BEFORE he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, Kris Gourlay says his mother used to be stopped in the street by people worried what was wrong with him.
"People were stopping my Mum in the street and asking if I was okay, because I looked awful.
"I'd lost loads of weight - I was only about seven stone. I was chalk white, no energy, no appetite. Anything I was eating wasn't staying in my system."
Kris, originally from the Borders, was in his first year of university at Edinburgh Napier when he began experiencing symptoms he initially thought might be food poisoning.
"Other flatmates of mine at the time were also ill, so we thought nothing of it," says Kris, now 22.
"I was a typical boy who refused to go to the doctor, but in the summer of 2017 I became really ill."
READ MORE: Scientists unravel new genetic clues behind Crohn's disease
Although Kris did not experience the hallmark Crohn's symptom of excruciating abdominal pain, he did experience extreme fatigue.
"The whole of summer 2017, I lay in bed basically. My Mum would come and force me to eat stuff or go outside for an hour just to get some sunlight.
"There were about 10 trips to the toilet every day, which was pretty horrible.
"At times I was on a liquid diet - these terrible milkshakes they give you that are meant to give you all the vitamins and nutrients that you need.
"And of course your mental health starts to suffer because you're not seeing anyone."
READ MORE: Patients sought for new study into what triggers Crohn's and colitis flare ups
Eventually, Kris was admitted to hospital for two weeks.
"Various tests were done but when I was told it was Crohn's disease, I had no idea what that even was. I remember asking the doctor 'is that bad?'
"It's only now that I realise the number of people it affects and the scale of the damage."
The disease - which is most often diagnosed in people aged 18 to 29 - is associated with an increased risk of intestinal cancers and, in severe cases, some patients have their bowel removed.
Following his diagnosis, Kris was tried on various drugs - including one that he had an allergic reaction to - before being placed on Infliximab.
READ MORE: Edinburgh identified as inflammatory bowel disease hotspot
Over a period of two years, the journalism student would travel to Borders General Hospital in Galashiels every eight weeks to be given an intravenous infusion of the drug for two hours.
By the time the coronavirus pandemic hit Scotland in 2020, his symptoms were in remission and he is currently drug-free, although he has to limit alcohol, dairy, and spicy foods.
Most Crohn's patients will fluctuate between periods of remission and flare-ups.
Kris is now participating in one of Edinburgh University's Crohn's clinical trials.
"Everybody just wants to find a cure for this disease."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here