About

Hi! I am running the Ipswich Half Marathon on Sunday, 27th September and I’m aiming to raise £1000 for BAD UK. This is an ambitious target, and I need all of you to help, please! “BAD UK is a charity set up in April 2015 with a huge aim - to ensure that Bile Acid Diarrhoea (BAD), also known as Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM) or Bile Salt Malabsorption (BSM), is widely understood by the UK population, recognised much earlier by health care professionals and to help make BAD days better” What is BAD/BAM/BSM? In my own words, it is essentially where the bile salts that the liver produces are not recycled properly by the body. The liver releases bile salts when we eat food, especially when there is fat in the food, and we need them to help us digest. For most healthy people, bile salts are absorbed back into the body ready for our next meal. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen for me - nor for many other people with BAM - and this is where the symptoms start. Many of you are well aware of the worst of these, as I have been quite open about the challenges I have had (diarrhoea, uncomfortable bloating, and having enough wind to run my own offshore wind farm!). But there have also been hidden challenges; at my worst, a fear of leaving the house and visiting unknown places because I was worried about where the nearest toilets might be, taking public transport, going to restaurants. In April 2024 (on my birthday no less!!) I was formally diagnosed with moderate to severe BAM after 3 years of trying to work out what on earth was wrong. We don’t know where it came from, but we wonder if I have always had a mild form of it, which got considerably worse in 2021, after having had Covid 19. Thankfully, I am now on medication which has dramatically improved my quality of life. I still get uncomfortable, I still get anxious about not being able to find a bathroom if I have to, and I still have to be careful about what I eat. Food and wine are my most important interests, and I am learning that I can have higher fat meals sometimes, as long as the meals the days before and / or after are lower fat. I am one of the lucky ones, as I know other BAM sufferers cannot do this, so I remain very grateful. If you have read this through, thank you – not everyone will be comfortable sharing this much detail about this disease, but if me being open helps people understand more, then hopefully others will feel less embarrassment. And that is why I will also be running in a BAD UK vest to further help raise awareness.