Growing up, I learned early what it meant to live with a chronic illness. At seven years old, I was diagnosed with orofacial granulomatosis (OFG), a rare inflammatory condition that causes swelling around the mouth. By age eleven, the OFG spread to my gut and resulted in a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease.
This period of my life, between the ages of eight and twelve, included 200 doctors' appointments, many sick days from school, and uncertainty for my family and me as we tried to navigate a path forward for me to not just handle this condition but to thrive with it.
Up until I was sixteen, my journey was comprised mainly of dealing with flare-ups, changing medications to find the right fit, dealing with a severe allergic reaction to a medication, and mindfully navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with a compromised immune system.
For me, Crohn’s didn’t always look like it does for most patients. While many people with the disease struggle with frequent, urgent trips to the bathroom, my symptoms often presented as constipation. At the same time, my orofacial granulomatosis flare-ups made it painful to eat, with certain foods triggering reactions. Tracking those foods and connecting them to how my symptoms presented orally and in my gut was critical, but tedious and far from precise.
That’s why I see so much potential in Throne to drastically change how everyone, but especially those with inflammatory bowel disease, monitors their gut health.
Throne’s technology captures what has always been the most valuable, yet often neglected, data for people with inflammatory bowel disease — their stool data. While it might seem obvious to some that if you have gut health issues, you should be keeping a log of your bowel movements and gut health, a vast majority of people don’t. This process is tedious for people who are trying to balance living with multiple varying symptoms while managing the commitments of everyday life.
With a Throne device providing hassle-free stool analysis integrated into my daily routine, my care team would have had a comprehensive picture of my symptoms and gut health, rather than relying on my memory or incomplete notes.
Throne’s hydration analysis capabilities could have also helped me identify when dehydration was exacerbating constipation, nudging me toward small adjustments that might have prevented significant setbacks.
With Throne’s food logger, which allows users to simply snap a photo of their meals, I could have more precisely identified foods that were triggering my OFG while connecting the dots to the subsequent impact on my gut health.
This isn’t just about convenience. For anyone living with gut health issues, comprehensive information on their individualized gut health is the most critical information for care teams to guide their patients effectively. Yet, most people don’t track it because it’s burdensome, unpleasant, and nearly impossible to do consistently. Throne changes that.
My perspective doesn’t come only from my own story. Over the years, I’ve been deeply involved in the IBD community, working alongside other patients, families, and advocates to push for better research, innovations, and policy change.
Engaging with others in this community through the work has shown me just how diverse IBD experiences can be, and why innovations like Throne are so critical. This technology won’t just help me, but rather it has the potential to improve outcomes for millions of people managing gut health challenges across the spectrum.
If I had Throne when I was a kid, my journey might have looked very different. Likely, my story would have had fewer appointments, less guesswork, and more confidence in my care. I’m fortunate enough to now be a senior in college, in stable remission from my Crohn’s disease, and living independently 2,000 miles away from home.
I use my Throne daily to maintain a consistent baseline of my gut health, equipping me with the data necessary to identify any triggers or cause for concerns to ensure I stay in good health.
From the first time I sat down with the team at Throne in May of 2023 and saw their vision, I knew this device was going to change the lives of millions of people across the globe. As an individual with Crohn’s disease who has had the opportunity to beta-test Throne devices, I can personally attest to the positive impact it has had on monitoring my gut health.
Whether you are an individual with inflammatory bowel disease, someone struggling with food sensitivities, or just looking to better monitor the most valuable information your body provides, I hope you too get the chance to experience the life-changing value of a Throne.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice. Throne is not a medical device and does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
