Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Crohns Disease Definition

Question:
What is Crohns?

Answer:
Your immune system fights your intestines as it would an infection, and each time it fights, it causes more scar tissue, eventually causing a rupture (which happened to me).  There is no cure for this disease; maintenance by meds is the only way to help you other than surgery... Crohn's is a yucky chronic disease that can affect anywhere along your digestive tract. It is caused (they think, but are not 100%) that it is caused by an over-active immune system, where the body attacks itself, and it tends to run in families. It can make you nauseous, give you stomach problems, heartburn, vomiting, and diarrhea with or without blood and/or mucous, intestinal blockages, lots of abdominal and sometimes lower back pain. It can also cause a host of other problems like fistulas (an opening from the intestine to another organ or to the skin that leaks the intestine's contents) or anal problems like hemorrhoids (Swollen blood vessels, internal or external around the anus), fissures (painful cracks) or skin tags (abnormal growth of skin). It also causes you not to absorb all the nutrients from your food (malabsorbtion), and you could get anemia from loss of blood or malabsorbtion. It is not contagious and it can not be cured. It makes your intestines inflamed, usually where the small and large intestine meet, on the lower right quadrant of your abdomen. The inflammation can cause scar tissue and narrowing of the intestine causing blockages. It can also affect your joints (arthritis) and even cause eye infections. A lot of people with Crohn's have other problems, like allergies, asthma, or other auto-immune diseases, like Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, or even Multiple Sclerosis. People are usually diagnosed with it when they are 15-30, but it can happen at any age. It is treated with potent drugs with terrible side effects, such as steroids or immune system suppressants, or you can have surgery to remove the messed up piece of intestine. It usually comes back after surgery. Sometimes a doctor will recommend TPN, or Total Parental Nutrition, where nutrition is fed through your veins, and you don't eat anything at all for months at a time. You cannot tell if a person has Crohn's by looking at them, but sometimes they will have lost a lot of weight, be pale from anemia, and have very little energy from not absorbing the nutrients correctly. They usually have a lot of pain, and I know for me, that I am constantly on pain meds. When I tell people about Crohn's, I just say that my immune system is attacking my digestive tract.