Crohn’s disease sufferer ‘forced to show nightclub bouncer colostomy bag’

A Crohn's disease sufferer has revealed how she was once forced to show a nightclub bouncer her colostomy bag to prove she wasn't smuggling in alcohol.

Georgina Elliot, 21, was first diagnosed with Crohn's in 2017, after experiencing symptoms for three years.

Since then, she has been making YouTube videos about living with her condition to try and raise awareness.

In particular, the influencer is trying to highlight the plight of people living with invisible disabilities like Crohn's.

Georgina recalls facing a number of events which made her feel uncomfortable, especially one where a bouncer did not believe she was carrying a colostomy bag and thought she was trying to smuggle in alcohol instead.

After being held up at the entrance for 20 minutes, she eventually showed the bouncer her colostomy bag so that he would let her in.

She told Sky News: "It's private to me. It's something I have to deal with. It's not something I should have to show you for you to be compassionate towards me."

In another instance, Georgina was in the train toilets trying to empty her bag when a guard began knocking on the door to check she was alright.

She says she was fine and just needed five minutes of privacy.

Georgina also revealed the moment she found out she had the condition, saying she felt "really, really scared".

She said she barely knew anything about it and assumed that people with Crohn's just have to "go to the toilet all the time".

But after going through it, she explained: "There's the fatigue, sleeping 19 hours if we can without someone waking us up, the joint pain, sore pain when you walk, not being able to eat anything without agony. It's not nice."

She also had to deal with the knock in confidence she experienced after realising she would not be able to "keep up" with friends on nights out.

"It would take the life out of me and I wouldn't be able to function for about two days.

And that's quite a mental block because I'm young – I'm only 21 now so since I was about 17, I've not had as much energy as anyone else."

Georgina has now learned to accept her condition and wants people to become more understanding of it.

"People need to have the confidence, especially Crohn's and colitis sufferers, to be open and talk about it because as much as people need to be understanding of us, we need to be understanding that people don't know a lot about it."

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