Crohn's Disease Relief

"Crohnology" of Advances in the treatment of Crohn's Disease

Today my google alart for crohn's disease brought me to this interesting blog called Crohnology.  It covers news about treatments and studies for treatments of Crohn's disease.  If you are trying to stay up to date on how each drug treatment is faring in trials, studies of what's next for biologic treatments after anti-TNF, or how the drug that treats MAP infection fared in trials, this blog is a good place to visit.

Try Some Tumeric

A very interesting and informative article from the Michigan Live blog called Spices, herbs make move to medicine cabinet contained this quote about tumeric:

"Turmeric, the spice that gives curry powder its yellow color, has an active ingredient called curcumin, which appears to inhibit enzymes that lead to diseases such as arthritis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. UCLA researchers also found that mice fed curcumin had 80 percent fewer of the protein plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease than did mice on a normal diet."

Here is a link they also provide in the artlice to the US National Library of Medicine's MedLine Plus site.� Interestingly, while the site can't claim any proof that the ingredient in Tumeric does have anti-inflamitory properties, there does seem to be some evidence.� However they do note that it can be irritating to the stomach in large doses.�

I would imagine that for a Crohn's patient the trick would be to try cooking Tumeric in a smaller amount into some nice bland rice and see how it effects your digestion.� It is not a particularly "spicy" spice, in and of itself but is typically combined with other spices in curries and spice blends.

Here is a nice Aromatic Yellow Rice recipe from India Snack that might be a nice way to try the benefits of turmeric and its active ingredient curcumin.

Turmeric Root
photo - Wikipedia

ABC News Covers Alternative Medecine treatment for IBD

ABC News Chicago played a great piece (now available on their web site) called Alternative medicine may relieve digestive disorders.  The segment is informative not just about the alternative medicine angle, but also in its general information about IBD: Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. It discusses a few really cutting edge studies going on right now relating to diet and stress factors in treating IBD.

It also contains a list of resources for Chicago/Wisconsin/Illinois area people looking for studies to take part in, yoga information, etc.  This is well worth a look.  I am very pleased to see IBD getting quality news coverage.

Can a home DNA Test can show increased risk for Crohn's?

This very interesting article on BBC News UK Magazine "Your DNA's in the post" discusses how the author spent about $985 bucks for the services of DeCodeMe, a company that provides an at home DNA analysis including risk factors for diseases, genetic traits, and ancestral background.

The author of the article discovered he has a higher than average risk factor for Crohn's disease.

"I scan the list of 25 traits again and settle on Crohn's disease. Here I'm told the research indicates that I have a lifetime risk 1.42 times the average."

Of course I already know I likely have the genetic marker for Crohn's and have tested positve for the Prometheus labs test.   But it is an interesting idea to get my DNA tested.  I would be very interested in getting my husband's tested as he knows very little about his Dad's side of the family. They are reportedly "Black Dutch" which no-one has much of an idea of what that actually means.  It might mean a mixture of Native American, European, African American, etc.  I think it would be very cool if my kids had Native American and African American genes.  They are already a mix of 1/2 Jewish, 1/4 Korean, and that last 1/4 is the part we are not so sure about.  Maybe "American Heinz 57 varieties?"

23andMe is another company that provides at home DNA analysis.

There is also this option from Family Tree DNA project where you can take part in a study of your surname.

5 Biggest Controversies and Mysteries related to Crohn's Disease

If you take an incurable illness, especially one that causes pain and suffering amongst its victims, you have an environment ripe for quackery, fraud, false hopes, controversy, scams, snake oil, and fear mongering.  On the flip side, traditional western medicine is notoriously slow at accepting alternative treatments, has the possibility of understating risks involved with drug therapies and diagnostic testing, and is funded by drug companies that are quite frankly in business to make a profit.  Somewhere in the middle of all this lies the truth.  As Fox Mulder of the X-Files would say, "The Truth is Out There." 

