My Story for IBD Relief:

Hi my name is Chris. My IBD journey began in 2014 just after graduation and in my hunt for a job between interviews - talk about a stressful period. My diet was terrible around that then, although I might have naively argued it wasn’t. I worked a lot of nightshifts, and they were always rough on my bowels. I remember the mucus would be quite a problem in those early days at 3am. (the joys of working in a hospital).

Outdoors is my happy place. Infact being outdoors has been one of my biggest mechanisms for calming my mind down in a flare. It's a busy, stressfull world out there.

Sadly, like most people it took a long time to get a diagnosis. It’s crazy looking back, but instead of referring to me for a colonoscopy right away. Multiple GP’s prodded me, and even had mentioned the C word to me. Why they felt the need to jump to that so quickly I have no idea.

One GP had eventually prescribed me a course of ‘prednisone’ and referred me to a specialist for a colonoscopy. In my youthful stubbornness, and after looking at pictures of the classic symptom of moonface, I decided I didn't want to start my new job hopped up on steroids. So, I started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Luckily my symptoms were mild, so I started my new job just in time as the flare started to calm down a little bit.

Had my colonoscopy finally, and was diagnosed with proctitis and given mesalamine as a maintenance drug. To be honest, that was kind of it for the next 8 years. I managed my diet carefully, kept in good shape, and slept as much as I needed.

If I had a busy, stressful shift in work I felt first in my bowels but was able to listen to my body and work on how my mind was perceiving stress to calm myself. It’s been shown in studies, stress isn’t necessarily bad, but how you frame it. Perceived stress as a negative can often be the most damaging [1].

But then my beautiful kids arrived in my life. The best thing I ever did for my heart. One of the worst things I did for my bowels. Every coping mechanism I had developed in the past 8 years had been built around having that time for myself. To wind down, and calm in the most introverted fashion I needed.

Kids are intense. Beautiful but intense. Long nights, lots of coffee = My first flare in years.

Kids don’t allow for much time to yourself. And so the next part of the journey began.

I had a fairly big flare up early on. I'm forever grateful that, in the grand scheme of it, I've never been hospitalized, but it's still a tough thing to live with. That flare up lasted around 2 months. With mesaline eventually calming it down as well as being super careful what is eaten. I think the trenches of a newborn you end up eating more unhealthy, drinking more coffee etc, and I had forgotten the importance of diet a little bit. Well my body reminded me of that soon enough.

I think that one felt a little scary. Mainly because I was trying all my proven methods, and nothing was working. I had the thought, what if i cant get this one under control?

After that, my IBD team at Bolton was amazing to be honest. They arranged another full colonoscopy to see what was going on - they were surprised I hadn't had one since my initial diagnosis.

From that, they learned my initial proctitis had spread up a little, and scheduled colonoscopies every 5 years.

In 2024 though, came my worst flare to date. Around the time of my second child. More importantly though this one was triggered by a job interview….again…didn’t even get the job ha!

This flare was brutal. Lasting around 6 months.

Never really upped my treatment from mesaline based on their advice. But the fatigue and blood loss was scary at times. Then a new symptom I had never dealt with appeared - faecal/bowel incontinence. That was a whole new challenge.

I was still working, partly because I’m self employed, partly because I wasn't ready to acknowledge I wasn't fit for work. Driving to work was the challenge. 5 to 10 poos kind of challenge. Several times I turned back due to having an accident.

A lot of shame came with incontinence. It's the mental impact before even the physical.

I had a music festival booked. Convinced I'd be fine by the time that came around. 6 months went by, and I wasn't. I also was determined to go.

On amazon i order a couple of diapers/ pads etc etc. This was actually the most degrading part for me. When they arrived, I'll never forget the moment a couple of nights before the festival trying them on. They were huge. Bulky, ugly things. I couldn’t wear these! Perhaps, for overnight, or in hospital, but not at a music festival.

I told my mates I was going with one small caveat - it was more than likely I'd poo myself several times at the festival. They were extremely supportive. This made all the difference. It was like a weight was lifted, that they understood and accepted it. The very fact I had taken the pressure of myself removed that anxiety.

I went to the festival, and had a great time! With minimal accidents. Also it meant a lot to me, to see Crohns and Colitis UK charity stand there too (big up to them!).

The whole experience had left me asking one question though. If the anxiety was such a large part of my faecal incontinence - can someone do it better.

Thats me. Terrible photo i know. Looking skinny at Download 2025, mid flare up. Still a great weekend though!

So, port-a-loo to port-a-loo IB3 was born.

I was going to create an incontinence brand that focused around reducing the stigma attached. That created pads for mild to moderate bowel incontinence. Nothing dual urine purpose.

Nothing bulky with huge unnecessary absorption targets that suited more for the severe end of the spectrum. IB3 needed to exist for me. So I had to build it.

IB3 Discreet pads vs the current offerings. They were designed with discretion in mind. So while, they aren't aimed at dual use for urine too. For mild to moderate bowel/Faecal incontinence only they are perfect!

Christmas 2025. I had been working on perfecting the design of the pad all year with Beta testers. When this picture was taken i had just paid the £10,000 for my unique mold and manufacture tooling. Had i bought the most expensive faecal pad just for myself? Maybe haha!

So now my flare did eventually calm down and that's where I am today. Life is a journey. We take the good with the bad. My goal is for no one to have that shameful feeling if incontinence ever appears, and it will be my mission forward to support that cause!

With love,
Chris