Proven Techniques and Novel Research Help Control Crohn’s Disease

Posted on February 11, 2012 by easyemu

The following is a guest post written by Brian Flora on behalf of IU Health

Introduction
Crohn’s disease, which is one of the irritable bowel diseases, occurs when you have chronic inflammation in your gastrointestinal tract. If you have Crohn’s disease or you are close to someone who does, you probably know that the condition can lead to some embarrassing situations. However, careful management allows most people with Crohn’s disease to lead full and active lives. Whether Crohn’s disease is new to you or not, you can continue to test old and new treatment strategies to put the condition in remission.

The Basics of Crohn’s Disease

Crohn’s disease is an autoimmune disorder, which means that your immune system reacts against cells in your own body. This leads to chronic inflammation, especially in the large intestine, or colon, and small intestine. Similar to Type I diabetes, which is another autoimmune disease, you are most likely to develop Crohn’s disease when you are under 30 years old. Young children can also have Crohn’s disease. Individuals with a family history are at highest risk.

Symptoms of Crohn’s disease vary, but most often include diarrhea, stomachaches, vomiting, pain in the joints and fatigue from lack of nutrient absorption. Flare-ups involving bloody diarrhea and long-lasting fever require urgent medical attention. Endoscopy, MRI and ultrasound imaging, blood tests and stool samples can confirm the disease in children or adults. Once you have the diagnosis, you can begin treatment to put the disease into remission and prevent complications, such as ulcers, fistulas, colon cancer and bowel obstruction.

Medicinal and Nutritional Treatment

Crohn’s disease is chronic condition with no known cure, but treatment helps relieve symptoms and reduce inflammation to make episodes less severe. Anti-inflammatory medications include amino-salicylates, or 5-ASAs, and corticosteroids. Each individual has a different response to treatment, and surgery to remove part of the intestine can help children who do not respond to these medications, according to IUHealth Riley.

Nutritional therapy for Crohn’s disease helps prevent symptoms of malnutrition resulting from malabsorption. You will need to experiment to see which foods are best for you, since people have different responses. You may have lactose intolerance and need to limit your intake of dairy products, and chances are good that you can benefit from limiting saturated fat, which is in butter, cream and high-fat meats. Many people find that cabbage, broccoli and raw fruits and vegetables make symptoms worse, but you may be able to get your fiber from cooked fruits and vegetables instead. Children who eat more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk for developing Crohn’s disease.

Dietary supplements can counter the effects of malabsorption and keep you healthy. Vitamin B-12 injections can prevent anemia and growth stunting in children. Calcium and vitamin D supplements support strong bones. Children can take advantage of intravenous feeding to get more calories and protein and support normal growth. Emerging research suggests that omega-three fatty acids, which are in fatty fish and cod liver oil, may reduce inflammation. Supplements of probiotics, or healthy bacteria, can help fight diarrhea. Specialists in digestive diseases can help you develop an appropriate diet and supplement plan to stay healthy.

Support

Support is a critical, often overlooked, component of managing Crohn’s disease. Support groups are encouraging settings to make friends and exchange information. Because they are highly aware of their special treatment and differences from their classmates, children with Crohn’s disease have an especially great need for interacting with their peers with the same condition. Associations such as the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America have local chapters to organize meetings.

Support groups reduce stress and make daily life easier for caregivers. These meetings give caregivers the chance to leave the home and talk to people in their situations. Activities completely unrelated to caregiving, such as group exercise classes at a local gym, are great stress relievers, too.

Conclusion

Crohn’s disease may not have a cure, but you can certainly do your part to control it. If you have Crohn’s disease, or you are helping to care for someone who does, remember that your extra effort can keep flare-ups milder and less frequent. Explore the dietary and lifestyle changes to find the ones that are best for your individual situation, and keep watching the news for the latest research on understanding and treating Crohn’s disease.

