Research may help painful Symptoms of Chrons Disease

In the USA today, there are more than half a million people with Chrons disease and if you break it down, more than 100 thousand of these are children. As we know so far there is no cure, so until we find a cure for chrons disease, the main angle of attack is to reduce the symptoms. (Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes the intestinal lining to become inflamed, and this causing severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and bleeding.)

The good news is that it now seems that some researchers may just have found a way to help reduce the painful symptoms of chrons disease.

The video below tels of Taralyn Allen, who is 15 years old who has had chrons disease for the last four years. Apparently there are still people out there who do not know that chrons can affect children, this is according to Howard Baron, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas. "The parents will assume it's the flu and it goes on and on and on."

Taralyn said that she felt sick all day every day and when she was correctly diagnosed with chrons, she was treated like many of us with steroids, this helped to relieve a little of the pain, but caused her to put on a lot of weight, going from 70 pounds to 130 pounds in just a few months.


She now no longer takes steroids and is the first child in the world to take part in a study of a new drug marketed at Humira (adalimumab). This drug has already shown to work with adults with chrons disease.

Humira (adalimumab) is an antibody that fights against a chemical that starts the inflammatory cascade in your body. It prevents white blood cells from migrating to the lining of tissues, which causes the inflammation and the pain.

Humira (adalimumab)does have side effects: It decreases the immune system and children with Chrons disease could be at a slightly higher risk for lymphoma.


Happily for Taralyn the Humira has worked and now for her Chrons disease does not exist anymore

Humira is still undergoing research and children as young as five can enroll in the clinical trial. The youngest patient enrolled so far is 10-years-old.

Video of Taralyn and her fight against Chrons Disease

The Crohn's Diet, Colitis Diet and Superfoods

Can Superfoods help cure Chrons disease?
Because Chrons disease affects the digestive system and certain types of food play a role in triggering the genes that cause this inflammatory bowel disease, a team of scientists in New Zealand are focusing their research on crones disease whilst looking to see if certain foods are linked to disease prevention in general. So for example they are looking for food that is linked to disease prevention, such as broccoli and colon cancer.

The research project consists of around 700 IBD and Chrons patients, who have all begun by listing the foods that their body cannot tolerate, or that cause them to have a flare up. They then compare the genetic differences in people who have chrons disease with their tolerances and in-tolerances of foods in their diet. The researches are also collecting details on the patients lifestyle as well as their symptoms.

Initial findings have shown that foods like Bananas, starchy vegetables, ginger and couscous have been pointed out as good foods for the Crohn's and Colitis diet, where as carbonated drinks, energy drinks, alcohol, coffee, food like hot curries, salami, grapefruit, cream, fruits that have small seeds and corn have generally shown to be bad foods for the Chrons diet.

Cabbage and the Colitis Diet: Their research has shown that certain chrons disease patients who have a certain gene find that cabbage causes a flare up where as other patients who do not contain the gene not only can eat cabbage in their diet, but have found that it actually is beneficial!

Generally The Good Chrons Diet contains things like:
Bananas
Couscous
Ginger
Starchy Vegetables

Generally The Bad Crohn's Diet contains things like:
Coffee
Alcohol
Energy Drinks
Carbonated Drinks
Hot Curries
Salami
Grapefruit
Cream
Fruit with small seeds

The New Zealand scientists are basically looking for two things in the Crohn's and Colitis diet: the gene "switch" that makes people prone to inflammation and a nutrient (or food) that turns it off the inflammation.
Ultimately it is hoped that this research will go on to other inflammatory illnesses like colitis and that they will be able to find other nutrients that turn off these harmful gene "switches". They are the fist to say that there is a long way to go, but it has already been shown that in Singapore, there has been an increase in western diseases as their diet changes and becomes more westernised. (In Singapore all babies are genotyped)

It is thought that, in the developed world, Chrons disease affects one in every 10,000 people, In New Zealand research has shown that they have an even higher proportion, with one in 600 people in the Canterbury area alone. Professor Lynn Ferguson of the University’s Nutrigenomics group says that "Chrons disease is on the rise, and it is important that we learn as much as possible about how diet affects symptoms and whether this is genetically linked."

Chrons Disease and Pregnancy

I found the information on pregnancy and Chrons disease that was originally written by Rhonda Mann who is from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and hope that it may help anyone out there who has Chrons disease and is thinking of having children or who may already be pregnant with Chrons disease and looking for some advice.

A Healthy Mom
The first thing that is important to point out that with any pregnancy it is beast for the woman to be in good health so if you do have Chrons disease you are already at a disadvantage. But if you have Chrons disease and want children you can help by eating right and exercising but you must also bring your Chrons Disease under control.

Chronss Disease as well as Ulcerative Colitis effect the digestive tract and are known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). There are about 1 million people in America alone who have IBD, which can cause abdominal pain and diarrhea. Both men and women are equally susceptible to IBD and the symptoms usually begin between the ages of 20 and 40, which can be particularly problematic for women who wish to have children and who have Chrons.

