The dictionary defines Crohn's Disease as: 'ileitis that typically involves the distal portion of the ileum, often spreads to the colon, and is characterized by diarrhea, cramping, and loss of appetite and weight with local abscesses and scarring called also regional enteritis, regional ileitis.' I had to look up 'ileitis'. It means 'Inflammation of the ileum.' The ileum is the point where the small intestine joins the large intestine. After all that is said, what it means is that Crohn's usually starts as an inflammation of the ileum and spreads to the colon or other parts of the digestive tract and that it causes some miserable symptoms like cramping, diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight and can cause ulcers, abscesses and fistulas. It is a chronic but not fatal disease that can affect any part of the digestive system from the mouth to the anus. In the past it has usually been diagnosed in people between the ages of 15 and 25 but in recent year's children as young as 7 have contracted it. The symptoms of Crohn's are described in the bible so it has been around for a very long time. Back in 1913, Dr. Kennedy Dalziel, a Scottish Surgeon, recognized and classified the identifying symptoms of what is now call Crohn's Disease in his patients. Then in 1932 Dr. Burril Crohn and his associates published a paper outlining the disease and its symptoms and the disease came to be named Crohn's Disease. At the present time, there has been no cause determined for the disease and there is no cure. Symptoms can be controlled, however, and Crohn's patients lead relatively normal lives. The go to school and to work. They marry and have children and they participate in normal human endeavors. There is extensive research and many trials underway that will eventually lead scientists to find the cause and a cure for Crohn's. |
