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EXPLORE FURTHER: Puzzling reason behind young girl’s ailment ought to alarm parents
Ella Rhian, a globetrotting resident of London, gained widespread attention online when she shared her struggle with severe food poisoning that triggered a chronic illness without a known cure.
Before being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that may lead to severe symptoms, the individual, who is 30 years old, had never been fitter physically.
She journeyed to Vietnam for a buddy’s wedding. As she often does when crossing different lands, she treated herself to some street cuisine — specifically a banh mi sandwich. Several days afterward, she enjoyed a grilled lobster meal.
Ms Rhian stated, “I began experiencing abdominal pain, something I rarely encounter… This persisted throughout the night.”
The background is, I’ve always had a healthy stomach. Even when I suffer from food poisoning, it resolves very fast.
She endured
a range of symptoms
For approximately four months — extreme tiredness, blood in her stools, recurrent fevers, and persistent bloating. It wasn’t until the start of the New Year that she realized she couldn’t put off addressing these symptoms any longer.
She visited the physician, and tests conducted in January 2024 confirmed she had developed ulcerative colitis (UC).
UC is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that leads to swelling and sores in the large intestine and rectum. It affects the entire colon and often brings about symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea.
autoimmune condition
This happens when the body’s immune system incorrectly assaults healthy tissues in the colon, resulting in sores.
Nevertheless, Ms. Rhian has no regrets about her journey or what she consumed, stating this to her many followers.
TikTok
Followers: ‘I had traveled extensively for about a decade before that, visiting numerous countries and enjoying street food. I have no regrets and it hasn’t discouraged me from continuing my travels.’
Mrs. Rhian has been in remission from ulcerative colitis for half a year now, indicating that the swelling in her colon is managed, her abdominal pain has subsided, and she no longer experiences bloody stools.
She
said
In my recent TikTok post, I shared, “Thanks to medication along with a healthy diet and taking proper care of myself, I’ve noticed significant improvement.”
To maintain her university courses effectively, Ms. Rhian incorporates anti-inflammatory foods into her diet such as leafy greens, ginger and turmeric juice, green tea and black tea, bone broth, and additional ginger.
She steers clear of gluten as well, since it sets off an immune reaction leading to inflammation in the small intestine.
Before traveling to Vietnam, she didn’t have to think about her diet at such a granular level.
She said she has traveled to dozens of countries and, while she has had food poisoning linked to street food, nothing like this had ever happened.
Still, she noted she has a predisposition to autoimmune conditions and believes the food poisoning awakened UC.
Food poisoning does not cause UC, but it can be an activating trigger.
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE UC?
Infections caused by bacteria such as salmonella and E. Coli can damage the lining of the intestines, allowing that bacteria to invade the gut wall, thus exposing the immune system to a barrage of harmful bacteria that spurs the immune system into action.
Food poisoning can also throw the gut microbiome – balance of healthy bacteria in the body – out of balance. The gut is naturally populated with beneficial bacteria, but when invaded by the types that cause harm, the protective bacteria die out while the harmful ones replicate.
Physicians remain uncertain about the precise cause of ulcerative colitis, yet they are certain that it stems from the body attacking itself.
Genetics also factor into this equation. According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, as much as 30 percent of individuals who have a close relative with the condition may develop it themselves.
While Ms Rhian does not have a history of UC in her family, she can still carry the genes that trigger it. Irritable bowel diseases such as UC involve hundreds of gene variants, each contributing to some risk.
Irritable bowel disorders are prevalent in the U.S., with some estimates indicating that approximately one person out of every 100 suffers from such conditions. In particular, ulcerative colitis impacts over 1.2 million people across America.
Members of her family might possess genes that heighten the likelihood of this condition, yet these genetic factors haven’t been triggered externally—such as through instances like experiencing food poisoning, using antibiotics, consuming insufficient amounts of fiber alongside excessive quantities of processed foods, or having an imbalanced mix of intestinal microbes.
Members of her family have been stricken with colorectal cancer in middle age, however, ‘so it was really key for me to get the message out that blood in your stool is not normal and to see a doctor,’ she told
Newsweek
.
She chalks the ordeal up to bad luck, telling her thousands of followers that, given her globe-trotting, adventurous appetite, and genetic makeup, ‘it was going to happen at some point in my life.’
‘Don’t avoid traveling,’ she said. ‘It didn’t put me off anything. I went to Costa Rica in December. It obviously makes it a little more tricky with my symptoms… but I’m ok.’
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