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Inflammatory Bowel Disease
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acutely interested in the problem of IBD, which I write about as often as I can.
....UC and Crohn’s disease are actually 2 distinct problems that share an over-riding link, namely that they are chronic inflammations (albeit often intermittent inflammation) resulting from small ulcers, irritations and abscesses in the bowel, which produce diarrhea, bloating and pain.
....Although IBD is now known to be due to an over-reaction of the immune system, why that over-reaction occurs in that specific location is still a mystery. Certainly, genes play a role, and family history of IBD is the single strongest known risk factor for IBD. ....Also, some groups are much more likely to get it than others, so going back to my story, I was sure I had IBD because there is a strong preponderance of IBD in Jewish families, especially those, who like me, come from eastern Europe. (We’re also much more charming than others, but hey, that’s another story).
....But even with a genetic predisposition, there must still be something else, something in the environment, some agent or insult to the gastro-intestinal tract that prompts this particular over-reaction of the immune system and turns the without this chronic illness. |
....Back in my early 20s, I developed a very severe case of diarrhea. Now, as a kind guy, I’ll spare you most of the details, not that many of you want to know them, of course, but I have to tell you this much at least: this was not the kind of diarrhea you generally think of when you think of diarrhea, which I hope is not too often.
....No, this was diarrhea from hell: watery, severe, profuse diarrhea that lasted, as Noah would best have appreciated, 40 days and 40 nights, and which in the end (no pun intended) meant a trip to the bathroom (if I could get there in time) every 30 minutes – day and night, and which terminated only when I, unable to stand without getting light-headed, finally agreed to an emergency admission to hospital where I was quickly diagnosed to have celiac disease, an allergy to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and (maybe) oats. By the way, to show why a doctor should never be his own patient, before my diagnosis, I had been treating myself with my mom’s anti-diarrhea remedy – eating only dry toast and cereal, which, for a celiac, is, of course, as close to poison as you can get.
....“But why, Art,” a sharp reader might ask, “didn’t you go to hospital before you got so sick?” This was also, by the way, a suggestion |
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repeatedly raised by both my doctor, and most persistently, by my wife. Because, you see, I was sure I was suffering from either ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s  disease, collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease or IBD, and I just couldn’t face that diagnosis (now you also know why doctors should never diagnose themselves).
....Luckily, though, it turns out I was wrong, but this episode did.make me |
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