When Crohn’s disease is mentioned, few people will recognize it. People think that Crohn’s disease is a strange disease because it has a different name from other diseases. Crohn’s disease seems far away from us, but in fact, it is a relatively common disease of the gastrointestinal tract. In 1932, Crohn’s disease was discovered and described by a foreigner, and in 1973, the disease was officially named “Crohn’s disease” internationally.
Crohn’s disease differs from other gastrointestinal diseases in that it is often characterized by vague pain in the right lower abdomen or around the navel, rotten stools, usually without obvious purulent stools, sometimes with abdominal masses, fistula formation and intestinal obstruction, fever and malnutrition, as well as joint, skin, eye, oral mucosa, liver and biliary tract lesions.
Common medications do not completely cure Crohn’s disease, and sometimes, the disease often requires imported medications to treat it.
There are several drugs used to treat Crohn’s disease, such as aminosalicylates, glucocorticoids (e.g., prednisone, dexamethasone, etc.) and immunosuppressants (e.g., azathioprine, cyclosporine, etc.), the most effective of which is azathioprine; they can be supplemented with antibiotics (e.g., metronidazole, quinolones, etc.), intestinal microecological agents and intestinal nutritional agents.
If the above treatment is still ineffective, anti-tumor necrosis factor monoclonal antibody can be used for treatment, but it is expensive and cannot be completely cured.
Finally, surgical resection of the diseased intestinal segment is an option, but it is mainly for the complications of Crohn’s disease, and the indications should be chosen very carefully and strictly, because the recurrence rate is still high and complications are more frequent after surgery. If diagnosed and treated as early as possible, the results can be very good or the progression of the disease can be controlled in the long term.
Some patients often have recurrent and worsening attacks and therefore require long-term maintenance therapy with medications such as select 5-aminosalicylic acid, azathioprine, and metronidazole.
Crohn’s disease may have a tendency to worsen or become cancerous, so regular endoscopic follow-up is very important.
Ulcerative colitis has been described as a “cancer that is not cancer”, a headache for patients and a headache for doctors. The reason is not only that ulcerative colitis causes abdominal pain, bloody stools, diarrhea and other symptoms, but also that many patients have been treated repeatedly numerous times with poor results, making it difficult to eradicate the disease.
It is because this disease is always recurrent, so many patients eventually lose confidence. One patient, Lao Li, a secondary school teacher, had been suffering from chronic diarrhea, blood in the stool, lower abdominal pain, and general weakness for six or seven years, and had been seeking medical help from all directions, but his condition never improved. The colorful western antibiotic tablets, I do not know how much to eat, decoction of Chinese medicine jar are broken five or six. Later he has completely lost confidence in the treatment, almost tortured into depression, if not family members dragged over, he refused to go to the hospital. When he arrived at the hospital, he gave the doctor a “I don’t trust you doctors, none of you can cure my stomach”. The doctor could not be bothered with the patient, so he said smilingly: “I know, I also believe that you are in pain, and I believe that you have taken a lot of messy ancestral recipes, and I also believe that you have repeatedly failed to cure for many years, and I also believe that you have not had a systematic treatment, and I also believe that if you do not treat now, you may turn into colon cancer in the future! But if you believe me, I can cure you within two or three months!” Old Li was moved by the doctor’s words and was willing to believe again. After more than a month of medical treatment and recuperation, Old Li felt significantly better, his diarrhea and abdominal pain were also reduced, and his weight also began to increase. Three months later, Lao Li’s condition was basically cured.
The most important thing is not to use the most advanced drugs and go to the most advanced hospitals, but to have the confidence that you can cure the disease, which is the most important condition to cure the disease.
When ulcerative colitis is diagnosed, the goal of treatment is to control inflammation and relieve symptoms as soon as possible. Therefore, the disease requires bed rest during its activity and a diet that is easy to digest, low in fiber and high in nutrients, but be careful not to consume milk and dairy products. If the disease is severe, fasting for a few days and intravenous nutrients are required to give the intestines a temporary rest.
Patients with ulcers tend to make the mistake of taking daily diarrhea and pain for granted, ignoring its nuances. In fact, the degree of daily diarrhea varies in severity and treatment is not exactly the same.
Milder patients have milder symptoms, with less than five diarrheas per day. In this case, Chinese herbal medicine may be considered in combination with the western drugs mesalazine, or 5-aminosalicylic acid, or salazosulfapyridine.
In severe cases, the diarrhea is often more than 6 times a day, with watery or bloody stools and abdominal pain accompanied by fever, which may exceed 38.5 degrees Celsius. Glucocorticoid therapy is usually indicated. Moderate cases are between mild and severe, and can be treated with salicylic acid preparations, with appropriate dosing or switching to corticosteroids for those who do not respond well. And once the acute attack is controlled, maintenance therapy during the remission period is extremely important. Generally speaking, active treatment should not be less than 4 weeks, while remission treatment should be at least 6 months, and maintenance treatment is usually not less than 1 year.