Understanding what exactly is Crohn’s disease
Crohn’s disease is a type of long-term inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in which there are patches or segments of inflammation in any part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus. With Crohn’s disease, inflammation is most often found in the lower part of the small intestine (the terminal ileum) and the upper part of the large intestine (the ileum). People with Crohn’s disease can have problems with the whole inside of their intestines. When there’s a lot of inflammation in the intestine, it can make it very narrow or make tunnels through the intestine wall called fistulas, which can connect to other parts of the intestine or even to your skin.
What are the reasons behind Crohn’s Disease?
The exact reason isn’t known yet. What experts do know is that a person’s immune system response is too strong because of a mix of genetic and environmental factors. (The immune system response is the body’s way of protecting itself from bacteria and viruses) When the body goes into overdrive, it causes the gut to become inflamed. People who have Crohn’s disease don’t know for sure that a certain diet or stressor causes it.
Is there a cure for Crohn’s Disease?
Because there is no cure, about three-quarters of a million people in the United States have it. Most often, it shows up between the ages of 10 and 40, with a second peak of people in their 60s who have it. Crohn’s disease is more common in rich countries than in poor countries. The rate of occurrence has been going up for a long time. There is a chance that Crohn’s disease runs in families, but many people don’t have relatives who have the same disease. Men and women are both affected.
How is Crohn’s Disease diagnosed?
When someone is being evaluated, blood and stool tests are a common part of the process. There is no single blood or stool test that can be used to make a definite diagnosis. A combination of colonoscopy and imaging tests is usually used to find out if someone has Crohn’s disease.
Colonoscopy is a procedure in which a small camera is attached to a lighted, flexible tube that is inserted into the rectum and used to look at the entire colon and, more often, the end of the ileum. Medicines are given to make the patient feel better. Colon tissue is cut up into small pieces to look at under a microscope during a pain-free biopsy.
In addition, Crohn’s disease can be seen by other imaging tests, like a CT scan, an MRI, or barium x-rays. When imaging tests are done, most of the time they don’t need to be done in a hospital or with sedative medicines.
What are the signs and symptoms of Crohn’s?
Most people who have Crohn’s disease have bouts of symptoms that aren’t very predictable. These bouts of symptoms are usually caused by active disease or inflammation, but they can also be caused by not having any symptoms at all for a while at a time. During flares, people can have diarrhea, lose weight, or have abdominal cramps or pain. People with this type of IBD are less likely to have blood in their stool than people with ulcerative colitis, but it can still happen.
What is the cure for Crohn’s disease?
Many medicines and sometimes surgery are used to treat Crohn’s disease. Unfortunately, medicine doesn’t have a cure for this. The goal of treatment is to lessen the inflammation in the intestines and to keep the symptoms from getting worse, as well as to keep the condition from getting worse and getting worse, too. A treatment goal is to avoid long-term use of steroids (like prednisone) because they can have side effects.
Many patients are treated with medicines called biological therapies that are made by scientists. These medicines can be given as shots or through an intravenous (IV) line. People with IBD may be able to go to a treatment center where they can have medicines injected for a few hours and then go home. Use an immunomodulator to help your body fight off the disease.
Some people can benefit from taking medicines called immunomodulators, which work to “turn down” the immune system’s response. These medicines are similar to those used to keep a person’s immune system from rejecting an organ transplant, but they aren’t the same. These drugs are the most commonly used in this group. Azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine, and methotrexate are three of them.
Are there any side effects from Crohn’s?
There are many things that can happen to people with Crohn’s disease that aren’t caused by the disease itself. These things can include bleeding, blockages in the intestine, and pockets of infection called abscesses. Minor infections are usually treated with oral antibiotics and don’t need to be taken to the hospital. They might need to be drained. Crohn’s disease can also make other parts of the body not work the way they should. Certain skin conditions, some types of arthritis, and some eye problems could be among them. People who have Crohn’s disease for a long time are more likely to get certain tumors, like skin and colon cancer. Skin exams, Pap smears, colonoscopes, and other checks should be kept up to date.
Final words
People with Crohn’s live full, productive lives and have healthy children. Most people with Crohn’s disease do well. We don’t know how to cure Crohn’s disease, so it’s important for people with the disease to be involved in their care, follow medical advice, and keep copies of their medical records and test results. This can be done digitally, but paper records are also very important for this kind of thing. Always seek the assistance of a reputed healthcare practitioner, and you can easily stay away from encountering more serious health issues.