Because Chrons disease often affects women in their childbearing years, it is important for women to know when it is safe for them to get pregnant. This is according to Dr. Jacqueline Wolf who is a national (American) expert on IBD and pregnancy and who is also a physician in the Division of Gastroenterology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

According to the research on Crohn's disease and Pregnancy, if you have your Chrons disease under control at the moment of conception you are are less likely to have any complications during your pregnancy.

It was only about Twenty years ago, women with Chrons disease were being told not to have children now the view is different and most women with Chrons disease can have a safe pregnancy and delivery, but that is if you go into the pregnancy without the disease being active.

To achieve this, it requires using certain medications to keep IBD inactive before and during the pregnancy. Obviously you know as well as I do that this is not simple as some of the medications frequently used to treat IBD and Chrons disease are not approved for use during pregnancy and some may lead to birth defects. Unfortunately there is still a lot to learn about the safety of Chrons disease drugs during pregnancy ans especially breastfeeding but on the bright side, whilst there are still some unknowns with a few of the Chrons drug treatments, it has been found that most of the medications are safe in pregnancy.

As you probably know and I have found in the past that by coming off my medication results in me having a flare up and so it will probably not be possible to come off your Chrons disease medication during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Sometimes woman with Chrons need to make their own informed decision about what is best for themselves and their baby, but probably the best advice is if you are on any form of Chrons disease treatment, to remain on treatment - with the exception of methotrexate, which should never be used in pregnancy.


Most woman fears are whilst taking medication is what it would mean for their baby, when faced with the decision about continuing their Chrons disease treatment during pregnancy.

If you are planning to have a baby and you have Chrons disease, the best advice is to speak with your doctor and let them know of your plans and they will best be able to advise you based on your personal circumstances. But I feel that it is important to know that it is possible to have a baby if you have Chrons disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease should be controlled prior to pregnancy: ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease. (Women's Health).: An article from: Family Practice News

Chrons Disease Symptoms

In many cases it is initially quite difficult to diagnose Chrons Disease as the symptoms can be quite varied and sometimes the symptoms of Chrons Disease can be confused with Ulcerative Colitis as is what happened in my case.

Chrons disease lasts a long time, sometimes for the rest of the affected person's life and is therefore refered to as a chronic condition. The term chronic refers to time, not to how serious a condition is.

One of the main pointers of Chrons disease is the flare ups of symptoms and then returning to periods of no symptoms at all, which is called remission. In most cases there is no real obvious reason what causes the Chrons disease symptoms to come back (which is called a relapse).

When you have Chrons disease symptoms, the disease is said to be active.

The main symptoms of crohn's disease include the ones listed below but please note are not the only ones:

• Diarrhea which sometimes may contain blood, pus or mucus


• No appetite


• Loss of weight


• A Fever


• Painful and swollen stomach


• Bleeding from the anus


• Tears, ulcers or abscesses (pus-filled areas) around your anus

When the disease is active many people often experience other lesser chrons disease symptoms which include:

• Ulcers in the mouth



• Inflammation of the eyes


• Rashes


• Pain in your joints


• Skin ulcers

Whilst not really a Chrons disease symptom, it is important to note that many people experience fertility problems and women have an increased risk of a miscarriage.

Chrons Disease and Breastfeeding Children

I often read articles about breastfeeding babies and the benefits that it brings to both the child and the mother, but I found a post the other day that pointed out that breastfeeding your baby might mean that it has less chance of developing chrons disease in the future.

Ever since the begining of time, mothers have been feeding their newborn babies with breast milk, it is about as natural as it gets, so I always wondered why some people would not feed their babies with breast milk, I am not a mother so guess I cannot really judge, but to me it is obviouse that breastfeeding must have some sort of benefit to your child.

Not only does it provide a special bond between you and your child, but there are many medical benefits as well. Now it seems that if you breastfeed your child, it has less chance of developing chrons disease in the future.

Here are some interesting points that I have found on the web about the benefits of breastfeeding:

Breastfeeding protects mothers from breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis and obesity.

Babies who are breastfed one year often have higher IQ rates and are less likely to be victims of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

There are lower cases of respiratory illnesses such as asthma, ear infections, childhood cancers, gastrointestinal infections and diseases in breastfed babies.


Breastfed babies are less likely than formula fed babies of contracting colitis, meningitis, Chrons disease, necrotizing enterocolitis, eczema, certain types of heart disease and allergies amongst others

Breastfeeding promotes development of a babies jaw and facial muscles.

There is a reduced chance of childhood obesity in breastfed infants.

So if these facts are to be believed, breastfeeding is truly a beneficial choice for you and your baby.

Just a point, I have not found any study to either back up or rubbish this claim that breastfeeding lowers the chances of chrons disease, I just read it in an artice about breastfeeding and would love to hear from anyone who has any more information on the subject.

No Chrons disease benefits with Omega-3s

There have been studies in the past that seemed to support the anti inflammatory potential of omega-3 fatty acids, but the most recent study seems to suggest that the oils are not effective for managing Chrons disease.

The Authors of the research said in the Journal of the American Medical Association that "Our results are important because the use of alternative medicines in general, and omega-3 free fatty acid formulations in particular, is widespread among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)"

People started to use omega-3 after the positive findings of some research conducted by Italian researchers in 1996 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Because of the most recent findings, the researchers said that "we do not endorse this practice (of using omega-3), since patients with Chrons disease who are at risk for relapse would be better served by taking medications of known efficacy".

