hit home, the thoughts of sunshine and some vitamin D are all that’s one our minds.
So here’s our guide to the best destinations for some January sun,… Read the full story
Sometimes a haircut is about more than just trimming off some split ends.
It can be a chance for reinvention, a way to shave away the past, a gesture of letting go.
For one woman, called Chelsea, a shaved design was a new start after an experience of domestic abuse.
‘It was almost closing time one night and I noticed a girl sitting at the other end of the shop,’ barber Andy Mendoza told Metro.co.uk. ‘I wear glasses so my sight wasn’t too focused on her but I did noticed a small cut on her cheekbone.
‘I jokingly asked if she got into a fight. She… Read the full story
Where would we be without our mums? Well, that’s actually a bit of a stupid question, let me start again.
We’re all lucky to have a mum in our lives. But you’re even luckier if you have a mum with whom you can spend 10 minutes with without erupting into a full-blown argument.
It’s a rare occurrence, but some of us are actually best friends with our mums.
Mums understand you better than… Read the full story
The mental health impact of pregnancy doesn’t just come up once the baby’s born.
A new UK study from King’s College London has revealed that a quarter of all pregnant women suffer from mental health problems during pregnancy.
Researchers recruited 545 pregnant women attending their ante-natal booking appointment at a maternity service in south-east London between November 2014 and June 2016.
Midwives asked these women two questions about their mood – a method found to be as effective in identifying mental health issues as the 10-point questionnaire patients were asked to complete by themselves.
They found that one in four women had mental health issues during pregnancy. 11%… Read the full story
I live with health anxiety, a debilitating mental health disorder that means I constantly worry about my health.
Everyone worries about their health. We’re all guilty of Googling a symptom when we have a cold or worrying that a sore throat may be something worse. But health anxiety is more than that.
Health anxiety is obsessing over your health, convincing yourself that you have a serious illness. It can take over your life.
The problem is that anxiety itself can cause physical symptoms, such as headaches or a racing heart, which can add to your belief that something’s seriously wrong. The more anxious you get, the more physical… Read the full story
H&M is no stranger to accessible luxury.
It’s done collaborations with some of the most exclusive designers around – Erdem, Kenzo, Isabel Marant…you name them, Hennies has worked with them.
So it’s only logical that eventually the Swedish highstreet giant would eventually turn in-house and start making affordable designer clobber itself.
Enter: Nyden.
Nyden is going to be H&M’s new affordable luxury line aimed at millennials or ‘Netocrats’, as Swedish designer Oscar Olsson calls them.
The name is a fusion of Swedish words ‘ny’ and ‘den’, meaning ‘new’ and ‘it’ and the line will apparently be swerving convention by not following new seasons or the traditional fashion calendar.
Every year on 27 December, a random family receives a beautiful birthday cake for their child thanks to Ashley Santi.
She buys a birthday cake for someone every year to honour her late daughter.
Her daughter McKenna died in a tragic accident at only nine months old and Ashley has been spreading birthday cheer ever since as a way of transforming her grief into joy.
On the day of her daughter’s birthday, she goes into a local bakery and surprises someone by paying for their cake.
And her good deeds have gone viral after Twitter user Kyle Jauregui went to pick up his little sister’s birthday cake, only to find that the… Read the full story
Going on a New Year health kick?
Whether you’re heading to the gym, your first spin class or training for the 2018 London Marathon, there are a handful of basic gym bag essentials you shouldn’t be without including workout clothes, trainers, sports bra and a water bottle.
If you’ve already splurged our on a monthly gym membership or joined a new class, buying some new workout gear is one way to kickstart your motivation and get back on track.
So if you’re yet to kit yourself out, we’ve picked out the best pieces to get you looking and feeling great this January.
Depression has clouded a large part of my adult life.
From my teen years, I’ve struggled with low mood and everything that comes with depression. I also have anxiety.
Since being diagnosed things have been better and worse, depending on the treatment I was receiving and my general life circumstances.
But right now I feel like I could call myself ‘mentally healthy’.
I can get up every morning without dread and worry. There’s no more uncontrollable crying. I used to constantly think about how worthless I was, but now those thoughts very rarely pervade my consciousness.… Read the full story
More than 10,000 people live on canal boats across London.
Some do it for the love of the lifestyle, while others choose it as a way to try and save money while living in the capital.
Then there are those of us who find ourselves living on a boat and wondering how on earth this actually happened – I can’t even change a fuse on a… Read the full story
America has the best and worst of things.
They might have a load of gun-wielding wackos running around but when it comes to food, they’ve got it nailed.
Especially when it comes to bagels.
Yep, Brick Lane can’t compare to the challah heaven that is America.
And down in Melbourne, Florida, they’ve got drive-thru bagel shacks so people can have their fix of salmon and creme cheese on the move. Isn’t that the dream?
And at Einstein Bros. Bagels, customer service attendant Natasha gets a lot of carb-craving canine customers who are there for special beef flavoured doggie bagels.
‘The ones I can reach I pet,’ says Natasha.
‘The pesky curb is always in the way.’
So when… Read the full story
Well, this is strange.
Dr Jen Gunter (whose name you may recognise as a gynaecologist and expert on all things vagina) was shopping in Target the other day when she noticed a set of women’s pyjamas.
These pyjamas were Star Wars themed, and featured the Death Star and little Darth Vaders on the legs.
Then Dr Gunter looked closer, and noticed that surrounding the Death Star and Darth Vader were… cute little hearts.
To be clear, the Death Star is the Galactic Empire’s ultimate weapon, capable of destroying a planet with one shot of its superlaser. It’s basically a killing machine.
A pair of young cancer survivors have been helped with their recovery in the most unlikely of ways – donkeys.
The Donkey Sanctuary Belfast has joined forces with charity CLIC Sargent to offer donkey assisted therapy to young cancer patients.
The pilot scheme, held at the charity’s Belfast sanctuary, is focused on developing critical emotional resilience.
The treatment aims to have a positive impact on vulnerable young adult patients in the recovery stage to develop life skills,… Read the full story
I’ll admit to feeling a little embarrassed when I had to call up a hotel and ask if I’d left my favourite bra on the floor (I hadn’t, I had just put it in a drawer, where it got lost in a sea of tights and pants).
But I shouldn’t have felt any shame, really. Other hotel guests have left much worse behind.
Travelodge has shared a list of some of the more unusual items that have been left behind in their hotel rooms over the last twelve months. And when we say ‘unusual’, we mean it.
There were the usual left behind teddy bears (including a fifty-year-old bear called Rupert)… Read the full story
We spent the festive season apart, following the Vegan Body Building Challenge rules of no animal products, no gluten and (almost) no booze.
Now it’s January, everyone’s back in that fitness hype – as are we.
But over Christmas when the gyms are closed and everyone’s blood alcohol is 500 times higher than it is usually, it can feel odd to still be working towards a fitness goal.
Here’s how we got on and what we learned:
Christmas ain’t a time for body transformations.
It’s a time for getting plastered on Bailey’s and eating your weight in yule log before eventually passing out on the sofa in a food coma and… Read the full story