Symptoms in mouth associated with Crohn’s Disease

Posted on February 3, 2012 by easyemu

I found a great article here concerning mouth lesions in Crohn’s Disease patients. Crohn’s Disease is frequently referred to as a disease of the small intestine, however, Crohn’s can impact any portion of a patient’s digestive tract from mouth to anus. This article highlights concerns about the mouth in Crohn’s Disease patients. There is frequent swelling of the lips and painful ulcers that manifest themselves in the mouth. There are also frequent over-growths of skin in the mouth. Cavities are a big concern in Crohn’s Disease sufferers and they occur quite often. It is recommended that Crohn’s Disease patients go to the dentist for routine checkups and cleaning at minimum every six months.

Crohn’s Disease and trips to developing countries

Posted on January 27, 2012 by easyemu

I found an article on Crohn’s Disease here that covers a scientific study by researchers from Israel that concluded if an IBD patient has been symptom free for three months than they are at no greater risk of illness when traveling abroad compared to travelers who do not suffer from Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis. On our main site we have a page concerning Traveling with Crohn’s Disease that deals with considerations to make when going on a trip.

The exciting thing about the research study that was published in the February issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is that it provides scientific evidence that encourages Crohn’s Disease patients to travel. For years the emotional benefits of traveling and enjoying ones life were touted as being important in managing Crohn’s but now there is data that shows the potential downsides to foreign travel by increased chances of illness are negligible.

Furthermore, the MSN article I linked to states that people who are inside that three month window or have active Crohn’s Disease see no impact of additional illness and complications when traveling to Developing nations, while on the other hand traveling to Developed nations does in fact have a significantly more negative impact on a traveler. So the way I read this is that there are environmental factors in the Developed World that will exacerbate Crohn’s symptoms but these factors are absent in Developing nations. That is remarkable.

IBD on the rise, Crohn’s and Colitis more common in developed world

Posted on January 15, 2012 by easyemu

Found this article here discussing a world-wide comprehensive study on the rates of inflammatory bowel disease incidence throughout the world. It was discovered that the rates of Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and other forms of inflammatory bowel disease are on the rise or stable in developed nations. Cases are less prevalent in nations that are developing. The researchers posit that as nations go through industrialization, people are exposed to a less diverse selection of microbes which leads to a less robust immune system giving rise to auto-immune diseases. The study will be used to determine how much funding should go to treating and researching these sorts of diseases. I would like to know at what point should these auto-immune diseases be considered an epidemic?

Climate and Crohn’s Disease

Posted on January 12, 2012 by easyemu

I found this link that links climate to Crohn’s Disease. The research shows that women who live in sunny climates are less likely to develop Irritable Bowel Disease. The study began in 1976 and covered 238,000 women taking part in the Nurses’ Health Study program. It was discovered that women living in the southern United States were 52% less likely to develop Crohn’s Disease by age 30 and 38% less likely to develop Ulcerative Colitis than those living in the North.

The study suggests that exposure to UV light may lower one’s risk of Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis. Vitamin D is developed in the body when a person is exposed to UV light and Vitamin D plays a role in regulating the immune system and inflammation. The researchers caution against assuming that taking Vitamin D supplements can cure your ailments. There are plenty of studies that show a simple Vitamin D deficiency does not in and of itself cause Crohn’s Disease. There are numerous other factors that go into causing Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis.

We have cited similar research in the past here.

Another Accutane Crohn’s Disease story

Posted on January 5, 2012 by easyemu

Browsing news articles I ran across this lawyer site that I have seen before. Notice in the link a story about a man in Texas who’s father used Accutane in the past before the son was born. The son ended up being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and both son and father allege that it was due to the Accutane. This is really interesting as I have seen literature that states there is a link between Crohn’s Disease and using Accutane but this is the first time I have seen accusations that Accutane can pass on Crohn’s Disease to offspring.

I attempted to find out more about the case but could only find this information here that simply shows the lawsuit has indeed been filed in the Texas Southern District Court.

