Crohn’s is an incurable inflammatory bowel disease that can damage the intestine over time; Crohn’s disease can cause painful gas, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, and the inability to eat normally.
Crohn’s Disease was named after an American gastroenterologist, Dr. Burrill Bernard Crohn, in 1932. He and his colleagues discovered an abnormal pathogen, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis while studying a related disease, ulcerative colitis, which belongs to a larger group if illnesses called Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The discovery was made while studying the effects of ulcerative colitis in cattle and noticing the similar characteristics in humans. The infections had an abnormal response with the body’s immune system in both the cattle and humans.
Crohn’s disease is a life-long condition effecting victims of any age. It is considered a form of an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive system. The cause of the disease is unknown. The inflammation is due to the immune system attacking the healthy cells throughout the body’s gastrointestinal tract.
Digestive:
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
This disease affects the muscles in the intestines. It can cause gas, abdominal pain, diarrhea and constipation. It usually does not lead to further diseases. Most people can control the symptoms through diet, stress management and medication.
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Inflammatory bowel diseases include Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Crohn’s Disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract. It is one of two disease under the category “IBD”, or Irritable Bowel Disease, the other being Ulcerative Colitis. Crohn’s is named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn, who, along with Dr. Leon Ginzburg and Dr. Gordon D. Oppenheimer, described the disease back in 1932. Crohn’s commonly affects the ileum and the beginning of the colon, but it can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the anus. Crohn’s can affect the entire bowel wall, while it can also “skip” over patches of the diseased intestine, leaving some unaffected parts of the area. In a healthy gastrointestinal tract, there are many harmless bacteria, which aid in digestion. The immune system will attack and kill any foreign invaders. In Crohn’s patients, the normal bacteria are mistaken for invaders, and the immune system responds. Cells will travel out of the blood and to the intestines, in turn producing inflammation, the normal response. The inflammation does not go down, which leads to chronic inflammation, ulceration, and a thickening of the intestinal wall. These lead to the patient’s symptoms.
At this time, the medical community is unsure of what causes Crohn’s Disease. There is speculation it could be caused by genetics, microbial, immunological, environmental, dietary, vascular, psychosocial factors, including smoking, oral contraceptives, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs). The studies have shown that those who have family history of Crohn’s Disease have a possible higher risk of developing the disease. Although is seems to be a very complicated genetic process of inheriting. There are several genes that contribute to the final possible cause of Crohn’s Disease. The NOD2 gene (also kno...
Inflammatory bowel diseases affect millions of Americans every year. While their causation has been connected to the nervous system for quite some time, recent research has also suggested that these diseases may be caused by abnormalities in the enteric nervous system. The enteric nervous system is found in the intestines. It has more neurons than the entire spinal cord, and it provides neurological signaling between the central nervous system and the intestines. (Furness, 2011). Inflammatory bowel diseases include ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. While their cause is generally disputed, they lead to painful sores in the intestines and last for a patient's lifetime. (Dugdale, & Longstreth, 2011). Inflammatory bowel diseases have no known cure. While many studies have taken place, the first step in finding a cure for inflammatory bowel diseases is deciding what their cause is. The study of the enteric nervous system may lead to the discovery of what this cause maybe.
Analysis of Crohn's Disease
An inflammatory bowel disease is characterized by intermittent and recurrent abdominal pain associated with ulceration in bowel function. Inflammatory bowel disease is a group of chronic disorders that cause inflammation or ulceration in the small and large intestines. Most often, inflammatory bowel disease is classified as ulceration colitis or Crohn’s disease but may be referred to as colitis, enteritis, ileitis, or proctitis (Crohn's disease-website).
Crohn’s disease is characterized by inflammation of segments of the GI tract. The parts of the tract where Crohn’s disease is most often seen are in the terminal ileum, jejunum, and right side of colon.
Introduction
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract that belongs to a group of conditions known as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). Crohn’s disease is defined as a transmural inflammation with skip lesions that can affect the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus (Mulder, Noble, Justinich, & Duffin, 2013). In Crohn’s disease the immune system attacks the gastrointestinal system and can cause the digestive tract to be chronically inflamed. Crohn’s disease has a variety of symptoms that include abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, fever, and weight loss. Crohn’s disease can also affect the joints, skin, eyes, and cause kidney stones, gallstones and other ailments (Warner & Barto, 2007).
Crohn’s Disease is a slowly progressing, chronic inflammatory disease that affects the small intestines and the colon. “The peak age onset for Crohn’s disease occurs between ages 15 and 30 years, but may appear at any age” (Cronin, E., 2011). Flare ups severely impact the age group of 15 and 30 years of age because patients are in their teen years, maybe in high school, entering or graduating college and possibly settling down and preparing for children.