Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Treatment For Crohn's Disease

Question:
Please excuse me for my ignorance but I am new to the world of colitis and Crohn?s. ?A close friend of mine was recently diagnosed with what the doctor called a mild case of Crohns disease (apparently she has had it for about three years but I guess it hasn't done that much damage yet). She is taking a steroid and antibiotics (I'm sorry I can't be more specific). ?What does she have to look forward to with this kind of treatment (i.e. general ups and downs). ?Is this disease something that can be controlled well with medication? ?Is there anything on the horizon in terms of a cure or more effective treatment?

Answer:
I can't really be of much help except to welcome you here and say that you are in the right location. ?My son had UC (Ulcerative Colitis). ?CD (Crohn's Disease) is a totally different animal. ?However, I know there are lots of GREAT Crohnies out there who will be able to be a resource to you. Hey, don't feel bad -- back when I was diagnosed with CD in the early 80's, no one had heard of it! I don't know exactly how to respond to your question -- the truth is that I don't know any Crohnies with mild cases; we tend to be the hard-core cases here, though I have been told that there are such things as mild cases! To make things worse, every case is really pretty different. If her case is mild and they can find a good drug that she responds to fairly quickly, she may only have mild problems with it the rest of her life. Or it could get worse. No one can really say. As to a cure, well, there isn't one -- yet. Right now there are three great new advances going on that may mean better control of CD for those of us who have had to rely on prednisone all these years. Remicade is already on the market and many people have found relief and remission with it. It is horribly expensive and has to be delivered by IV infusion, and there are still a lot of questions about long term use and safety. Isis Pharmaceuticals has a drug in clinical trials now that is really looking good -- very high rate of inducing remission, very low occurrence of side effects. It put me into remission for 3 months without and steroids, and I am waiting for FDA approval for extended dose trials as my remission ended, unfortunately. Again, it will probably be expensive and it has to be delivered by multiple IV infusions. We are hoping that the early portion of the study can be completed early in 1999. And I understand that there is a third company looking at another completely different mechanism of disease control, but I don't know anything about it. I hope this helps! ?http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Falls/3298/ has more information about IBD and resources available to help! hmm..look forward to? well ..Diarrhea...pain...colonoscopies forever...lotsa golitely skin eruptions of various sorts...joint pain and inflammation like arthritis?in fact they think the two are related moon face and big tummy from prednisone...not to mention mood swings...all sorts of side effects from medication muscle and bone problems...nausea ...vomiting...being on iv...going into the er dehydrated...feeling hungry cos the higher part of your tummy wants food...and being given jello cos the bowel has to rest etc etc etc etc etc etc that?s if it gets bad...there are people who never really get too bad...and people who get somewhat better...there is no cure...there are remissions for the lucky I began ...in the midrange of bad they said...I then progressed??? to the bad range of bad...now I am probably back in the midrange...I was told basically it could go either way...but it would never totally be gone... be supportive...get books on it...there are good books...informative...written by gis my first book on it was edited by peter banks who was my gi...called people...not patients...learning about what I had...etc...and all that ...really helped me to accept it?direct my treatment etc... and get your friend on this board if possible... people here are a great source of information and comfort... (we are pretty good at humor too) well all that time sittin on the toilet...gotta do something...