Louise Thompson reveals she had stoma bag fitted

Made In Chelsea star Louise Thompson has revealed she has been fitted with a stoma bag, saying it "saved her life" after years of battling with ulcerative colitis.

In a post on Instagram, the actress, 34, said the bag was "the price I pay for good health".

She told her followers the announcement was "not glamorous", but that she didn't want to keep it hidden forever.

Ulcerative colitis is a condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed.

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Many who have the condition live with a stoma - an opening on the abdomen which connects to the digestive or urinary system and allows waste to be diverted out of the body and into a bag.

Thompson was diagnosed with the condition in 2018 and has spoken about her struggles with it in the past.

In her social media post, Thompson shared a photo of herself with the bag, which is attached to her stomach.

In the caption, she asked: "How do I disclose this sort of news?"

She said the revelation was "not exactly exciting" in the way an announcement about pregnancy or a gender reveal would be.

"So I guess I'll just stand here, proud in stature, with my new friend, le bum bag, that represents life and hopefully a better one.

"Isn't it bizarre that this little grey pouch is the price I pay for good health!"

She added that she was saying "good riddance to that nasty menacing colon," and urged her fans to "be kind".

The reality star ended her post with the hashtags #ibd, which stands for Irritable Bowel Disorder, #stomalife, and #ulcerativecolitis.

She said she had been diagnosed with the condition five years earlier, and that she hadn't known much about it at the time.

She did not disclose the reason for her hospital admission at the time. But she said that she had had "too much inflammation" and that she had been going to the bathroom every 20 minutes, losing cups of blood.

At the time, she reassured fans that she was "working hard on a speedy recovery" and said she wanted to continue with life as normal "as much as possible".

Thompson is not the first young reality TV star to open up about using a stoma bag.

The Traitors contestant Mollie Pearce, 21, also uses a bag after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis as a child, and having surgery to remove her colon in 2020.

The model, who made it to the final of the BBC's hit reality series, said her "main goal" after the show was to raise awareness of disabilities and break the taboo around stomas.