Crohns

[catwitch]

My stepdaughter was recently told that her stomach pain is "probably" IBS. I was told that it was not damaging to her, just an annoying problem. My question is, can it lead to Crohns? and what treatment is there for IBS? We are just gathering information on this problem.

[vaknitter]

IBS cannot "turn into" Crohn's. It may be in fact that she has Crohn's, but Crohn's is diagnosed by intestinal biopsy. Not to be graphic, but Crohn's or Ulcerative colitis typically involves weight loss and bloody bowel movements.

Don't know how old your daughter is, but I know as a kid I got stomach aches when I got a UTI. IBS typically involves more than just stomach pain - there is either extreme constipation or diarhea. If the pains are bad and/or frequent you need to pursue this with her MD. You can also look for a pattern in what she eats and when she hurts. Beef, dairy products, fresh veggies, caffiene are all pretty hard on our systems and she may need to take a break from them for a little while. There is also a chance that she has mild chronic constipation and that she needs to increase her fiber intake and move her bowels more often.

Best of Luck

[tokmom]

Ow, the poor guy! I feel for him!

[Knitting_Guy]

My stepdaughter was recently told that her stomach pain is "probably" IBS. I was told that it was not damaging to her, just an annoying problem. My question is, can it lead to Crohns? and what treatment is there for IBS? We are just gathering information on this problem.

IBS and Crohn's are completely different conditions and, while the symptoms are nearly identical, they are unrelated. To make a diagnosis of IBS they would first have to do physical exams, including colonoscopy and possible biopsy, to rule out Crohn's and other similar conditions. I've been through all the tests, more than once.

If I were you I'd see a specialist and not accept IBS as a diagnosis without extensive testing to make sure it isn't Crohn's or colon cancer.

While IBS is often quite painful, and very inconvenient, it isn't at all fatal. The worst it does is at times one may experience ruptures in intestinal blood vessels from the spasms, resulting in bloody stools. In and of themselves they aren't serious and heal on their own, but can be scary for someone who hasn't experienced this before. There are also two types of IBS, "D" type which results in near constant diarrhea, and "C" type which results in almost constant constipation. Both result from the digestive system's inability to process water correctly, but are treated differently.

Get her checked and don't accept and "lazy" diagnosis.

[Puddinpop]

I have ulcerative colitis. When mine got very bad, they talked about a transfusion. I don't remember the details because, when I went to the doctor thinking I would have this done, he decided he would try 9 pills of Colazal a day,3, 3 and 3. This has worked for me and I have been on this for several years. When mine got so bad, it was a combination of colitis and Graves Desease. I also had my thyroid removed.

[Knit4Fun]

I just found this thread and wanted to take a minute and chime in.
DH has suffered from Crohn's since he was a teenager - he was hospitalized several times during his college years - and had a really rough time during several stretches in his life.

He ended up with a fibrotic area in his small intestine two years ago, so they had to do surgery to remove that area (they removed a couple inch section of small bowel) because it was so inflamed that he couldn't keep anything down. The first time it happened, they tried simply giving him anti-inflammatories to see if that would do the trick, but since it came back and likely would keep doing so, the decision was made to do surgery. He was very uncomfortable for a while afterward, but it was nothing compared to the pain and discomfort of not being able to keep food or liquid down!

Right after the surgery, he and his doctor decided to give Remicade a try. He goes in to the hospital as an outpatient and receives some Benadryl and then the two hour Remicade treatment. His only discomfort is if the nurse doesn't do a good job with the IV line. He is in a room with up to three other people and usually falls asleep during the treatment (due to the Benadryl and probably the boredom). He takes the rest of the day off afterward and comes home to have lunch and take a nice loooong nap.

The Remicade treatments are so expensive...if we did not have insurance coverage, we would not be able to do them at $4000+/treatment (treatments are every other month). But thank God they have kept the Crohn's in remission since he started them. That isn't to say that he feels worse when stressed, and it doesn't fix all the symptoms but it does keep them from getting worse and impacting his daily life even more. He tried all the other remedies (medication, supplements, therapies of all sorts) and this was the best solution for him.

