Crohn's Disease my story

Well as I promised I would talk to you about Crohn's Disease. This all started when I got back from my vacation in the carribean in feb 07. I started feeling horrible during my vacation, like I had heartburn in my stomach. I went to the doctor and he said I had an ulcer and gave me some prevacid. I tried that for a couple of weeks and it seemed it was getting worse. So I went back to the doctor and he started to do some tests on me. First it was bloodwork, then xrays, and then ultrasound. The results didn't show much, but it was looking like it was crohn's but not a 100% total diagnosis. So my doctor sent me to a specialist in Ottawa. The specialist said I needed the dreadful colonscopy!! If you don't know what that is, I will explain in minor detail. It is when they send a camera up your into your bowels. All I can say is that I'm glad I was drugged for the procedure. After that I had an MRI (very powerful xray) and it showed that I did indeed have crohn's disease. Crohn's disease effects everything from the intestines up to the throat. You get what you call flare ups. These flare ups can last for hours or for days if really bad. I have been hospitalized from a flare up which lasted a week and losing 20 pounds on top.
Crohn's disease is a chronic illness and right now there is no cure. You can have surgery to put the disease into remission by removing part of the small intestine. This will only last for 6 months up to 10 years at the very most. The best way for me to fight this disease is through immune suppressor medication. I take what is called immuran and it helps me cope everyday. Flare ups are to a minimum and I can go on with my everyday life. One thing that can cause flare ups is STRESS! I know this for a fact because I would stress over everything and it would just make it worse. The stress factor is still an issue for Gastro specialists since some believe it's a factor while others say no. Now if there is a stress in my life I deal with it right away and then forget it. DONE! If you don't let go off something you stress about as soon as possible you will end up getting sick.

CROHN'S DISEASE IS ON THE RISE IN NORTH AMERICA

There are other factors that doctors and scientists are looking into as possibilities why this disease is rapidly increasing. The links are becoming more obvious as a hereditary factor, and milk consumption is a concern as well. Any type of disease or cancer can be linked as herditary, but milk consumption?? Doctors say that some people have a gene that cannot consume milk products and once that gene is overwhelmed it can cause flare ups which don't go away. Which make sense for me personally because I am totally lactose intolerant now since I have been diagnosed with the disease. So it's like an on switch for crohn's. Now we need to find the off switch?? With crohn's disease on the rise in North America, can milk products be the root of the problem?
Anyways that is some information that I know about crohn's disease. There are some very useful websites that can give you more information on the disease.
This one site is very useful.
Please go to http://www.badgut.com/index.php?contentFile=crohns&title=Crohn's%20Disease

If you want to leave any comments or ask any questions, feel free to contact me at Alexsharko@gmail.com.