Training & rebuilding
Getting knocked out of a routine, losing progress, backing off, and finding a way to begin again.
Ask about this →Real questions. Lived experience.
Ask Mike J.
The questions about Crohn’s people don’t always ask out loud.
Relationships. Sex. Confidence. Training. Work. Travel. Hospitals. Rebuilding. Ask me about living it.
Ask about living with Crohn’s—not individual medical care.
What can you ask?
Ask about the life around the disease.
These are lived-experience topics. Questions about diagnosis, medication, tests, treatment, or individual symptoms belong with a qualified healthcare professional.
Relationships & intimacy
Dating, sex, communication, canceled plans, embarrassment, vulnerability, and being understood.
Ask about this →Body image & confidence
Weight changes, muscle loss, appearance, confidence, and recognizing yourself after being sick.
Ask about this →Work, business & travel
Meetings, responsibility, airports, trips, backup plans, and performing when your body changes the day.
Ask about this →Hospitals & recovery
What the crisis, discharge, first week home, and slow return to ordinary life have looked like for Mike.
Ask about this →The mental load
Bathrooms, food, packing, energy, timing, and the constant calculation other people rarely see.
Ask about this →Everyday planning
What Mike carries, how he plans a normal day, and what happens when the original plan stops working.
Ask about this →Supporting someone
What has genuinely helped Mike, what made things harder, and how support can preserve independence.
Ask about this →Featured questions
Mike has already answered the hard ones.
These answers come from Michael’s individual experience. They are not treatment instructions, predictions, or a formula for somebody else.
How do you rebuild after Crohn’s takes you out of the gym?
I used to think pushing through made me tough. It took me years to understand that backing off is not quitting. When I return, the first week is about moving again—not chasing old weights.
Read the full answer →What does a normal day with Crohn’s actually require?
I know where the bathrooms are. I carry two changes of clothes. I try to keep food with me. Most people grab their keys and leave; I leave prepared for the possibility that the day changes completely.
Read the full answer →What happens to confidence when your body changes?
There have been times after being sick when I did not recognize the person in the mirror. Training did not prevent my flares or treat Crohn’s. It gave me a familiar place to begin again.
Read the full answer →How has Crohn’s affected work and responsibility?
People have seen me prepared, taking photographs, representing the company, and doing the job. They did not see how much of the day I sometimes spent trying to hold myself together.
Read the full answer →What does recovery look like after the immediate crisis?
The first week is not a comeback. It is rest, sleep, keeping food and fluids down, and letting my body recover. Recovery is the in-between period people rarely see.
Read the full answer →What genuinely helps when you are sick?
Sometimes help means company. Sometimes it means sleep, quiet, or fewer people in the room. What helps most is someone who asks what I need and listens to the answer.
Read the full answer →
Relationships & intimacy
What do you tell someone who thinks Crohn’s makes them impossible to love?
Don’t make that decision for the other person before they even get the chance to know you.
Crohn’s does not make you less lovable. It does not make you weak. It does not mean you are too much to deal with. Tell them what Crohn’s looks like for you, then give them the chance to decide for themselves.
Read Mike’s complete relationship answer →Ask your question
What do you want to ask Mike J.?
Send a question about living with Crohn’s. Selected questions may be edited for clarity and answered publicly without publishing identifying details.
Before you email
- Ask about lived experience, not diagnosis or individual medical care.
- Do not send medical records, lab results, medication lists, insurance information, or other sensitive health information.
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Ask Mike J. reviewed August 10, 2026. Questions are curated before any answer is published.