Endometriosis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Posted on December 24, 2011 by easyemu

I found two sites reporting on an article that appeared in the journal Gut. Researchers have discovered a correlation between Endometriosis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Women who have Endometriosis are 1.5 times as likely to have inflammatory bowel disease later in life; up to 20 years later before the onset of symptoms.

In the study, of 320 women who developed IBD, 92 suffered from Crohn’s Disease, the remaining 228 developed Ulcerative Colitis. Currently, no cause for the link is known. It could be a relationship between the two diseases each of which is autoimmune in nature. It could also be caused by medication or procedures arising from the treatment of Endometriosis. Further studies are warranted to investigate the relationship.

Obamacare? It’s called the Affordable Care Act you twits.

Posted on December 15, 2011 by easyemu

I ran across this article slamming CBS for shoddy journalism about the Affordable Care Act. Apparently the author of the article believes that CBS is secretly spreading Obama propaganda.

In the news story from CBS that the article takes offense to, Wyatt Andrews speaks of early successes of the Affordable Care Act where children under the age of 25 can remain on the parent’s health insurance even if they are not dependents. Andrews interviews Caryn Powers, a young woman who suffers from Crohn’s Disease and can afford proper care because of the Affordable Care Act. There are probably a lot of folks out there in Caryn’s situation and I would say that her being able to afford proper medical care is a good thing, but author of the article Matthew Balan does not think of this as a success. He would like for Caryn to have a miserable existence I suppose because in his opinion it “increases the cost of health care premiums”. The truth is that there are many, many changes to health care due to the Affordable Care Act, many which in turn lower premiums, and the truth is the law as designed should lower the average cost of health care for Americans. I would say that Balan is far more biased in his article then Wyatt Andrews in his news clip because Balan insists on using the term “Obamacare”.

I would like to add another future success of the Affordable Care Act for Crohn’s Disease patients in 2014, and that is when the No Discrimination Based on Pre-existing Condition or Gender provision takes effect. This is a huge win for patients with a chronic disease. It means that if you do not currently have insurance because no one will extend it to you or because you cannot afford sky high discriminatory prices, then you will be able to get it. There are also currently affordable state plans in place to bridge the gap from now until 2014. This means that if you suffer from a chronic disease and you currently are in a group plan through say your employer, you will not have to make important life decisions like moving to a new area solely on your ability to get a job with an employer sponsored group health plan. If you are in a group plan but want to leave your job and say start a small business, you have nothing to fear about losing your benefits, because there will be affordable care options due to the non-discrimination policy concerning pre-existing conditions.

Refusing to give in to Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Posted on December 6, 2011 by easyemu

Today’s post is an inspirational one. People know that inflammatory bowel disease sucks and it can degrade your quality of life. There are times when a Crohn’s Disease patient may not want to get up out of their bed but they insist on getting up and going into work like everyone else because they don’t want to allow the disease to rule their lives. There are also those who are somehow able to go beyond making it day to day and truly do some remarkable things that many people without Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis are not even capable of doing. Here are two recent stories that show some of the things Crohn’s patients are capable of.

Article one is about an Alabama youth who is bicycling across the United States from South Carolina starting at the Atlantic Ocean and ending up in Los Angeles where he will proceed to the Pacific Ocean. Quite an accomplishment for anyone, especially impressive is the fact this guy suffers from Ulcerative Colitis.

Article two is about a High School band teacher who is 55, has been battling Crohn’s Disease for 15 years, battled through two other simultaneous diseases that required chemotherapy for treatment, and while he did have to miss a lot of time in the classroom recently, he was able to ensure that he made all of his band student’s events throughout his trials.

Face it, both these guys are hard core, one bikes across America and the other battles three diseases at once while enduring chemo and he does not miss a single band event! That is dedication. This just goes to show you, if you have Crohn’s Disease it does not mean that your life is over. Your life will be different, but you can still thrive.

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