Adults living with Crohns Disease essays

Adults living with Crohn's Disease essays Crohn's disease is a chronic, nonspecific, idiopathic gastrointestinal inflammatory disease first reported by Dr. Burrill Bernard Crohn in 1932 (Chen, 2000). Crohn's disease can attack any part of the digestive system from the mouth to the anus (Figure I), but most commonly affects the lower portion of the small intestine or the colon. Crohn's disease is a lifelong condition that may move in and out of remission. It presents with multiple complications, both from the disease process itself and from the drugs taken to induce remission. In persons with Crohn's disease, the gastrointestinal tract becomes inflamed and weak, making digestion difficult, leading to a variety of conditions often resulting in general physical debility (Life Extension, 2003). Crohn's disease affects men and women equally and seems to run in some families. About 20 percent of people with Crohn's disease have a blood relative with some form of Intestinal Bowel Disease (IBD) (NDDIC, 2003). Crohn's disease usually begins before age 35, with peak incidence between 14-24 (Chen, 2000). Although patients can treat the symptoms of Crohns Disease, at the present there is no cure, nor definitive cause. The most popular theory is that Crohns is an autoimmune response to a virus or bacterium causing inflammation (NDDIC, 2003). Inflammation occurs when the body's own immune system attacks a part of the intestine, further resulting in thinning of the bowel wall, leading to scarring, thickness, abnormal bowel function, and malabsorption of nutrients. Therefore, suppression of the inflammation is key to decreasing the injurious effects that the immune system inflicts on the Crohn's patient (Life Extension, 2003). The most common symptoms of Crohn's disease usually begin with ulcerations of the mouth, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, rectal bleeding, anorexia and weight loss. As inflammation continues, patients may develop a palpable right lower quad...