Remicade has come with some side effects for DH - namely, he sometimes gets red spots that kind of look like pimples without heads but they do not itch - a few hurt, but most don't feel any different. His doctor said that it could be a remnant of infection trying to escape the body as a result of the powerful immune-suppressant Remicade. Not sure if that's what it is or not, but it's one more thing to deal with for poor DH. But as he says...red spots are preferable to a full-blown Crohn's attack.

Hope that helps at least a little...

[tokmom]

I just found this thread and wanted to take a minute and chime in.
DH has suffered from Crohn's since he was a teenager - he was hospitalized several times during his college years - and had a really rough time during several stretches in his life.

He ended up with a fibrotic area in his small intestine two years ago, so they had to do surgery to remove that area (they removed a couple inch section of small bowel) because it was so inflamed that he couldn't keep anything down. The first time it happened, they tried simply giving him anti-inflammatories to see if that would do the trick, but since it came back and likely would keep doing so, the decision was made to do surgery. He was very uncomfortable for a while afterward, but it was nothing compared to the pain and discomfort of not being able to keep food or liquid down!

Right after the surgery, he and his doctor decided to give Remicade a try. He goes in to the hospital as an outpatient and receives some Benadryl and then the two hour Remicade treatment. His only discomfort is if the nurse doesn't do a good job with the IV line. He is in a room with up to three other people and usually falls asleep during the treatment (due to the Benadryl and probably the boredom). He takes the rest of the day off afterward and comes home to have lunch and take a nice loooong nap.

The Remicade treatments are so expensive...if we did not have insurance coverage, we would not be able to do them at $4000+/treatment (treatments are every other month). But thank God they have kept the Crohn's in remission since he started them. That isn't to say that he feels worse when stressed, and it doesn't fix all the symptoms but it does keep them from getting worse and impacting his daily life even more. He tried all the other remedies (medication, supplements, therapies of all sorts) and this was the best solution for him.

Remicade has come with some side effects for DH - namely, he sometimes gets red spots that kind of look like pimples without heads but they do not itch - a few hurt, but most don't feel any different. His doctor said that it could be a remnant of infection trying to escape the body as a result of the powerful immune-suppressant Remicade. Not sure if that's what it is or not, but it's one more thing to deal with for poor DH. But as he says...red spots are preferable to a full-blown Crohn's attack.

Hope that helps at least a little...

I bet that is what the drug is. Soo expensive!! Everyone that suffers this has my sympathy. What a horrible disease to have your entire life.

[Jan in CA]

I have no input, but I'll say the cost of medication is a crime. When you hear how well the pharmaceutical companies are doing and then the people struggling to pay for medication it's shocking.

[auburnchick]

The cost is why my dh quit doing the treatments. It's too bad that good treatment is only an option for the wealthy.

[Knit4Fun]

At some point, our healthcare system has to change. Maybe when the babyboomers are all in need of medications and cannot afford them. Maybe when a high profile politician has a family member die and it could have been prevented but for the cost of treatment. Maybe it will take a celebrity to really get on the bandwagon about this. Or maybe we can all work really hard to find AND fund preventative education programs to help reduce dependence on medicine. Not saying there isn't a very valid need for it, but our society is trained by drug companies to reach for a pill anytime life isn't perfect. If we leave the medication for the truly sick people who are suffering and need it, then maybe we can get the pharm companies to focus more on prevention or market wellness instead of illness.

The simple reason why medications cost so much is that the pharmaceutical companies can charge what they do and get away with it because enough people have health insurance to afford the drugs but the profit margin balances out with those that don't but can still afford the medicine. I certainly believe that there are well-meaning people who work for pharm companies, but there is also unbelievable greed in some of these companies as well.

I once read a really interesting history of medicine that discussed an ancient system of Chinese healthcare in which doctors ONLY got paid if their patient was still well when they came in for their regular check-up. If they were sick or diseased, the doctor didn't get paid because they had failed the patient by not helping to keep them well. Food for thought, isn't it? We get what we focus on and our society focuses so much more on disease then prevention or education.

Okay, off my soapbox.