Blog # 4 an illness “Crohn’s disease”

Justin Orndorff

Blog # 4 an illness “Crohn’s disease”

            Before I dive into the details of Crohn’s disease ill let you know how it affected me as a child growing up.  My father suffers from Crohn’s disease which entails having a colostomy bag which I’ll briefly describe.  A  proctocolectomy is a procedure that involves the removal of the colon and rectum resulting in the patient having to use a colostomy bag to collect their waste.  My father’s colostomy bag would fill up with human waste and you could physically see his clothes rise and hear strange sounds.  My friends would ask questions and when they found out what was going on with my dad they would tease me and so on.  But the worst part about it wasn’t the teasing it was that everyone knew me as the kid whose dad had the colostomy bag.  That’s not only how my dad was labeled by his illness but it was how I was labeled by his illness.   

Crohn’s disease is an illness that produces inflammation in the digestive or gastrointestinal tract. Crohn’s disease can occupy any area of the gastrointestinal tract, first, from the mouth all the way to the anus, but it most often it includes the lower portion of the small intestine, called the ileum. The inflammation attacks the lining of the ileum or affected organ.  Crohn’s disease affects men and women and seems to be congenital in a number of families. 20 percent of people with Crohn’s disease have a family member with an inflammatory bowel disease, usually a brother or sister and occasionally a parent or child. Crohn’s disease can occur in people of all ages, but it is frequently diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 30.

The etiology of Crohn's disease is unknown.  Crohn’s disease is an idiopathic disease. There a several theories about what causes Crohn’s disease.  Some researchers believe that it may be triggered by a bacterium or virus.  There is some data that suggests that the disease could be an autoimmune disorder. An autoimmune disorder is a condition in which the body's immune system attacks itself.  It starts to attack the body’s tissue as if it were attacking an invading bacteria or viruses. One theory is that the body’s immune system responds abnormally in patients with Crohn’s disease, confusing bacteria, foods, and other material as being foreign. The immune response attacks the foreign invaders. During this process, the white blood cells accumulate in the lining of the intestines, generating inflammation, which leads to ulcerations, fistulas, and bowel injury. 

Crohn's disease starts as small, scattered inflamed sores on the surface of the intestine.  These inflamed sores then become large ulcers that penetrate deep into and occasionally through the intestinal walls.  Patients can often have ulcers in their mouth similar to canker sores.  Abdominal distress, cramping and the inflammatory effect in the wall of your bowel can influence your appetite, your ability to digest food, and the ability of your small intestines to absorb food properly.  Inflammation from Crohn's disease may burrow through the wall of the bowel into adjacent organs, such as the bladder or vagina, creating an abnormal connection called a fistula.  Fistulas can lead to an abscess or pus-filled sores.  The fistulas can also tunnel out through your skin; a general surface for this type of fistula to form is around the anus. When this type of fistula develops, it's called perianal fistula. 

My father suffered from severe Crohn's disease where experienced fever, fatigue as well as problems that occur outside the digestive tract, that include; arthritis, eye inflammation, skin disorders, and inflammation of the liver or bile ducts. The course of Crohn's disease differs significantly. Crohn’s disease patients may experience long periods without symptoms, or experience frequent episodes of symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, and bleeding as my father did.

  Some patients with Crohn’s disease may need a proctocolectomy, which is a procedure that involves the removal of the colon and rectum that is performed along with an ileostomy. An ileostomy is performed after the proctocolectomy and entails bringing the end of the small intestine, the ileum, through the stoma, in the abdominal wall, which allows drainage of intestinal waste out of the body through the colostomy bag. The stoma is usually created in the right lower abdomen near the belt line.  A colostomy bag must be worn over the opening to collect the waste, and it must be emptied daily.

The unpredictable nature of Crohn’s disease and its symptoms, such as diarrhea, gas and abdominal pain may depress and discourage some patients living with Crohn's disease from leading healthy, active normal lives.  I remember being known as the kid whose dad had a “shit bag” at school and how embarrassing it was.  My dad’s master status was his Crohn’s disease and his colostomy bag that he had.  Now that im an adult it doesn’t bother me at all, but as a child it was very embarrassing and I hated being known as the kid with the dad with the “shit bag.”  It just shows how powerful being labeled can be.  I was labeled through my fathers illness as a child.   

Reference:

1.      <digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns>.

2.      < emedicine.medscape.com/article/172940-overview>.

3.      < www.CrohnsOnline.com>.