Gastrointestinal Symptoms Of Crohn's Disease

Crohn’s disease is a disease that can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract and can have vast negative effects on the body if not caught and treated properly. This gastrointestinal disease affects men and women equally but is found commonly in Caucasians and people of the Jewish-European decent. Crohn’s is also found more commonly in developed countries compared to undeveloped countries. The symptoms for this disease can occur at any age but are usually prevalent among 15 to 35 year olds. Research has only shown speculated ideas of how this disease manifests itself in the body, but researchers have found out that Crohn’s disease is affected by hereditary factors, genetics, and environmental factors. Although there is no cure to Crohn’s
One of those limited answers that have opened up research on Crohn’s is part of the reason why there are a lot of gastrointestinal symptoms, that is because the bacteria in the digestive system is mistaken for harmful invaders so cells travel toward the intestines and cause inflammation. This inflammation doesn’t usually subside like it would in someone who doesn’t have the disease instead it lead to chronic inflammation, ulcerations, and the thickening of intestinal walls. This is caused by an abnormal immune system reaction that occurs in people that are genetically predisposed to this disease, researchers have found a link to this immune system reaction in chromosomes five and ten. There is a prominent datum brought up by Dr. Sartor who is the medical adviser of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, that datum is that patients that have Crohn’s have a specific combination of genetics, immunological function and bacterial profiles that leads to the onset of this disease. Overall just having the common symptoms does not mean that someone has Crohn’s disease; there are specific tests that are done to diagnose this
There are four categories of medication that would be used for treatment; those are anti-inflammatory drugs, immune system suppressors, antibiotics, and a miscellaneous category. Two commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs are Oral 5-Aminosalicylates and Corticosteroids. Oral 5-Aminosalicylates are only used if Crohn’s affects the colon because this kind of medication is not helpful with the Crohn’s that affects the intestines and comes with side effects that no one would that wants to keep their quality of life would want including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and headaches. Another category is the immune system suppressors. Azathioprine is a common immunosuppressant; this drug keeps patients in remission and to keep the body from attacking itself by suppressing the immune system. Although it is an expensive medication it is extremely effective but the side effects are not something to disregard. Patients on this medication have to be kept under close surveillance to make sure that blood cell counts are normal and that there is no inflammation of the liver or