OVERVIEW: CROHN’S DISEASE
Could you imagine not feeling good, day to day? Could you imagine not being able to eat what you want to eat because it will cause your stomach to flare up? Or even to keep running back and forth to the bathroom? Living with Crohn’s disease has those effects on the people who are living with it. According to Medicine Net, “Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease, primarily involving the small and large intestine, but which can affect other parts of the digestive system as well. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and weight loss are common symptoms”. People that live with Crohn’s are living with a daily struggle. It’s important that they’re familiar with this disease, which includes knowing the cause, symptoms, complications and treatments.
Crohn's disease has been difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are similar to other intestinal disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis. “Crohn’s disease is usually located in the last portion of the person’s small intestine…however, develop anywhere in a person’s digestive tract- from the mouth to the anus”, according to Crohn’s disease information. There are several known types of crohn’s disease. “Ileocoltiis, Ileitis, Gastroduodenal Crohn’s Disease, Jejunoileitis and Crohns colitis” (CCFA) are the known types. Each of the types is categorized by which part of the intestine is affected and the symptoms that the person is diagnosed with. It’s important for a person that has crohn’s to find which part of their tract is affected and how it can be treated properly.
Crohn's disease affects men and women equally. According to CCFA, “there are as many as 700,000 Americans are affected with it”. While Crohn’s can af...
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...ly and getting enough sleep will help with dealing with stress, that way the symptoms do not worsen.
Crohn’s disease has spread throughout the world in the past years. More than 700,000 American’s are living with it. Even though Crohn’s is a daily illness, it still doesn’t stop people who have it from living a regular life.
With that being said, from his perspective, it’s better to control the disease, don’t let it control you. The increase in reported cases has increased dramatically, which shows something must be done. As of now, researchers are still looking for the cause and cure. Not many people know of this disease being out in the world. It’s important for people to be aware of the people that live with Crohn’s daily struggle. If they’re familiar with the symptoms, complications and treatments of this disease, effort can be put forth so a cure can be found.
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease. It is a fairly common disease that affects a large population causing abdominal pain, frequent bloody stools, and fatigue
Over 200,000 Americans suffer from Crohn’s, according to Dr. Richard Curtis, chief of gastroenterology at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Though the disease does not target a specific age group, certain risk factors do exist. People who have a genetic predisposition to it are more likely to develop Crohn’s, said Dr. Curtis. For example, people who have a close relative with Crohn’s have a 20 percent chance of being diagnosed with it themselves. Crohn’s is more common in Jews than in non-Jews; it is most common in Ashkenazic Jews than any other group.
“Crohn’s disease appears to be caused by a dysfunctional inflammatory response in the gastrointestinal tract” (U. S. News, 2009). Inflammation is the body’s natural way to heal by sending immune cells to the site of the injury or invader. Researchers think that this immune system response may be triggered by bacteria or viruses, material in the intestinal contents, or a defective signal from the body’s own cells, called an autoimmune response. Inflammation results in pain, heat, redness, and swelling of the tissue. Chronic inflammation can harm the function of tissues and organs (U.S. News, 2009).
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory and an autoimmune disease that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s tissue (Rheumatoid arthritis, 2017). This disease affects the entire body, which is called a systemic (means entire body) disease. Arthritis is derived from the word part arthr-, which means “joint,” and -itis, which means “inflammation,” so altogether it means “inflammation of the joints.” It creates inflammation that causes the tissue that lines the inside of joints (synovium) to thicken. About 1.5 million people in the U.S. are affected. It affects all races, but it affects three times as many women than men (What is Rheumatoid Arthritis, n.d.). Overtime, rheumatoid arthritis causes painful swelling that can potentially result in bone erosion or joint deformity, which leads up to physical disabilities. RA can affect more than just your joints, but can spread to body systems, skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood vessels, e.t.c (Rheumatoid arthritis, 2017).
Irregular bowel movements or constipation is quite a major and common concern in adults and babies as well. The condition becomes more challenging when it comes to babies. Parents of infants worry when their infant’s bowel movement is not regular and clear as that causes formation of gas and stomach pain.
Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are both in a category of diseases called Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. This is a classification of disease in which inflammation forms in a part of the digestive tract, known as the gastrointestinal tract or GI tract, of the patient. The immune system then treats this area of inflammation as a foreign pathogen and attacks it. The causes of both of these diseases are currently unknown to the medical world.
Wakefield, A. J., Murch, S. H., Anthony, M. A., Linnell, J., Casson, D. M., Malik, M., Berelowitz, M., Dhillon, A. P., Thomson, M. A., Harvey, P., Valentine, A., Davies, S. E., & Walker-Smith, J. A. (1998). Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Lancet, 351(9103), 637–641.
DO you know what Lupus is? Or do you know anyone with Lupus? You’ll be surprised to know that over 1.5 million people are affected by Lupus and of every 170 people 9 out of 10 of them are women. Even though that Lupus can be dated back to the Greek physician Hippocrates many people are still blind to this disease. Lupus can affect you, your love ones and the people around you because, like many other autoimmune diseases Lupus does not discriminate. I’m surprised that not many people know what Lupus is, especially when someone is diagnosed with lupus every 30 minutes. When I was diagnosed I was relieved to finally know I was not going crazy and there was actually something wrong, but at the same time scared out of my mind because there is no cure. (Rupavate, 2014)
As you can see there are a few common mispellings of Crohn 's Disease. The definition of Crohn 's Disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines, especially the colon and ileum (the 3rd portion of the small intestine, between the jejunum and the cecum), associated with ulcers and fistulae (an abnormal or surgically made passage between a hollow or tubular organ and the body surface, or between two hollow or tubular organs). In layman terms the definition of Crohn 's Disease is best explained as The body 's immune system tries to cure the digestive tract, but the digestive tract does not really need curing because it is not sick. The tissue of the digestive tract then becomes inflamed. The inflammation starts to eat away at the lining o...
Chronic illness issues can include managing their illness, the cost of taking care of the illness, etc. Many people who suffer from a chronic illness suffer a lot trying to manage their illness on a daily basis. According to a website called NCOA.org, “About 80% of older adults have one chronic disease. 68.4% of Medicare beneficiaries have two or more chronic diseases and 36.4% have four or more. Chronic diseases can affect a person’s ability to perform important activities, restricting their engagement in life and their enjoyment of family and friends”
The uncertain nature of chronic illness takes many forms, but all are long-term and cannot be cured. The nature of chronic illness raises hesitation. It can disturb anyone, irrespective of demographics or traditions. It fluctuates lives and generates various inquiries for the patient. Chronic illness few clear features involve: long-lasting; can be managed but not cured; impacts quality of life; and contribute to stress. Chronic illnesses can be enigmatic. They often take considerable time to identify, they are imperceptible and often carry a stigma because there is little sympathetic or social support. Many patients receive inconsistent diagnoses at first and treatments deviate on an individual level. Nevertheless, some circumstances require
Getting sick is another negative factor of being overly stressed. Chronic stress compromises your immune system and stress hormones affect the body’s ability to fight off illness due to the fact that thymus’s ability to stimulate and coordinate the white blood cell activity.
Confronting the experience of being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at a young age and the subsequent years of treatment that went along with it taught me how to take better care of my body and to improve my well-being. This has led to an additional passion of mine—to find innovative ways to encourage individuals to become more engaged in their own health and the health of significant others in their lives. Through public health, changes in an individual can lead
In rare cases when a patient does not respond to drug treatment or diet and lifestyle changes, surgery may be necessary. Doctors will remove part or all of the colon in attempt to stop the condition. Surgeries for UC are generally successful but significantly decrease quality of life because the patient has to deal with frequent stools due to the absence of a colon.
Inflammatory bowel disease is a life long disease, and it particularly targets the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract), which consists of the mouth, esophagus, stomach small intestine, large intestine (appendix, cecum, colon (ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid), and rectum), and anus. The gastrointestinal tract is very important to the human body; some of its functions include mechanical and chemical digestion of food, the movement of food and waste from mouth to anus, secretion of enzymes and mucus, and the absorption of nutrients. These are some reason why it’s so destructive when this part of the body becomes impaired or even damaged.