Digestive Disorders Articles

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Crohn's disease

Synonyms and related keywords: Crohn's disease, regional enteritis, granulomatous enteritis, regional ileitis, terminal ileitis, inflammatory bowel disease, IBD, ulcerative colitis, UC

Crohn's Disease
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) include a group of chronic disorders that cause inflammation or ulceration in the small and large intestines. Most often IBD is classified as:

ulcerative colitis - causes ulceration and inflammation of the inner lining of the colon and rectum.
Crohn's disease - an inflammation that extends into the deeper layers of the intestinal wall, and also may affect other parts of the digestive tract, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small intestine.

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease cause similar symptoms that often resemble other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome. The correct diagnosis may take some time.

Inflammatory bowel disease may also be referred to as colitis, enteritis, ileitis, and proctitis.

What is Crohn's disease?
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that is a chronic condition that may recur at various times over a lifetime. It usually involves the small intestine, most often the lower part called the ileum. However, in some cases, both the small and large intestine are affected. Sometimes, inflammation may also affect the entire digestive tract, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, duodenum, appendix, or anus.

Almost 500,000 people in the United States have Crohn's disease. Anyone can get Crohn's disease, but it's more common in women, whites and Jewish people. It is not known what causes Crohn's disease. It seems to run in families, but there is no known pattern of inheritance. Crohn's disease is also called ileitis or enteritis. Crohn's disease affects males and females equally. It appears to run in some families, with about 20 percent of people with Crohn's disease having a blood relative with some form of inflammatory bowel disease.

What are the symptoms of Crohn's disease?
Symptoms include stomach cramps and pain that comes and goes, diarrhea, and blood in your stool. Other symptoms include losing weight, feeling sick to your stomach, having joint pain and feeling tired. Some people who have Crohn's disease have severe symptoms, while others have less severe symptoms. Some people who have the disease have long periods without symptoms, even without getting treatment. Others with more severe disease will need long-term treatment or even surgery. Symptoms may include:

• abdominal pain, often in the lower right area

• diarrhea

• rectal bleeding

• weight loss

• fever

• Some people have long periods of remission, sometimes for years, when they are free of symptoms. There is no way to predict when a remission may occur or when symptoms will return.

The symptoms of Crohn's disease may resemble other medical conditions or problems. Always consult your physician for a diagnosis.

Digestive System

What causes Crohn's disease?
Several theories exist about what causes Crohn's disease, but none have been proven. The human immune system is made from cells and different proteins that protect people from infection. The most popular theory is that the body's immune system reacts abnormally in people with Crohn's disease, mistaking bacteria, foods, and other substances for being foreign. The immune system's response is to attack these “invaders.” During this process, white blood cells accumulate in the lining of the intestines, producing chronic inflammation, which leads to ulcerations and bowel injury.

Scientists do not know if the abnormality in the functioning of the immune system in people with Crohn's disease is a cause, or a result, of the disease. Research shows that the inflammation seen in the GI tract of people with Crohn's disease involves several factors: the genes the patient has inherited, the immune system itself, and the environment. Foreign substances, also referred to as antigens, are found in the environment. One possible cause for inflammation may be the body's reaction to these antigens, or that the antigens themselves are the cause for the inflammation. Some scientists think that a protein produced by the immune system, called anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF), may be a possible cause for the inflammation associated with Crohn's disease.

What are the complications of Crohn's disease?
The most common complication is blockage of the intestine. Blockage occurs because the disease tends to thicken the intestinal wall with swelling and scar tissue, narrowing the passage. Crohn's disease may also cause sores, or ulcers, that tunnel through the affected area into surrounding tissues, such as the bladder, vagina, or skin. The areas around the anus and rectum are often involved. The tunnels, called fistulas, are a common complication and often become infected. Sometimes fistulas can be treated with medicine, but in some cases they may require surgery. In addition to fistulas, small tears called fissures may develop in the lining of the mucus membrane of the anus.

Nutritional complications are common in Crohn's disease. Deficiencies of proteins, calories, and vitamins are well documented. These deficiencies may be caused by inadequate dietary intake, intestinal loss of protein, or poor absorption, also referred to as malabsorption.

Other complications associated with Crohn's disease include arthritis, skin problems, inflammation in the eyes or mouth, kidney stones, gallstones, or other diseases of the liver and biliary system. Some of these problems resolve during treatment for disease in the digestive system, but some must be treated separately.

Natural Treatment for Crohn's disease:

Natural Treatment for Crohn's disease:
Research has shown that Aloe Mucilaginous Polysaccharides have a remarkable ability to normalize all of these damaging processes, which has the effect of enhancing the immune system function through improved digestion. Aloe mucilaginous polysaccharides act as a potent anti-inflammatory agent, stopping the damage and leakage of the intestinal wall, thereby taking the stress off the immune system.

Aloe Mucilaginous Polysaccharides have direct anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-yeast and anti-parasite effects. Chronic yeast growth can be controlled so the normal, healthy flora can then thrive more easily. Furthermore, the macrophages, monocytes, antibodies and T-cells are stimulated. Phagocytosis (when large white blood cells engulf particles) is dramatically increased to ingest foreign proteins. Aloe mucilaginous polysaccharides increases the number and intensity of all immune cells in the body.

Conclusion; The key to integrating healthy digestion with a healthy immune system is the oral ingestion of Aloe mucilaginous polysaccharides (A.M.P.).

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