Crohn's Disease Relief

20 ways to get healthier for free

Celebrate the New Year with a new you -- by dipping into our smart batch of strategies to keep you happy and healthy (at no cost!) all year long.

via www.cnn.com

This CNN feature lists a whole bunch of health related freebies, samples, and discounts. There's some good ones in here - from free samples of emergen-C, free streaming yoga classes online, to free Radon testing for your home.

FAQs about health care reform

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about what's in the House and Senate health care bills and what's next.

via www.cnn.com

This is a good list of "Frequently Asked Questions" about the US House and Senate versions of the Health Care legislation.

My thoughts go out to the members of the two Houses of Congress. While the rest of the country is relaxing and eating Christmas dinner leftovers, these guys and gals are working to try to merge these two bills and get the legislation passed before the New Year.

As I read about it, it does look a bit better. I just hope the choices available to my Mother in Law are affordable. She is on Social Security but too young for Medicare. She needs an affordable option to bridge the gap.

Obama: Health care progress a victory for American people - CNN.com

"Today, the Senate took another historic step toward our goal of delivering access to quality, affordable health care to all Americans," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said in a statement.

The bill will help "promote choice and competition to drive down skyrocketing health care costs for families ... all across America."

via www.cnn.com

I mourn the public option. But I applaud our lawmakers for working so hard up to the holiday.

Breakthrough On Causes Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

New research by the University of Adelaide could help explain why some people are more prone to Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune diseases.

A critical imbalance of the regulatory cells required to control the immune system has been revealed among people suffering inflammatory bowel disease.

via www.medicalnewstoday.com

This is an interesting new study. The paper, published in the "Journal of Clinical Immunology" shows that people with Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis have fewer Immune System regulating cells, and more immune system fighting cells.

After this imbalance the body is treating the food we eat as a pathogen, instead of having the regulatory cells just accept that it is good food.

Dr. Eastaff-Leung also adds some information about what I have head of as the hygiene hypothesis, where some people think that the modern Western lifestyle has reduced the amount of germs around people in their formative years, causing them to be more susceptible to certain immune diseases.

Personally, I am pretty skeptical of this. I attended school with a bunch of other kids, spent a good amount of time outside in the germy world, and had pet cats in the house growing up.

Everyone in my family has allergies and quite a few have gastrointestinal related things as well. I think there is more to it that either diet, lifestyle, or how clean your house is growing up.

And at any rate - would you trade the types of germ borne diseases that come from the primitive lifestyle with our modern lifestyle? I don't think so. I enjoy having clean water for one.

I think there may be a dearth of diagnosis of Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis in some other countries because it is hard to diagnose. People are probably suffering from it and don't know what they have, just like I did for many years.

But at any rate, I welcome this study for its implication that there might be a blood test we can develop to test if there is an imbalance of immune regulatory cells. Also, if we can test for this perhaps we can develop a treatment to increase the number of healthy regulatory cells.

I wonder if a stem cell treatment could increase the regulatory cells. So many of the current treatments we have for Crohn's Disease suppress the immune system. The problem with that is that the immune system is then not working as well. This increases the risk of certain types of infections, and also seems to increase the risk of some types of cancer. Many people are glad to take this risk in order to be able to live their life! I would too, if my symptoms get worse for a long time.

However, what if there were a way to put the immune system in a better balance, instead of just tamping down on the whole thing?

An interesting idea. I vote we increase funding on stem cell research and keep working on learning exactly how the components of the immune system work.

Dan O'Bannon, Screenwriter of Alien Rest in Peace

Dan O'Bannon, 63, the science fiction/horror film screenwriter who was best known for writing the blockbuster hit Alien and who also directed and wrote the zombie fest The Return of the Living Dead, died Thursday at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif.

Mr. O'Bannon, whose credits include cowriting Blue Thunder and Total Recall, lost his 30-year battle with Crohn's disease, a chronic form of inflammatory bowel disease, his wife, Diane, said.

via www.philly.com

This is a very sad story. My thoughts go out to Mr. O'Bannon's family and friends during this time.

Just Gotta Laugh - Dear Disabled Friend Cartoon

Dear Disabled Friend,

I have 'the disabilities' too! It's just that mine are invisible and really hard to understand.

(a bit like love or your OCD cat)

via www.bbc.co.uk

I found a funny for you for the day - click the link above to see the cartoon.

CT Scans Linked to Cancer - WSJ.com

The risk of cancer associated with popular CT scans appears to be greater than previously believed, according to two new studies published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

via online.wsj.com

The Wall Street Journal reports about two studies published in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" that show the cancer risk from radiological diagnostic tests may be larger than previously thought.

Since Crohn's patients tend to undergo more than their fair share of CT scans, small bowel x-ray scans, pill cams, and other types of radiological tests, this really concerns me personally.

When you add to this that some of the immune suppressing medications used to treat Crohn's have been shown to be associated with risks of cancers, the unease becomes even larger.

In fact, Crohn's disease itself seems to impart a greater chance of the patient getting colon cancer than the general population. My grandmother died from colon cancer, by the way.

I want to feel better, but not at the expense of my future. For now I am staying away from immuno-supressant medications. At some point I may need to go that route. But I will put it off as long as I can and hope that there are better treatments available in the future.

If my doctor wants to see something on a CT scan, I will trust her judgment but I hope to not have them overdo these types of test. I've had a lot already!

Alyssa Milano: I'm Giving Up My 37th Birthday!

I have everything I could ever want or need. All I want is to provide life-giving water for 10 communities, 500 families and 2,500 people. This is my Birthday wish. In lieu of spending money on a party or presents, I'm asking people to donate to my Charity: Water campaign and help make my wish come true.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

I am very moved reading this and wanted to share it with my readers as well.

Home Made Sports Drink Recipe

Sports drink recipe from “Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook”
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 1/2 cups cold water

In a quart pitcher, dissolve the sugar and salt in the hot water. Add the remaining ingredients and the cold water. The drink contains about 50 calories and 110 mg of sodium per 8 ounces, approximately the same as for most sports drinks.

via well.blogs.nytimes.com

I found this courtesy of the New York Times and thought it might be useful for those of us with Crohn's. When you are flaring up its good to replenish the fluids. I haven't tried the recipe, but it sounds pretty decent.

As COBRA Subsidies Expire, Unemployed Fear High Insurance Costs

Federal subsidies that help laid-off worker pay for their COBRA health insurance coverage ended this week for millions of Americans who signed up when the subsidies began in March. The COBRA program lets former employees continue the health coverage they had with their former employer. The federal subsidy pays up to 65 percent of an individual's or family's premiums, but expires after nine months.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

After about a year of unemployment I started my new job last month. I was receiving the Government's COBRA continuation assistance and very glad of it. With a chronic condition like Crohn's the last thing you want to do is have any lapse in insurance coverage. The government was paying 60% of our COBRA costs, so our family of 4 was paying under $350.

Now thankfully I have coverage through my new (wonderful) employer. But I cannot help but feel for people whose COBRA subsidization is ending this week. What will they do? Will they have to join the ranks of the un-insured? Will they have to risk being hit with pre-existing condition loopholes when they do find their next job?

My friend's father died last week from a heart attack. He was uninsured because he could not afford health insurance. I cannot help but wonder if his lack of insurance could have had an impact on his general health - if he had been able to get to all his routine checkups, etc.

The lack of affordable health insurance in the United States is an absolute shame and untenable situation. If we could take 20% of the money we have spent on military action in the last 9 years and spend that on health care reform and specifically universal health insurance this country would look a lot more like the greatest country on Earth that I know it is.

/end rant