u/crystalized17

I really think the first image is a cafe-au-lait spot. It’s all by itself on my hip, aka on an area that is always covered by clothing or swimsuit. So there’s no way it is sunlight-activated like a freckle would be. It appeared around age 7 or something and has never changed at all in shape or color for my entire life.

The 2nd image is under my breast. Again, an area the sunlight never sees, but it’s smaller, so I’m not as sure it’s cafe-au-lait spot instead of giant freckle.

The 3rd image is much more likely to be two giant freckles. They’re both on my stomach and sunlight has hit my stomach on the rare occasion. They’re just odd because the rest of my stomach is so white and clear. But their size is much closer to all of the freckles that coat my arms and shoulders. If you want to compare them to freckles on my arms, see this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDermatologists/comments/1uo4lzf/what\_type\_of\_birthmark\_is\_this/

I’ve stayed out of the sun as an adult and yet my childhood freckles never fade. So it’s really hard for me to tell what was sunlight-activated vs cafe-au-lait.

Birthmark I’ve always had on my arm. It’s always been this color and exact shape.

It started very high up on my shoulder and moved down as I grew taller.
When I got fatter, it moved around more to the back of my arm.
As I got thinner, it moved back to the center of my arm.

So it definitely demonstrates how that patch of skin moves around based on if you’re growing taller or fatter.

All my life, whenever people see it, they think I’ve been punched in the arm and ask if I’m OK.

Just wanted to make this post mostly in case this happens to anyone else in the future and they're googling for information because its "WTF? WHY?"

Especially when you read article after article, research after research of stuff like this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2019/06/24/cure-crohns-disease-with-this-diet/#5f4b8c026c4c saying a unprocessed vegan diet helps the majority of people with remission and there seems to be a strong correlation with poor lifestyle choices (bad eating, smoking etc), even if many times they claim it doesn't "cause" the disease and its just "genetics". Well, what if you have no family history of it? Where are the genetics coming from?

*Note: it has happened to a first-degree relative of mine and we have both been vegan for over a decade from very young ages: very early twenties is when we started being vegan. The vast majority of our immediate relatives were not vegan, but they were always thin, ate plenty of veggies despite being omnivores, and they never touched cigarettes or alcohol. There is only ONE relative that did and they did the smoking and drinking so severely, they died in their early 60s in horrific condition, wheelchair-bound etc. We are both descended from this relative and that is my only explanation for why in the world this has happened. It must have created some bad genes that got passed on thru two generations. Otherwise, we will have to start betting on microplastics in the water or something similar as a cause. I don't believe anything just "happens" because of "luck". Something somewhere helped to create it.

Crohn's disease has been increasing rapidly in industrialized nations in recent years. SOMETHING is causing it. My money is still on most of it being diet-caused or smoking or drinking, aka poor lifestyle choices. But it seems to have the ability to appear in people simply related to those who made poor lifestyle choices, despite those said people doing 99% more than most of the planet to be healthy (unprocessed plant-based diet, exercise, keeping weight down etc).

I will say that something like 80% of cases usually appear before age 30, usually teens and twenties. This person made it past 30. So maybe that's a sign that the vegan diet held off the disease for longer than it would have normally appeared, since they were vegan for all of their twenties. We will never know if being vegan from birth would have made any difference or not, since many people don't start being vegan until they're adults and have been able to do their own research about diet.

This person had no symptoms of pain warning them it was coming. They did have a very large, hard distended stomach, but nothing was hurting them. If you are skinny everywhere, but your stomach is huge and hard to the touch and you never drink alcohol or eat unhealthy, go get a dexa scan for body composition or something similar. Figure out if its visceral fat or something else, like crohn's disease. Don't assume you're just "built that way" just because nothing is currently hurting and you eat healthy. They were totally pain free, until they were suddenly not. Suddenly on the ground vomiting and having bloody diarrhea simultaneously because the disease had finally caused enough of a stricture to blow a hole in their intestine. Emergency surgery was now required to stay alive.

Also, always go get a blood test every couple of years. This person felt they didn't need blood tests because they ate so healthy. Stuff like this can potentially show up on blood tests and you can catch it early before you require painful surgery to save your life.

I've always gotten blood tests every couple of years for this reason. I knew I was probably fine, but I liked the reassurance of the test. So far my numbers have always been excellent. But my risk level for crohn's just went up 30x overnight because now I DO have a family history of it. Having a first-degree relative with it increases your chances of getting it one day too.

I'm on the same vegan diet, I never smoke and I never drink, I'm an athlete, and there's nothing I can do if it decides to show up one day. I suppose I'm more likely to recognize it sooner and therefore MAYBE avoid surgery. But my relative had no pain. Their only small clue was that distended rock hard stomach.

We don't yet know what the future holds in regards to how hard or easy it will be to manage this disease. I've seen many posts online of people who really struggle to eat any veggies or fruits or anything healthy, but I've also seen many posts of people who go vegan and do go into remission. I've seen a few posts of people who were vegan for years and still ended up with the disease. Most of them do seem to have been able to continue their vegan lifestyle, with help from medication. Which is what I'm hoping for in this situation.

But yeah, super frustrating to read so many articles about how veganism lets it go into remission and they no longer have to take drugs for the disease. And I'm like "They already were vegan for years! NOW WHAT?"

I'm hoping we find a drug that works. I'm hoping they maybe don't have to take it forever and can go into remission. I'm hoping it will be a mild form of the disease and they can eat mostly whatever they want plant-food-wise.

A proper attitude derriere keeps both shoulders and hip bones pointed forward and the leg is completely behind the hip bone, at hip level height, with the knee bent. It almost forms a box-like shape directly behind you. Upper part of the back must stay up, so most of the bend is in the lower back.
This is a what a proper attitude looks like: https://imgur.com/7F7MBvS and https://imgur.com/zSIWCq5

But what usually happens is if you try to get your leg high enough and in the proper box-like shape behind you, you end up letting the shoulder and hip bone open up. Example: https://imgur.com/XR6KNzb

Or if you keep your shoulder and hip bone pointed forwards, then you can't get the leg up to hip height. Example: https://imgur.com/BZ5j4FK

These are all from google images as examples.

What I really struggle with is that twist in the torso. Trying to keep the leg up and behind me without opening up the hip (and eventually the shoulder) to "cheat" the leg position.

Are there any stretches that might be good for this? Pigeon pose is sort of similar, but not quite right... I almost want to do some kind of sideways donut pose stretch. That side area of the torso and the hip are at war with each other when trying to get into attitude correctly without any "cheating" by opening up the hip.