What is Crohn's Disease
Hi everyone, hope everyone is doing well . In todays blog I am going to be telling you abit about Crohn's Disease.
Crohn's Disease is an auto immune condition which means the body's immune system attacks the gastrointestial tract and it can cause inflammation anywhere in the digestive track. Crohn's disease is a lifelong illness, but there can be long periods of good health. There is some people that think Crohns is infectious but it is not.
The symptoms of Crohn's Disease can vary from person to person, the most common symptoms of a Crohn's flare up is abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Other symptoms of a flare up is mucus, pus or blood mixed with diarrhoea, extreme tiredness, loss of appetite, weight loss and anaemia.
Complications of Crohn's can be a stricture (a narrowing in the digestive tract), Fistula's (an abnormal connection or passageway) and Perforation (a hole in the wall of the bowel).
Crohn's Disease can also affect other parts of the body,
The tests that doctors use to diagnose Crohn's are
The treatment for Crohn's Disease can be drugs or surgery. Some drugs that are used to treat Crohn's are Anti-imflammatory drugs (corticosteroids, 5ASA, Immumodulators and Anti-TNFs), and Antibiotics (metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, tetracyclines, rifaximin, rifanutin, clarithtomyin and clofazamine).
There has been much research gone into finding out what causes Crohn's Disease and in recent years there has been many advances but at the moment they still don't know what causes it.
Unfortunately at the moment there is no cure for Crohn's Disease.
Crohn's Disease is an auto immune condition which means the body's immune system attacks the gastrointestial tract and it can cause inflammation anywhere in the digestive track. Crohn's disease is a lifelong illness, but there can be long periods of good health. There is some people that think Crohns is infectious but it is not.
The symptoms of Crohn's Disease can vary from person to person, the most common symptoms of a Crohn's flare up is abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Other symptoms of a flare up is mucus, pus or blood mixed with diarrhoea, extreme tiredness, loss of appetite, weight loss and anaemia.
Complications of Crohn's can be a stricture (a narrowing in the digestive tract), Fistula's (an abnormal connection or passageway) and Perforation (a hole in the wall of the bowel).
Crohn's Disease can also affect other parts of the body,
- Joint's - it can causes inflammation in the joints
- Skin - the most common skin problem is erythema nodosum, pyodrema gangrenosum is a less common.
- Eyes - Eye problems are less common but there are a couple of conditions that can affect the eyes, episcleritis and uveitis.
- Bones - People with Crohn's are at risk of developing weakened bones, due to poor absorption and steriod medication.
- Liver - Sometimes people can develop gallstones (about one in four according to Crohn's and Colitis UK), there is also a condition called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (which affects about 1 to 25 according Chrohn's and Colitis UK).
- Veins - People with Crohn's have an increased chance of developing blood clots.
The tests that doctors use to diagnose Crohn's are
- Blood tests
- Endoscopy
- Capsule Endoscopy
- Coloscopy
- Barium X-ray's
- White Cell Scans
The treatment for Crohn's Disease can be drugs or surgery. Some drugs that are used to treat Crohn's are Anti-imflammatory drugs (corticosteroids, 5ASA, Immumodulators and Anti-TNFs), and Antibiotics (metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, tetracyclines, rifaximin, rifanutin, clarithtomyin and clofazamine).
There has been much research gone into finding out what causes Crohn's Disease and in recent years there has been many advances but at the moment they still don't know what causes it.
Unfortunately at the moment there is no cure for Crohn's Disease.
Disclaimer - I have no medical training the information in these blogs are from knowledge I have picked up over the years and my personal own experience of Crohn's Disease
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