First let’s meet the players:
A little about me
My name is Natalie. I am 31 years old (almost 32), the
mother of two boys and married to a great man. I live in Riverton, Utah. I
attend Salt Lake Community College and work full time as an Administrative
Assistant at Canyons School District. One day I hope to work in a laboratory or
inspire students as a science teacher.
A little about Crohn’s
What is Crohn’s Disease anyways?
Crohn’s is named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn, who along with his
colleagues first described the disease in 1932. Crohn’s is part of a group of
conditions known as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). Crohn’s is a chronic
inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. While Crohn’s causes similar
symptoms as Ulcerative Colitis (UC), it is not the same and can infect other
areas of the digestive tract. Where Ulcerative Colitis is only found in the
colon (large intestine), Crohn’s can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract
from mouth to anus. Crohn’s also affects the entire thickness of the bowel
walls, where as UC only involves the innermost lining of the colon.
What are the symptoms of Crohn’s?
Symptoms are different from patient to patient but the most
common include:
Persistent Diarrhea
Rectal bleeding
Urgent need to move bowels
Abdominal cramps and pain
Sensation of incomplete evacuation
Constipation (can lead to bowel obstructions)
Other symptoms that are related to Crohn’s:
Fever
Loss of appetite
Weight Loss
Fatigue
Night sweats
Loss of normal menstrual cycle
Crohn’s patients often have low energy and feel tired all
the time. Crohn’s is a chronic disease, which means that patients will have
more symptoms during a flare of the disease and then have periods of remission
when they may experience no symptoms at all.
What causes Crohn’s Disease?
Men and women are both equally likely to get Crohn’s and as
many as 700,000 Americans are affected. Crohn’s can occur at any age, but
usually affects adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 35. The
cause is not exactly known and even though diet and stress can aggravate
Crohn’s, they do not cause the disease on their own. Research suggests that
heredity, genetics and/or environmental factors contribute to the development
of Crohn’s. Crohn’s causes the immune system to attack the body’s good bacteria
and kill many of them in your gastrointestinal tract as well as attacks the
tissues of the gastrointestinal tract.
For more information on Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis visit
the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s webpage: http://www.ccfa.org/
Next Week: How I found out I had Crohn’s
