You’re Not Alone: Patient Journeys from Digestive Health Symptoms to Accurate Diagnosis and Treatment

If you’ve had difficulty getting properly diagnosed and treated for a gastrointestinal condition, you’re not alone. Patients all over the world experience the same situation, and that’s what Dr. Douglas Drossman and Johannah Ruddy of the Rome Foundation are aiming to prevent, with their latest book, Gut Feelings: The Patient’s Story, Personal Accounts of the Illness Journey. Dr. Drossman and Johannah share patient stories, including Johannah's, to help us understand how to better manage Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction. They also offer tips on improving Patient-Provider Relationships that are vital to long-term success with managing digestive related conditions.

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Featured Guests in this Episode

Dr. Douglas Drossman

Researcher & Author

Dr. Drossman has written over 500 articles and book chapters, has published two books, a GI Procedure Manual, a textbook of Functional GI disorders (Rome I, II, III), and serves on six editorial and advisory boards in gastroenterology, psychosomatic medicine, behavioral medicine, and patient health. He served 5 years as Associate Editor of the journal Gastroenterology and was the Gastroenterology Section Editor of the Merck Manual for 17 years.

Dr. Drossman’s research relates to the clinical, epidemiological, psychosocial and treatment aspects of gastrointestinal disorders. He has developed and validated several assessment measures (e.g., illness severity and quality of life questionnaires for IBD and IBS, and an abuse severity scale) for clinical research, is involved in psychosocial outcomes research, and has also studied brain imaging in IBS and abuse. His educational and clinical interests relate to the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of patient care.

Johannah Ruddy

Executive Director of the Rome Foundation

Johannah Ruddy is a national expert, researcher and writer on teaching communications skills to patients and providers and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Rome Foundation. Ms. Ruddy has 22 years of executive leadership experience working with a variety of nonprofit organizations nationwide and a strong background in writing for patients as well as a speaker at GI practices, medical centers and conferences in the area of provider communication and patient advocacy.

Ms. Ruddy has authored and co-authored eight articles on IBS, navigating the health care system and the role of gender bias in health care published in Gastroenterology, Lancet Gastroenterology, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Journal of Crohns & Colitis.Her new book, co-authored with Dr. Drossman, Gut Feelings- Disorders of Gut-Brain Interactions, A Guide for Patients and Doctors is now available on Amazon.

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