Crohn's Disease researchers are working on some fantastic new studies right now that promise greater understanding of this mystery illness, better treatments, and better diagnostic testing.  There are also studies being done on diet, and other factors relating to living with IBD.

For today's post I am going to list the 5 biggest mysteries and controversies swirling around the subject of Crohn's disease.  I don't have any answers, I am just presenting the topics.

1.  Is Crohn's disease caused by or related to Mycobacterium avium, supspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) bacteria sometimes found in cow's milk?

2.  Can the inexpensive drug called "Low Dose Naltrexone" help Crohn's sufferers?  What about Aloe?  Bee propolis?  Holy tea? 

3.  Why is Crohn's disease more prevalent in developed countries?  Could this be related to the lack of bacteria in the environment, different diet, genetic differences, etc.?

4.  What will the role of stem cells be in treating Crohn's disease in the future?  What are the ethical and political ramifications of funding for stem cell research?

5.  Do Crohn's patient's receive too may CAT scans and other nuclear medicine based diagnostic tests?  Will the amount of radiation over the lifetime become dangerous?

Take the Crohn's Disease Medication Quiz

The IBD section at Health Central has an interesting "Crohn's Disease Medication Quiz."  I got one wrong!  See if you can beat me.

Click here to take the Quiz.

About.Com's IBD and Crohn's Pages

The About.com section on IBD and more specifically Crohn's disease has a lot of good basic information that is worth taking a few minutes to check out.

The main link for the the About.com Inflammatory Bowel Disease section covers Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's and even some information on IBS.  The Crohn's subsection has some great articles as well.

Crohn's Disease Freqently Asked Questions

Top Things You Should Know About Crohn's Disease

Types of Crohn's Disease

SurvivorshipAtoZ

SurvivorshipAtoZ is a website dedicated to resources you need after a life changing diagnosis such as Cancer or HIV.  These resources are also applicable to any sort of survivable diagnosis such as Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis like we discuss on this blog.

Some of the topics covered on include sources to get health insurance when you have a history of a serious health condition, how to obtain government and other disability benefits when appropriate, the Family Medical and Leave Act, and even topics such as Children, Depression, and what to do when you can't afford Medication.  This site looks like it can be an invaluable resource for us as empowered patients.

Are you an Empowered Patient?

A new book The Empowered Patient by Julia Hallisy is making waves in the patient advocacy community.  The book has some fantastic postive reviews on Amazon.com.  Its intended to give you hundreds of tips for navigating your way through the complex and sometimes baffling world of being a health care consumer.  Anyone who is a Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis sufferer or is a Crohn's Disease Caregiver knows how hard it can be to get a proper diagnosis, a empathetic doctor, avoid billing mixups, and get the right treatment.  I think this book looks like it really could help.

Here is a National Public Radio interview with Juila Hallisy that you can listen to where she talks about her experience with medical mis-diagnosis that ultimately lead her to write the book.

 

Healing Well Forum

Crohn's Disease Resources - Healing Well Forum

The Healing Well website is an informative resource about a whole range of chronic illness.  Here is a quote from the site.

HealingWell.com features health articles, medical news, video webcasts, community message boards and chat rooms, clinical healthcare resources, email, newsletters, books and reviews, and resource link directories on a wide range of diseases, disorders and chronic illness. Health content is contributed by reputable health organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, Mediwire, e-HealthSource, and Healthology Inc.

There are forums for diseases and syndromes ranging from Breast Cancer, Lyme Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Fibromyalgia, Migraines, etc.

As a Crohn's disease sufferer, one resource that I find very helpful is the web community on the Healing Well Crohn's Disease Forum. It can be very comforting to read other people's questions, answers, complaints, and experiences with dealing with their symptoms and lives.  Its been very informative, and I have learned that there is a huge range of symptoms and ways in which this disease presents itself for different people.   Each of us seems to have a different reaction to various foods, medicines, and treatments.