Dr. Brian Feagan at The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada led the new international study on omega-3 and Chrons Disease that included two massive tests involving seven hundred and thirty eight Chrons patients in the US, Europe, Israel, and Canada.

The importance of this large scale test cannot be over estimated as smaller trials often overestimate the true effects, that why it is important to conduct large-scale, randomised, multi-location tests in order to confirm preliminary results.

Chrons disease, current affects about one in 400 people in the west, Crohn's disease is currently incurable so patients are mostly looking to control the inflammation, (known as flare ups), relieve symptoms and prolong the time spent when the disease is in remission. And because of the anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3 fatty acids, the researchers wanted to test their effects on for Chrons disease patients.

Main results and Details of the Omega-3 Study and Chrons

The research was undertaken as mentioned before in two large trials involving 363 and 375 patients using high doses of omega-3 free fatty acids in Chrons disease patients who were in remission. The people with chrons were randomly given either a placebo or a daily omega-3 supplement that lasted for a total of 58 weeks.

The omega-3 supplement provided a dose of four grams of omega-3 per day, which consisted of 50% to 60% eicosapentanonic acid (EPA) and 15% to 25% docosahexanoic acid (DHA). These doses were placed in a delayed release soft gelatin capsules.

The researchers found no significant differences in relapse rates between people in the omega-3 and placebo groups in either trial. In one of the trials, 31.6% of patients in the omega-3 group experienced a relapse within the 360 days, compared to 35.7% of people with chrons who were in the placebo group. The other trial shoed 47.8% of patients in the omega-3 group experienced a relapse within 360 days, compared to 48.8% of chrons patients who were in the in the placebo group.
So basically high doses of omega-3 free fatty acids did not reduce the rate of relapse in people with Chrons disease.


On the plus side there is a lot of research that supports the role of omega-3 fatty acids for health in hearts this was first discovered in the 1970s by a group of Danish researchers and this recent report seemed to back up those findings.

Book on Chrons Disease
Living with Crohn's Disease from Amazon (USA)



Living with Crohn's Disease from Amazon (UK)



Source: Journal of the American Medical Association
Volume 299, Number 14, Pages 1690-1697
"Omega-3 Free Fatty Acids for theMaintenance of Remission in Crohn Disease: The EPIC Randomized Controlled Trials"
Authors: B.G. Feagan, W.J. Sandborn, U. Mittmann, S. Bar-Meir, G. D'Haens, M. Bradette, A. Cohen, C. Dallaire, T.P. Ponich, J.W.D. McDonald, X. Hebuterne, P. Pare, P. Klvana, Y. Niv, S. Ardizzone, O. Alexeeva, A. Rostom, G. Kiudelis, J. Spleiss, D. Gilgen, M.K. Vandervoort, C.J. Wong, G.Y. Zou, A. Donner, P. Rutgeerts

Chrons Disease With Fistulas Breakthrough

There is real hope for people who have fistulas because of their Chrons Disease as it was recently announced in France at the European Chrons and Colitis Organization (ECCO) annual meeting that HUMIRA (Adalimumab) is successful for the treatment of fistulas in people who have Crohn's disease.

So what is Chrons disease?

Chrons Disease is basically a gastrointestinal disorder where there is chronic inflammation of the walls of some part of the digestive tract. People affected with the disease suffer periods of flare-ups and then periods where they are in remission, this can continue through the whole life of the person.

Is Chrons Disease the same as ulcerative colitis?
The short answer is No, Chrons is considered medically as an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and it is similar to ulcerative colitis.

Fistulas and Chrons
In a recent study, it was suggested that almost half (43%) of Chrons disease patients will develop fistulas, which can be both painful and embarrassing.

What Are Fistulas?
Fistulas are basically tunnels that connect the chrons affected organs to surrounding tissues. These can include the bladder, vagina, or even the skin. Fistulas are very difficult to treat and can cause fecal discharge from abnormal locations, leading to not only embarrassment but also incontinence, infections, and other complications that will usually mean that the patient has to undergo surgery.

So how can HUMIRA (Adalimumab) help?
HUMIRA, or Adalimumab works by binding Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α), which is an important part of the immune response pathway

Because of this, Adalimumab is related to infliximab and other similar TNF-α blockers. The good news is that it has already been given the green light in a few countries for treatment of many diseases that are autoimmune related including Chrons Disease, psoriasis and some types of arthritis.

The study that took place showed some very posetive results and did point to the fact that the healing of fistulas was a lot better in people who had been given HUMIRA:

• 60% of chrons patients showed fistula healing after 1 year of treatment
• 76% of patients who showed the improvement and healing after 1 year continued the healing up to 2 years
• 71% of patients showed a significant 50% reduction in the number of draining fistulas after 2 years of treatmen with HUMIRA.
  

During thsese 2 years that people with chrons with fistulas had a higher quality of life because the disease was in remission.

All sounds like excellent news, I would love to hear from anyone who has any first hand exprience, if you have please leave a comment.