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Hi. My name is Jasmine, and I wear a bag that collects my poo.

It’s not a classic chat up line, is it?

If you think you’ve got Tinder problems, try being single, 25, and having no large intestine. Add to that having a sewn up anus and a bag to collect your faeces permanently attached to your side.

As pre-pillow talk goes, it’s certainly different.

I’ve struggled with Crohn's disease since I was 10, and it left me in chronic pain. I was going to the toilet around 25 times a day, and had diarrhoea filled with blood and mucus. I was constantly fatigued from losing so much blood. School and university were a nightmare, and I couldn’t get through a year without at least four hospital stays.

Eventually, at age 20, I reached breaking point. Doctors told me that an was my only choice, leaving my small intestine coming out of my stomach through a little opening called a , and my faeces going into bag, which was attached to me at all times. (It’s a similar procedure to the , when the opening is from the colon).

This bag was literally the worst possible thing I could imagine – but the doctors told me that this was the only route left that would save my life.

So these days, after a casual 11 and a half hour operation, I have what’s known as a 'Barbie Butt'. Ie I have no bum. My large intestine and rectum were so diseased they had to be completely removed.

I empty my bag when it gets full, and leave nothing but the smell of orange perfume behind me when I do (which cannot be said of most people…).

But this isn’t an illness that anyone talks about. Having a bag has a real stigma. So how do you broach this when it comes to sex? When is the appropriate time to bring it up? Is it a first date disclaimer, or do you wait till the lights are off? Will they find it disgusting, when I still find it disgusting? Will it make a noise? Will it fall off?

After the operation, my body confidence hit rock bottom. I thought I was alone, I thought, why me, when I’m only 20? I thought it was the end of sex for me.

It took me an entire year to even think about dating after the surgery. The idea of feeling sexy was almost as daunting as the idea of having to tell someone what was attached to me.

But then I realised, if you don’t want to date me because I have a bag – then I don’t want to date someone like you. Since the operation, I’ve had one-night things, I’ve had flings, and I’ve had a serious, two-year relationship. Sure, I’ve had a few guys tell me they can’t handle it – but I’ve got no space in my life for anyone who doesn’t accept me the way I am.

While some complications with my surgery mean certain positions can be uncomfortable, physically everything works fine down there. The only real barrier has been mental.

Of course, there are things you have to be more careful of. The bag is pretty sturdy and hard to rip off – but you have to make sure it doesn’t fall off, as no one wants a leak in the bed. It isn’t particularly noisy, but it’s a bag on naked skin, so it might rustle slightly. And there are little changes you can make, like emptying your bag before getting intimate, popping a couple of fragrance drops in, or taking a tablet to slow the output. It’s just about taking control.

For me, the real turning point came when I started to design my own lingerie. I wanted something feminine and sexy that would give me back my confidence, unlike anything then available for women with bags.

The response has been so incredible. After setting up the lingerie company in 2015, I've just taken the plunge to quit my full-time job as a nurse, and now I run this full time.

At the moment I’m single, but the most important lesson I’ve learnt is how to love and accept myself again, stoma or no stoma.

As told to Catriona White