Various Options for Crohn’s Disease

There are various treatment options for Crohn’s disease that include drugs, surgery, nutrition supplements or even a combination of these three options. Treatment for Crohn’s disease concentrates on controlling inflammation; relieve abdominal pain, rectal breeding and diarrhea and correcting nutritional deficiencies. The choice for treatment of Crohn’s disease depends on the location and severity of the disease, its complications and the patient’s response to previous medical treatments.By treating Crohn’s disease, it is possible to reduce and eliminate the inflammation associated with the disease. Aminosalicylates are effective in reducing the inflammation of the digestive tract lining. The active component of this drug is 5-aminosalicylic acid and is a common treatment for inflammatory bowel disease. It can be taken orally or rectally as an enema or suppository.

If 5-ASA is found to be ineffective, then corticosteroids are used to control the inflammation of Crohn’s disease. It is taken orally, intravenously or as an enema or suppository. However its continuous use leads to side effects like high blood pressure, diabetes and osteoporosis. There may also be some fluid retention that leads to a swollen appearance of the face. However a new formulation of steroids, budesonide, has fewer side effects as there is less of blood absorption.The antibodies that are created by Crohn’s disease that attack the intestinal lining to cause inflammation in the intestinal lining, is suppressed using immunosuppressants. These drugs are taken orally, where results will not be seen for some weeks and months. This medicine creates side effects like nausea, diarrhea, infections and vomiting.Antidiarrheals are used to relieve chronic diarrhea while laxatives are used when there is a partial intestinal obstruction that leads to constipation.

However laxatives are not effective in completely treating intestinal obstruction. Though acetaminophen can be used to relieve pain due to Crohn’s disease, Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen are not advised as only they tend to intensify symptoms.

Anemia that arises from Crohn’s disease is treated using iron supplements and vitamin B-12 injections. Sometimes antibiotics are use to treat infections from fistulas or surgery in the intestine. Surgery may be resorted to when there is an intestinal obstruction or when medications don’t prove successful in controlling Crohn’s disease. In fact, 70 percent of sufferers from Crohn’s disease need surgery at a point in their lives as the inflammations and ulcers that arise from Crohn’s disease go deep into the intestinal tissue.Surgery options for patients of Crohn’s disease include strictureplasty where narrowed areas of the digestive tract are widened. With bowel resection the diseased part of the intestine is removed. This may include a partial colectomy or ostomy to permit the passing of stools from the body. Infectious material is removed by draining abscesses.

With surgery, the symptoms of Crohn’s disease may disappear for some years. However there is a chance of the recurrence of symptoms which may lead to the patient undergoing another and subsequent operations. The recurrence of the symptoms is more common in patients with severe Crohn’s disease and in those where its symptoms occur outside the colon. However, using medications after the surgery may lead to a reduction in the recurrence of the symptoms.