Saturday, November 12, 2011

CROHN'S DISEASE

> Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, usually affecting the ileum and colon but can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Many injuries are caused by immune cells that attack one or more parts of the tissues of the digestive tract, but there is no certainty of autoimmune etiology. Symptoms and treatment depend on the patient, but it is common to have abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss and fever. There are currently no cures for this disease; however treatments provide symptom relief and improved quality of life.

What do you feel?
Crohn disease usually starts between 20 and 30 years, although cases also occur in babies or in old cases started. The most frequent symptoms are diarrhea and cramping abdominal pain with nausea and vomiting accompanied by mild fever, feeling of abdominal distention worsened with meals, weight loss, malaise and fatigue. There may be disposal, along with the feces, blood, mucus or pus. Disease alternating periods without any symptoms with exacerbations of onset and duration unpredictable.

Symptoms of Crohn's disease:
The disease affects any portion of the gastrointestinal tract, but is more common in the terminal ileum and colon. The most common symptoms are diarrhea and abdominal pain, usually around the navel in the lower right often mistaken for appendicitis, accompanied by nausea and vomiting accompanied by mild fever, feeling of abdominal distention worsened with meals, loss of appetite and weight can cause growth retardation and growth problems in adolescents, malaise and fatigue. Faeces may be disposal of blood, mucus or pus. Other crises that may appear, despite being rare, are respiratory crisis in which the person is always with violent attacks of coughing, especially at night. A person can not sleep lying down and with the strength of cough, vomiting and sometimes gets out of breath just long. This episode usually takes approximately a week, depending on the cases.

Some patients with crohns disease may have evidence outside of the digestive tract, such as skin manifestations, eyes inflammation, joints arthritis pain and the blood vessels.

Treatment of Crohn’s disease:
The treatment of Crohns disease is individualized according to the manifestations of the disease in each patient. With no cure, the goal of treatment is to control symptoms and complications.

There are no dietary restrictions that are made for all cases. In some people, there is intolerance to certain foods, often, milk (lactose). In such cases, it is recommended to avoid the food can cause diarrhea or worsening of other symptoms. Individuals with illnesses in the large intestine may have benefit from high-fiber diet and lots of vegetables and fruits, whereas in individuals with bowel obstruction may be given without dietary fiber.

In addition to adjustments in diet, pain medications can be used to control diarrhea with reasonable success. The use of these drugs should always be guided by the doctor, since there are serious complications related to their misuse.

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