Gut Feelings: The Patient’s Story takes our knowledge about highly prevalent conditions such as IBS and other Disorders of Gut Brain Interaction further by learning from the patient's illness journey. This book offers a deeper dive into the experience of the illness through the patient’s perspective, giving their stories of illness and their experiences with the health care system. Additionally, we learn the key messages that helped them recover or learn to adapt to their illness. Through the use of patient narratives, we find quick connection for patients to identify with common experiences and take these lessons forward to their own medical care. These narratives are also a helpful tool for providers to learn the real world of patient illness experience and their role in improving clinical outcomes.

This book is written for patients and their doctors by an internationally acclaimed gastroenterologist and patient advocate. It contains up-to-date knowledge on the science, diagnosis, and treatment of all the Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (formerly called Functional GI Disorders) and offers techniques to maximize the patient- doctor relationship.

“I made my first real acquaintance with Crohn's disease in Cuzco in Peru. On the second morning of my trip to Machu Picchu I rose with unfamiliar sensations in my stomach. If I hadn't already known for five years that I had this disease called Crohn's and which is accompanied by diarrhea, anemia and other symptoms, I would have described what I was feeling as a real pain.”“After long days of hospitalization, hallucination and a near operation by a Peruvian doctor, the episode fortunately passed. Only then, on a relaxed Brazilian beach, did I understand for the first time, in view of my Crohn's disease, just how much my condition could deteriorate if I did not take good care of my health. More importantly, though, I realized that my body had the capacity to heal itself, or at least bring about a marked improvement.”Gut Feelings is the personal story of a young man who one fine day was told that he had a bowel disease. No-one was able to tell him exactly what to do about it, so with his own blood and guts he had to discover it for himself. This book is intended for you as a Crohn's or Colitis patient, and for your family members who help you to deal with it. Besides its personal story, the book serves as a useful source of information about nutrition, about conventional and alternative methods of treatment, as well as recommending a desirable lifestyle for you as a patient.Rafael Moreno, an electrical engineer, married to Lital, and father of Alon, Maayan, Noam and Alma, has had Crohn's disease for over twenty years, and has managed to live with it in relative peace.“Gut Feelings is an autobiographical book that takes the reader by the hand along the winding path of inflammatory bowel disease. In all its ups and downs, its twists and turns, it presents an underlying promise of a better understanding of the disease, as well as a better understanding of themselves for readers, for whom it is a collection of useful advice in self-help and personal growth. Rafael Moreno's personal story touches the soft underbelly of those who have inflammatory bowel disease as well as their family members, and helps them in clarifying medical and personal issues equally well.”Professor Zvi Fireman Director of the Institute of Gastroenterology, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center“Gut Feelings is an important tool in assisting with dealing with the disease. The book includes the personal story of Rafael Moreno, who writes with great humor and sensitivity. It contains much information and guidance on how we can better tackle the disease, and how we can improve our quality of life. Among the various tools available in confronting the disease, this book is one of the most important tools in helping me and in continuing to help me in changing my life. Recommended for every patient and family member.”Adam Algarisi (Crohn's disease patient for ten years)“It's not just another book in a bookstore. It's a book that really touches you or those close to you. If you've been exposed to the world of IBD, reading this book is a personal duty in gaining a comprehensive and truthful view of the daily life of those who have to confront the disease...”Uri Fenster (Crohn's disease patient for eight years)

This book is written for patients and their doctors by an internationally acclaimed gastroenterologist and patient advocate. It contains up-to-date knowledge on the science, diagnosis, and treatment of all the Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (formerly called Functional GI Disorders) and offers techniques to maximize the patient-doctor relationship. For the patient, it will help you to: • Understand and manage your GI symptoms and improve the care you receive • Talk with your doctors—learn what to say, what to ask, and what to do when the visit is not going well • Find the best clinical programs for treating DGBI • Understand why you have symptoms when all tests are negative For the doctor, it will help you to: • Learn the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of all Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction (DGBI) • Elicit accurate information from the medical interview to make a precise diagnosis • Acquire communication skills to better connect with your patients

Gut Feelings: Social and Emotional Struggles with Crohn’s & Colitis is a groundbreaking book that examines the inner shame and isolation that many patients experience while coping with the ups and downs of Crohn’s and Colitis. It is based on more than 100 interviews with patients, parents, siblings and romantic partners. Gut Feelings describes the ways patients and their loved ones navigate Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), perhaps the most taboo chronic illness to talk about, because it involves the body’s waste disposal system. Gut Feelings dives into the realities of living with IBD. The author, who was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 16, rode the same roller coaster with the illness as many of her interviewees and so has a first-hand perspective. If you have IBD, or live with someone who does, after reading Gut Feelings, you will feel less alone with your internal emotions, more connected, and more willing to be open about your IBD. You will come away with renewed strength to contend with the feelings that naturally arise while coping with this arduous illness.

What does 'healing' mean for people who have chronic illnesses without a known cure? Gut Feelings shows readers a new way to explore the problem of suffering, seeking answers in sociology, philosophy and theology. Catherine Garrett's autobiographical narrative links physical, emotional and spiritual experience with intellectual discovery. It is written for people in pain and for all who hope to alleviate suffering. As a profound meditation on life with illness, this book shows that academic and personal wisdom, offered in the form of stories, can make healing itself more widely accessible.