Treatments Crohns Disease:
Modern Treatments for Crohns Disease
Modern science and medicine feel there is no actual cure for Crohns Disease, so treatments attempt to manage symptoms instead.
There are many different treatments used to try and control or reduce the symptoms of Crohns disease and the complications it can create within other areas of the body.
Which treatments are chosen depend on the specifics of a given Crohns disease case.
How severe the disease is for instance, or where it's located in the body are two considerations.
Others treatment factors to consider include what complications are already in progress, and how the patient has responded to previous treatments.
Much of the treatment for Crohns disease revolves around correcting vitamin and nutritional deficiencies, controlling or stopping the bleeding, controlling inflammation, and relieving other symptoms such as pain and diarrhea.
Crohns disease treatment methods usually involve the use of drugs, nutritional supplements, or surgery. In some cases a combination of these treatments is used.
Though medical science states there is no known cure yet, some people can go into remission from Crohns disease, and sometimes that remission can last for years.
Unfortunately, the sporadic remission patterns make it difficult to know if any one individual or combination of treatments caused the remission.
When drug treatments are tried for Crohns disease, there can be a variety of different medications involved. Many attempt to reduce inflammation, and some of these contain a substance known as mesalamine.
There are side effects from these drugs, some of which are the same as the disease symptoms. Side effects from drugs containing mesalamine can include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, heartburn, and headaches.
An herbal anti-inflammatory option which doesn't have these common side effects is White Willow, but this is not known to be used by most modern medical professionals.
We'll go into further detail about herbal remedies and treatments later in this series on Crohns disease.
Another type of prescription drug which seems to be more effective on active Crohns disease are those which contain corticosteroids. These unfortunately can leave you more susceptible to infections, and they too contain some unpleasant side effects.
There are immune suppressing drugs used for treating crohns disease as well.
These drugs attempt to suppress the immune system which causes inflammations to occur. The problem herbalists see with this approach is that suppressing the body's immune system is suppressing one of its primary defense mechanisms. And this leaves your body more susceptible to additional infections or diseases.
Doctors often treat Crohns disease with antibiotics because of the common problem with fistulas becoming infected. Bacterial overgrowth is also found to be quite common with Crohns disease sufferers, and these bacteria again can create additional infections or other health problems.
The diarrhea and stomach pain is often reduced or eliminated with the reduction of inflammation, but sometimes doctors will prescribe additional medications to treat these symptoms, as well as fluids and electrolytes for those who have become dehydrated from the chronic diarrhea.
Surgery is sometimes used to remove part or all of the intestines.
Unfortunately, this will help with the disease, but not fully cure it. It's not uncommon for the area right next to a previous inflammation, to become inflamed itself.
Click here to read our next article about the causes of crohns disease.
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