Crohn's Disease

Introduction

Crohn’s disease(named after Dr.Crohn who described the disease in 1930) is chronic or long standing disease of your gastrointestinal tract. It may effect any segment of your bowel, but ileum ,the most terminal part of small is most commonly effected. Along with ulcerative colitis, it is one of inflammatory bowel disease(IBD) effecting your intestinal tract. The disease is characterized by development of deep ulcers of your effected bowel segment. Crohn’s disease causes swelling, ulceration, scaring and obstruction in your intestine. Ulceration effects all the layers of bowel and at times penetrates the lumen to involve surrounding tissues and organs.  

Life Style, Support and Prevention

Diet

Inadvertently, what you eat affects your biological system regardless of whether there is proof or not. Crohn’s disease directly affects the ileum (small bowel) but it is most likely disturb the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) too. In that case, it is better that precautions be taken when it comes to diet.

Ÿ   For starters, if you’re suffering from Crohn’s disease, you will invariably be anemic (suffering from an iron, folic acid and/or vitamin B12 deficiency). For this, you need to add beef liver, fish and shellfish, yoghurt, spinach and asparagus into your diet.

Ÿ   Although beans and cereal are also rich in these three natural ingredients, specialists recommend that the former be avoided because they produce gas and the latter, because it adds residue to the stool - both of which could worsen the situation.

Ÿ   A high-protein, high-calorie diet should be taken in order to get all the necessary nutrients. Just because a certain type of food triggers your condition doesn’t mean you avoid it. For instance, lactose-intolerant people can take dairy products after taking their respective medication. If a certain vegetable doesn’t suit you in raw form, you can steam or boil it before eating it.

Ÿ   As much as a person with Crohn’s disease needs to stock up on the essential nutrients, it is better if a large number of small meals be taken throughout the day than two or three big meals.

Ÿ   Where you are advised to completely cut carbonated and alcoholic drinks from your diet, you are advised to drink plenty of liquids which you can take in the form of fresh fruit juices, milkshakes and water. Liquids are much recommended because your intestines cannot absorb whole foods if you have Crohn’s disease.

Ÿ   Vitamin and mineral supplements can be taken with your physician’s advise.

Smoking

 Smoking was never and will never be a habit that is actually good for your health but when it comes to Crohn’s disease, it is said that quitting smoking automatically slashes a person’s risk of developing the disease or having it flare up.

 If you go on smoking anyway while you have Crohn’s, you will, most likely, be needing surgery.

Ÿ   Getting over smoking may sound difficult but you can quickly get over it by first replacing cigarettes with nicotine patches and then get rid of those too, altogether. These patches transfer nicotine into the body via the skin.

Stress

Ÿ   People normally tend to stress themselves out but a person with Crohn’s disease will relatively be worse due to his or her ill health and physical condition. There are many ways of combating stress. The ones below have proven to be very useful.

Ÿ   Practice breathing exercises. Take a deep breath in, expand your lungs as much as you can and let it out slowly through pursed lips.

Ÿ   Take up yoga classes or an extramural activity that will keep you busy.

 Whenever you have doubts about your condition such as, “Am I worsening?” or “Will I ever be okay?”, do not hesitate to consult your family physician. Talking to an educated medical professional and gaining better understanding of your disease is far better than staying in the dark and mulling over your state incessantly.

Ÿ   Focus more on your routine than on your condition. This may sound easier said than done but once you make up your mind, you can feel better just by concentrating less on your ill health.