What is it?

• Crohn's disease is what's knows as an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It results in inflammation of the lining of your gut, which can lead to the symptoms mentioned above.
• The inflammation can spread deep into the gut. Crohn's disease can be both painful and debilitating and sometimes may lead to life-threatening complications.

How do I recognise it?

People can have long periods of time with no symptoms, but when they do have symptoms they are usually the following:Diarrhea.

• Abdominal pain and cramping.
• Blood in your stool.
• Ulcers.
• Reduced appetite and weight loss.

Causes

The exact cause in unknown. Some theories exist though:

• Immune system. It's possible that when your immune system tries to fight off a bacteria or virus the digestive system becomes inflamed.
• Heredity. There may be a genetic link

How do you treat it?

Like any disease, even if there is no cure, there is almost always something you can do to manage it and take control. There are three main areas involved in the treatment of any disease:

• Conventional medicines
• Complementary medicines
• Complementary therapies

For information on medicines and therapies relevant to Crohn's diesease, make an appointment at your nearest pharmacy.

Learn all about the drugs used to treat the disease and any complementary medicines or therapies proven to help. Equip yourself with the tools to manage the condition and not be managed by it.

How do you live with it?

Certain adjustments may be needed to get on with your life, and often, some simple tips and advice can go a long way to making these changes. 

When you come to our clinic we give you any information available to make your life easier and enable you to live with your condition.

References

Crohn's Disease-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn%27s_disease

Crohn's Disease, information for patients                                                                                                                                              http://www.cks.nhs.uk/access?catalog=login&returnurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cks.nhs.uk%2fcrohns_disease