›› Crohn's Disease
Crohn's disease is a
progressive disease of the gastro-intestinal tract that is considered
an autoimmune disorder. It’s related to ulcerative
colitis in that they both involve heavy inflammation of the GI tract,
but where ulcerative colitis always targets the colon,
Crohn’s disease can target any part of the GI tract from the
mouth to the anus. Typically, Crohn’s disease only
affects areas of the large intestine. Because
Crohn’s disease is most commonly associated with the large
intestine, the most common symptoms are diarrhea or constipation, and
abdominal pain and cramping.
Like all autoimmune disorders, Crohn’s disease is a pretty
serious condition, and there isn’t really any cure for
it. There are some new treatments available, but nothing that
will cure it outright. Some people seem to get occasionally
flare ups from their Crohn’s disease, but more or less live
normal lives. Others suffer from chronic flare ups their
entire lives, which can sometimes lead to more serious complications.
So it’s not really the best thing to have, but it
isn’t always severe. One of my good friends in
college had Crohn’s disease but you wouldn’t ever
know it. He’d apparently had a couple of flare-ups
in high school, but hasn’t had one since and he’s
almost 30 now.
The medications you take if you are having a flare up are basically
immunosuppressant sorts of drugs and of course steroids, neither of
which aren’t really all that pleasant to take. They
both have a lot of side effects, and the immunosupressants boost your
chances of getting some kind of opportunistic infection.
Crohn’s disease isn’t at all contagious, and it
isn’t really well understood what causes it. The
immune system is a very complicated thing, and we have only a very
limited understanding of it. Genetics, stress, and viruses
are all commonly thought to cause autoimmune disorders like
Crohn’s disease, but there isn’t any really strong
connections to anything. Crohn’s disease does seem
to run in families (my friend’s dad also had it) so there
probably is a genetic component to it.
If you think you may have Crohn’s disease, you probably
don’t. First of all it’s a pretty rare
condition, and there are literally hundreds of other diseases out there
with the same types of symptoms. The kind of pain and
diarrhea you get with Crohn’s is a lot more severe that the
normal kind, so don’t freak out if you are experiencing some
mild discomfort. If you want to know more about it, ask your
doctor!
››
A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
