Crohn’s Disease – Symptoms, Causes, Prevention, and Treatment
Crohn’s disease is one of the primary types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which involves inflammation in the digestive tract, specifically small and large intestines. Most of the patients affected with this medical condition experience disease flare-ups for a particular duration. Crohn’s disease can affect men, women, as well as children. So, you can see that this medical condition can occur in any age group. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the symptoms, causes, prevention, and treatment associated with Crohn’s disease.
Symptoms:
Most of the health ailments in the human body show persistent symptoms over a period of time, even after the diagnosis until proper treatment is completed for the desired cure. But in the case of Crohn’s disease, the symptoms become severe over a period of time. This is usually followed with no symptoms for a significant period, which can be months or years. This can confuse the patient to a certain extent. But it’s essential to know the symptoms and consult the medical doctor today. Here are the top symptoms of Crohn’s disease:
Abdominal pain: This is one of the common symptoms associated with patients with Crohn’s disease. There is constant tenderness in the abdominal area.
Chronic diarrhea: Most of the patients suffer from diarrhea that lasts for quite a long. Patients also suffer from blood secretion with mucus or pus. Patients face a lot of inconveniences associated with this symptom till the treatment is completed successfully.
- Fever: Fever is quite common in patients, especially during the times when the symptoms are evident.
- Loss of Appetite: Significant reduction of appetite is one of the symptoms of Crohn’s disease. Most of the patients feel full most of the time despite reduced hunger than the normal appetite.
- Weight Loss: Weight loss is one of the crucial symptoms associated with Crohn’s disease. Reduced food intake leads to significant weight loss.
- Rectal Bleeding: This is a common symptom that occurs in different types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
After these symptoms are mentioned to the medical doctor, specific medical tests are performed at the right time for proper Crohn’s disease diagnosis. Some of the crucial medical tests include blood tests, stool tests, colonoscopies, computed tomography (CT) scans, and upper gastrointestinal (GI) exams, and endoscopies. Based on the present health status of the patient, the medical doctor advises certain medical tests to the patients.
Causes: Some of the doctors tell that in Crohn’s disease, the immune system usually affects the body negatively. No specific causes are present and evident till now. But there are several risk factors associated with Crohn’s disease.
1. Genes: Crohn’s disease occurs due to the presence of this medical condition in a family member, e.g., parents and cousins. This is observed in 20% of the patients who show symptoms linked with Crohn’s disease.
2. Age: This medical condition mainly impacts individuals who are in their 30’s. Individuals in their 50’ or 60’s are less likely to be impacted with Crohn’s disease.
3. Smoking: Cigarette smoking increases the risk of Crohn’s disease twice compared to individuals who do not smoke at all. It poses to be one of the most critical factors linked with the occurrence of Crohn’s disease.
4. Diet: Individuals consuming a high amount of processed foods and meals with high portions of fat-filled foods, there are significant changes of being affected with Crohn’s disease. It is crucial to start improving our eating habits to avoid all possible health ailments in the best way.
5. Medications: Most of the NSAIDs include ibuprofen, diclofenac sodium, and naproxen sodium. These medications pose a risk factor that worsens the patient’s condition suffering from IBD and boosts the risk of being diagnosed with IBD.
Prevention: If you want to prevent yourself from Crohn’s disease, you must opt for some expert-recommended measures. This will aid to prevent the occurrence of Crohn’s disease. Here are some of the beneficial ways to prevent Crohn’s disease.
- Quit smoking: Smoking reduces the intestine’s natural defense, thus hampering the blood flow associated with the intestines. This causes severe changes in the immune system leading to inflammation.
- Manage stress: Stress is much harmful to our body, especially for several disorders, including Crohn’s disease.
- Opt For a Healthy Diet: One must opt for a healthy Crohn’s disease diet that includes veggies, fruits, cereals that offer a wide range of benefits to the body. It is essential to avoid consuming high-fat food items in our diet.
- Exercise Regularly: Exercise is a crucial part of our health which improves health over a period of time when combined with a healthy diet.
Treatment: One must know that to date no permanent cure for this medical condition has been found. Therefore, certain treatment measures help to ease the discomfort and issues experienced in Crohn’s disease. The medical doctor creates the best treatment for Crohn’s disease in India based on certain factors. This includes the presence of complications, the severity of symptoms, body’s response to medications, and possible side effects of medication. Here are some of the common medications that are prescribed for the treatment of Crohn’s disease.
Corticosteroids: These are the basic medications that are responsible for helping in calming the immune system. These medications are prescribed a considerably short time period to avoid any long-term side effects of this medication.
Immunomodulators: These medications are prescribed when the patient’s body does not respond properly to other medications for reducing inflammatory responses in the body.
Biologic therapies: These therapies aim to reduce inflammation in the patient’s intestines. Most of the patients get advised for these biological therapies every two months according to the guidance of the medical doctors under the best treatment for Crohn’s disease in India.
Aminosalicylates: These medications are recommended when the patient is diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and possesses mild symptoms associated with this medical condition.
Thus, if you observe certain symptoms in your body mentioned above, it’s time to consult an experienced medical doctor today. Go ahead and take the right steps at the right time to receive the best medical treatment and improve your overall health status.
