Crohn's Disease:
Understanding the Symptoms and Causes |
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If you have been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, your first step in approaching the illness should be to become informed about your condition. The symptoms of Crohn's Disease are widely varied, as are the treatment options. Treatment may depend on the specific symptoms of Crohn's Disease that you experience. Always discuss treatment options and your symptoms with your physician.
Crohn's Disease is a form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It can affect the entire digestive tract, but it is marked by the presence of inflammation in the intestines. Crohn's Disease symptoms include serious pain, severe diarrhea, fevers, hemorrhoids, and anemia due to internal bleeding. Each symptom may be treated separately, and the overall condition can be treated with short term or long term options, depending on the stage and severity.
Treatment for hemorrhoids can involve over-the-counter or prescription drugs to reduce the painful irritation and bleeding. The anemia may involve blood transfusions, and supplements to replace iron lost. The diarrhea can involve anti-diarrheal agents, and the avoidance of dehydration by continued replacement of fluids. Dietary adjustments may help with the diarrhea, and nutrition plays an important role in keeping strong and healthy while fighting the illness.
The pain of Crohn's Disease may be treated with steroids to reduce the inflammation, as a short term option. Doctors are reluctant to use this option long term because steroids can cause further illnesses, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and glaucoma. Long term treatment of the inflammation and related pain may involve a type of drug called salycicates. You are probably familiar with salycicates already; one form is Aspirin. Prescription salycicates include sulfasalazine, mesalamine, olsalazine, or balsalazide. Salycicates also help to reduce the Crohn's related fevers.
Depending on the theoretical cause and overall effect of your Crohn's Disease, your doctor may prescribe a class of drugs called immunomodulating drugs. These medicines alter and control your immune system, reducing the immune defensive response. In this case, the aim would be to lessen or halt the immune system’s attack of tissue in your digestive tract. This attack occurs because the immune system mistakenly identifies the tissue as being a foreign body. The use of immunomodulating drugs must be carefully monitored and regulated, because the compromise of the immune system could lead to further infection. With care, this can be avoided.
In extreme cases surgery may be necessary. This type of surgery, called an ileostomy, removes severely affected tissue. Doctors use this as a last resort, because surgery does not cure Crohn's Disease, it only temporarily treats it, and it is a strain on the body. However, for those whose illness has progressed to a severe point, surgery may be a welcome option for the alleviation of troublesome symptoms.
Finally, some patients opt for naturopathic or homeopathic options for the treatment of Crohn's Disease, either as the total treatment, or with traditional medicinal treatment. These options include the addition of vitamin and herbal supplements to the management routine. Always consult your physician before taking herbs and supplements and make sure to continue getting all the proper testing done while on these treatments.
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