*I PLEDGE THAT EVERY DAY IN OCTOBER (BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH) I WILL POST A FACT ABOUT CROHN'S DISEASE TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR CD*
1.Canada has one of the highest rates of IBD in the World.
2. The most common age to be diagnosed is anywhere between 15 to 25 but approximately 10% of those with Crohn's disease are under 18 years of age.
3. Crohn's Disease is similar to Colitis, making it difficult to diagnose. The difference is that Colitis infects superficial layers, while Crohn's Disease infects multiple layers of tissue.
4. Many children do not present with classic abdominal/intestinal symptoms. Most first present with growth issues.
5. Crohn's also causes three different types of inflammation of the eye (episcleritis, scleritis, and uveitis)
6. The illness has several names: ileitis, regional enteritis, ileocolitis, and Crohn's colitis (for disease solely in the colon).
7. As is the case with many digestive diseases, people are quick to assume that the cause of Crohn's is stress. However, most doctors tell their patients that this is simply false. Stress can affect the patient much the same as it does with any other major disease but is not the cause of the illness.
8. Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to develop Crohn's disease.
9. Women with Crohn’s disease can become pregnant and have a baby. Even so, women with Crohn’s disease should talk with their health care provider before getting pregnant. Some medications used for CD can harm an unborn baby.
10. Crohn's Disease is often misdiagnosed. Most commonly as Irritable Bowel Disease.
11. Even with a full battery of tests, it may not be possible to diagnose Crohn's with complete certainty; a colonoscopy is approximately 70% effective in diagnosing the disease, with further tests being less effective.
Learning that you have a second chronic illness is kind of like lemonade.
Have you ever had a craving for a big old glass of pink lemonade? I mean an if I don't get it now I might melt type of craving. So you go to the refrigerator. You open it up and realize that the container you thought held your beloved pink lemonade instead holds the regular, boring, plain old yellow lemonade. This is what finding out you have Crohn's Disease is like. You have to adjust to the fact that while yellow lemonade is fine, OK, heck some people even prefer yellow lemonade to pink lemonade, you will never be able to quench your thirst for the pink stuff or a non-CD life.
So you accept the fact that yellow lemonade is all you have and decide to pour yourself a glass. You amp yourself for it. You are get yourself a glass. You pick up that container with renewed vigour. You unscrew the cap and begin to pour. What? This yellow lemonade is orange? This doesn't make sense! You stop pouring. You look at the container. It reads "Orange Juice". ORANGE JUICE?!?! You say. What? I was OK when I had to settle for yellow lemonade over pink lemonade but this is a whole other juice altogether. This is what it is like to be diagnosed with another chronic illness. In my case it's Hemachromatosis.
Now I must accept my new diagnosis. Along with the old one I am still learning to cope with. I will forever be stuck in the middle of these two conflicting diseases. My body forever under attack, never getting a break, being pulled this way an that.
I am still researching and absorbing, figuring and finding my way.
It's a good thing I like Orange Juice.
;)
