Chrons Disease

Living with Crohns Disease

Written by Aidan Gillen

If you have recently been diagnosed with crohns , you probably feel like you have been handed some sort of death sentence.  It is pretty scary to be told you have a chronic auto-immune disease.  Plus, the symptoms are not exactly kind.  However, despite what you may be thinking at this moment, it is much better than being diagnosed with cancer.  You will not always be so sick.  You will have good days and bad days.  Hopefully, when you get the crohns under control, you will have more good days.  If the doctor finds the right combination of treatments, you may actually forget you have crohns sometimes.  Living with crohns disease, and having a happy life, is possible. Your Attitude Anytime an individual suffers from a chronic or major illness, health care workers will tell you that a positive outlook is half of the battle.  Enduring crohns symptoms is no exception.  When you feel lousy, how you approach each day makes a big difference.  If you think about it, you will realize how negative people are always unhappy, do not feel good, get sick more often, etc. However, when you have crohns, thinking good thoughts and anticipating the good days will help you get through the bad ones.  It does not mean you have to like being sick, but it will do you no good to dwell on it either.  With the right attitude, it will also result in helping the other treatments succeed in doing their job. Rest If you are an A-type personality and you have crohns, you may have trouble with this aspect of living with crohns.  But, it is extremely important to get plenty of rest.  Internally, your body is busy fighting against itself.  You have an auto-immune disease, which basically means your body is trying to reject your digestive tract as a foreign object.  You have sores in your colon, because you body is under attack from itself. Thus, it is vital that when you get that exhausted feeling, you slow down, put your feet up, take a nap, or simply go to bed early.  Give your body some help in fighting the disease that is messing up your body from the inside out. Nutrition One of the big drawbacks of crohns is often malnutrition.  Oftentimes, your appetite is lousy.  But, even on the good days, you body does not efficiently absorb the nutrients needed for good health.  With all of the sores and scar tissue, you intestines are not equipped to do their job properly.  So, you have to do your best to eat well. Because some food and spices will seem to trigger a crohns attack, eating well can be a little tricky.  For example, some people cannot tolerate raw vegetables.  But, cooked veggies might not be so bad.  Others will end up losing a meal, if milk is consumed.  But, yogurt is generally digestible, and the cultures are actually good for the colon.  For most people diagnosed with crohns, learning what you can/cannot eat is a hit and miss process.  For example, one day you may be able to drink a cup of coffee.  However, the very next day you might get major cramps and be running down the hall to the restroom at 90 miles an hour. Learn to Read If you have crohns disease, you are going to have to learn to read well.  But, instead of books, you are going to have to learn to read your body.  Learn what you can about crohns, so that you can recognize symptoms of a small problem, before it becomes a major disaster.  You doctor cannot monitor you every day.  It will be up to you to let him/her know if something is going wrong. For example, if you feel like your medicine is getting stuck in your esophagus on the way down, you might have a stricture that is making it more difficult to swallow.  If you are felling more run down and have an unexplained low grade fever, it may be a clue that your crohns is more active than a few days ago. Also, if your joints are hurting more than usual, you may need to have your medication changed, because arthritis and osteoporosis are two other health concerns that can be related to crohns.  If you could eat certain foods yesterday, and they are making you feel miserable today, it may be a clue to back off of your regular diet and eat softer, bland foods for a few days.  Sometimes, you body needs a chance to heal and you can do it, without having to rush to the doctor.  But, it also means knowing when to go to the doctor, and not let the symptoms of crohns get out of control, so you end up in the hospital. In short, you are the first line of defense in living with crohns disease.   The doctor can only do so much.  You will have to work on your attitude, while trying to get enough rest and nutrition.  But, if you seriously want to be in control of crohns, you can learn to read your body and know what needs done, in order to stay as healthy as possible.

 

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