Scots lad who dropped to 6 stone almost doubles weight after Crohn’s disease battle

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Scots lad has almost doubled his weight to just 11 stone after a cruel battle with Crohn’s disease. Inspiring Kieran McLaughlin is celebrating the major recovery milestone after gaining five stone.

The 26-year-old, from Hamilton, was a healthy teenager before his immune system suddenly began to attack itself leaving him in ‘severe’ pain.

Crohn's disease is a lifelong condition where parts of the digestive system become inflamed.It left him terrified as he was suddenly plagued with hair loss, chronic cramps, weight loss, and a colostomy bag as his body was struck by what he first thought was a ‘bad bug’.He dropped to just six stone at his lowest leaving him drained, exhausted, depressed, and feeling like he ‘missed out on a lot’.But Kieran, who works as a software tester, was determined to get back to health with new medications and even managed to go up four waist sizes in lockdown.Kieran told the Daily Record: “It felt good [to reach 11 stone], it was nice to look in a mirror and see a physical milestone of how I was recovering and how lucky I was that my body responded with the medications and ongoing treatments.“Recently it’s a lot better, I’m on immunosuppressant drugs weekly which have kept my Crohn's in check and the colostomy bag has completely changed my life.“I’ve put on a lot more weight with working from home and being able to eat meals at the right times, since the start of lockdown I’ve gone up four waist sizes.“It made me worry seeing my body shape change and having clothes being too small even though looking back I realise how thin and unhealthy I looked at the time.“But it was a sign my medication was working and things were better health wise and now I’m a lot happier with it as I’m now a healthy