Wikipedia definition:
Crohn's disease, also known as Crohn syndrome and regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms. It primarily causes abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is at its worst), vomiting (can be continuous), or weight loss, but may also cause complications outside the gastrointestinal tract such as skin rashes, arthritis, inflammation of the eye, tiredness, and lack of concentration.
Crohn's disease is caused by interactions between environmental,
immunological and bacterial factors in genetically susceptible
individuals.[4][5][6] This results in a chronic inflammatory disorder, in which the body's immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract possibly directed at microbial antigens.Crohn's disease has wrongly been described as an autoimmune disease in
the past; recent investigators have described it as an immune deficiency
state.
Crohn's disease tends to present initially in the teens and twenties,
with another peak incidence in the fifties to seventies, although the
disease can occur at any age.There is no known pharmaceutical or surgical cure for Crohn's disease. Treatment options are restricted to controlling symptoms, maintaining remission, and preventing relapse.
Right now Austin's
red blood cells are attacking themselves...the immune system is over
active in some areas of his body and under active in other areas. They did a blood test to see if the immunizations he was given as an infant and toddler were "accepted" by his body. All of them were NOT :( So that is a little more proof that he has had this in his body since he was born, the flu he got in December just triggered it into a full blown flare. There are many treatments out there, some are pretty crazy, and others are totally worth looking into. Right now we are just trying to get him into remission, then we will worry about maintaining it. Some of the treatments will NOT work with Austin for the fact that they found evidence of crohn's in multiple sites in his GI track. Right now we are trying to slowly wean him off the steroids he is on. We started giving him a shot of Methotrexate once a week (it is a form of Chemo therapy).
It is so scary reading the side effects this can have, but we truly
felt this was the right path for him at this time. Depending on how he
reacts to this medication will determine how long he has to be on it. There are a lot of misconceptions that this disease can be totally controlled by diet...and for some it can, for others it cannot. We are prayerfully considering all of our options and are giving him the treatments that we feel are right for him. We have faith that our Heavenly Father knows exactly how and what we should be doing for our little boy.
2 comments:
I totally agree. I know the Lord has prepared you and Shawn to recognize the promptings and feel comfortable with your decisions. My prayers and thoughts continue to stay with you and your beautiful family! Thanks for sharing this info. There's nothing better than to gain knowledge about things we do not know and aren't familiar with. I hope your son is doing as well as can be expected. Love you Kristy!
Wow, it just sounds so scary when you look at how bad it can be and how bad Austin has it. It's so sad to hear that he's had this his whole life and yet it was unknown, I know you guys are doing everything possible to help him get better in a way that you feel will work best for him. Only a child's parent knows them best, I'm glad you at least have some options to look at, I hope Austin's little body responds well and gets better quickly!! Love you guys, may God give you lots and lots of strength through this struggle.
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