Treatments For Crohn's Disease
While
the success of the treatment (s) for Crohn’s
disease crucially depends upon the location and
severity of the disease, it is also important
for the doctor to know the response of previous
treatments. The primary targets for Crohn’s
treatment are to control inflammation and subsequently
relieve the common symptoms such as diarrhea,
abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. As with surgery,
however, although treatments can help control
the disease, there is no certain cure so far,
and the disease often recurs at various times
over a person’s lifetime. Some patients
of Crohn’s disease need continuous medical
care over a prolonged period of time, and therefore,
they must go for regular doctor visits. Treatments
include drugs, nutrition supplements and surgery,
either individually or in tandem to each other.
Diagnosis Of Crohn's
Disease
It is not easy for the health professionals to
diagnosed Crohn’s disease. For instance,
it difficult to make any initial distinction between
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis,
as a result of which doctors have to use more
than one diagnostic method. Some of the more frequent
methods for diagnosing Crohn’s disease include
X-rays of the large and small intestines, barium
enema, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy and sometimes
tissue biopsy. After diagnosis other tests such
as routine blood tests for lever function, iron
level are usually requested for the sake of optimizing
the guidelines to be followed for the treatment.
Medications
There are many types of medications used for the
treatment of Crohn’s disease, specifically
to control the inflammation and other symptoms.
Usually it takes time to find out which medications
best alleviate an individual’s symptoms.
Drug Therapy
A prevalence of Crohn’s patients is first
treated with drugs containing mesalamine, which
is helpful in reducing inflammation. Drugs called
sulfasalazine, which is the most commonly used
of these drugs are also categorically referred
to as called sulfa drugs. Sulfa drugs, however,
are liable to have side effects such as headaches,
nausea and vomiting. A number of new 5-ASA medications
that have been recently approved can be found
under many names such as Asacol [available as
coated capsule]; Pentasa [available as 250 mg
capsule]; and Rowasa [available as a 500 mg.]
However, while these drugs are very effective
for the treatment of inflammation and health;
they are very expensive, this being the reason
due to which doctors prefer to lower-end drugs
such as sulfasalazine first. Some patients use
corticosteroids to control inflammation. Although
Corticosteroids are very effective for inducing
relief in the case of Crohn’s, these medications
have exceedingly serious side effects such as
greater susceptibility to infection.
Steroids, which are powerful drugs that reduce
inflammation and suppress the body‘s immune
system, are also very useful for the treatment
of Crohn’s disease. They too, however, have
a number of adverse side effects, some of the
more common ones being increased blood pressure,
osteoporosis, depression and psychosis. Fundamentally,
steroids are drugs used to counter moderate to
severe Crohn’s disease and patients are
advised to give up steroids as soon as remission
is achieved.
Antibiotics medicine is also used to treat Crohn’s
disease, particularly because of the manner in
which this disease causes the bacterial agents
to trigger the inflammatory process. A commonly
prescribed antibiotic is metronidazole(flagyl),
often given during flare-ups in order to induce
remission. Side effects of antibiotics are not
quite as grave as the ones mentioned above, usually
including a metallic taste and loss of appetite.
Other forms of treatment include nutritional supplementation
and surgery, which are discussed in detail below.
Nutrition Supplementation
Sometimes doctors can recommend nutritional supplements
that are usually prescribed for children whose
growth has been slowed. High calorie liquid formulas
are usually prescribed for this reason. Nutrition
supplementation helps patients who need extra
nutrition temporarily. It is very useful for those
whose intestines need to rest and it is also very
helpful for those whose intestine have ceased
to work properly in as much as having lost the
capability to absorb nutrition from food.
Surgery For Crohn's
Disease
About 75% Crohn’s patients require surgery
for treatment during their lives, usually in order
to relieve the symptoms that do not respond to
medical therapy. While surgery to remove part
of the intestine can help ease Crohn’s disease,
it is not a conclusive cure. In fact that only
reason due to which surgery is usually necessitated
is that there is sometimes the emergence of complications
which require immediate urgent surgery. These
complications include excessive bleeding, intestinal
obstruction, and/or toxic mega colon, all of which
can be extremely life endangering in the case
of not operating immediately. |
