Blurbal Perspective

March marks Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month, and it is a month close to my heart. I am among the 50 million individuals in this country who are afflicted with autoimmune disease illnesses. *Each day this month, I will be discussing an autoimmune disease* Today, I want to talk about an illness I was diagnosed with last year: Crohn's Disease. The journey to finally being treated for this disease has been a long one, one which started in 2012. I had my first colonoscopy and during the procedure, my GI doctor took a few biopsies. He concluded that I tested inconclusive for Crohn's Disease, but positive for Ulcerative Colitis (I will be discussing this one later in the week). He theorized that the UC was a precursor to Crohn's Disease. Three years later, his theory proved right. While I have a mild case for it, many of my fellow Crohn's sufferers have it way worse than I do, and I want to bring attention to what this disease is all about. What is Crohn'...

Crohn's disease is a life-long inflammatory disease that affects the intestines, although it can affect any part of the digestive tract. The inflammation associated with Crohn's can extend into the lining where the disease has been detected. The swelling and inflammation can cause the individual abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. There is no cure for this disease, but it can be treated with medication. Unfortunately, even with medication, individuals can still experience random flare ups. These flare ups can happen at any time. The flare ups are painful, unpleasant, and makes you feel like you are dying. While there are over-the-counter medications to help ease the symptoms of diarrhea, pain, and fever, there are other things that sufferers can do to make things more comfortable as the flare up passes. Heating pad As a fellow Crohn's patient (I have the disease in my intestines and stomach lining), I've found that a heating pad does help with eas...

Good afternoon everyone! *waves* The past couple of years, I have been dealing with a series of health issues. The main one happens to be my spinal condition. Now, it looks like I may have Crohn's Disease. In 2012, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, and my GI doctor at the time thought that the UC could be a precursor to Crohn's (I was tested inconclusive for Crohn's at the time). He treated me for Colitis (until my medication was discontinued). Since the time my treatment stopped, I have had some relatively painful flares, but they don't happen too often (maybe 10 to 20 times a year). Fast forward to present day: I had a routine Colonoscopy (my second one), and the results came back " sufficient " for Crohn's. They want to send my results off to Yale for further investigation. In the meantime, I have to have an x-ray of my small bowel, so they can get a closer look as to what the f*ck is going on down there. What is Crohn's Disease? ...