Newish Drug Could Help Chrones Disease Patients

Naltrexone in the past has been used to treat people who abuse drugs and alcohol, but now it could also be helping people with Chrones Disease. That is according to some recent research.

the research was conducted by Doctors in the USA and involved a small number of chrones patients, their findings found that some peoples symptoms of Chrons Disease actually went into remission when they took the drug (Naltrexone).

So what is Naltrexone?
Naltrexone is an opioid or narcotic antagonist and what it does is it blocks narcotics. The good news is that the drug Naltrexone has approval from the FDA to ease drug and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and so because of this it could also be used to help people suffering with Chrones disease.

Dr. Smith who was working on the research commented: "We don't understand the mechanism of how it works in Crohn's disease, but there are opioid proteins on inflammatory cells, so by using Naltrexone it does reverse the inflammation and it also causes healing of the ulcers in the intestine"

The patients took one low-dose pill at bedtime and showed minimal side effects. There was about About 89 percent of patients showed some sort of improvement with Naltrexone and 67 percent had total remission of their symptoms. With these positive findings, the ideas is conduct larger scale studies which can only be good news for people suffering with Chrones Disease.

Amazon.com for the USA
Crohn's & Colitis Diet Guide: Includes 150 Recipes

Amazon.co.uk for the UK
Crohn's & Colitis Diet Guide: Includes 150 Recipes

What to expect if you are diagnosed with Chrones Disease

I feel that with anything in life and especially an illness like chrones disease, it is important to get all the facts, some of them may not be pretty, but for me at least if I have an idea of what to expect, I can then prepare myself for it. So here is what to expect if you are diagnosed with Chrones disease, warts and all!

When I was first told that I had Chrones disease the idea was very frightening, especially as there were so many unknowns. Even the doctors could not be totally sure of everything that was going to happen to me! So what can you expect? Well here are a few of the facts:

People with Chrones disease often go through periods of improvement which are then followed by deterioration and the experience increased symptoms again sometimes these periods of remission can go on for years. If you have chrones, you have an increased risk of small bowel or colorectal carcinoma.

Complications associated with Chrones Disease

You can get fistulas in the following areas:

• Bladder
• Vagina
• Skin

• Bowel obstructions
• Abscess
• Nutritional deficiencies (commonly vitamin B12 deficiency)
• Complications of corticosteroid therapy
• Erythema nodosum
• Pyoderma gangrenosum
• Inflammation of the joints
• Lesions in the eye
• Impaired growth and sexual development in children

Many of the words above are rather big and frightening, don't worry we will go through them over time in this blog. remember with chrones, knowledge is power!

Obviously if you have chrones, like me this list can be very frightening. Just remember: I don't think anyone has had ALL these complications with Chrones. This is almost the total worst case scenario. But as i said earlier I feel that it is important to know the facts about Chrones, but it is also important to know that there is also a whole life to live EVEN if you have Crohn's Disease. That is what this blog is all about, passing on the facts about chrones disease, the new treatments for chrones disease and as well showing you that there is also a whole life for you to live out there, so go and enjoy it.

I have had chrones for almost 6 years now and sure there have been pretty bad times, but I have also had many great times to that I wouldn't swap for anything.

Books on Chrones Disease
For more information why not try some books on chrones disease, there are people out there that are way better writers than I am!:

For people form the USA (Amazon.com)
Books on Chrones disease


For people form the UK (Amazon.co.uk)
Books on Chrones disease

Treatments for Chrones Disease

One of the first thing that you may be wondering if you are diagnosed with chrones disease, is what kind of treatments are available ad what to expect. I am sure that your doctor will go through most of this with you, but here is what I found from a little research for both you and myself:


If you have Chrones disease you could be given medications like 5-aminosalicylate this will be to control the inflammatory process.

If the treatment of 5-aminosalicylate is not effective or if your case of crohn's is very severe, you may require corticosteroids and immunomodulators such as azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine.

If you have any fistulas or abscesses you may be given antibiotics to fight against it. Infliximab which is an antibody to an immune chemical called TNF-alpha, which promotes inflammation. This treatment can work for people with fistulous disease.

If medical treatment and the drugs above have no effect, or do not work, you may need surgery where the segment of your bowel which has the Chrones disease will be removed. Unfortunately though, unlike ulcerative colitis the removal of a diseased portion of the intestine does not cure Chrones disease.

Up to this point in time, there has been no concrete evidence that a specific diet has been shown to either worsen or improve someones Crohn's disease. But as with everyone and probably more so with people suffering with Chrones disease, it is very important that you maintain a good intake of calories, vitamins, and protein is important. The foods that make your diarrhoea worse should be avoided and specific food problems may vary from person to person.

For people form the USA (Amazon.com)
Books on Chrones disease


For people form the UK (Amazon.co.uk)
Books on Chrones disease

Chrones Disease Symptoms

Diagnosing Chrones Disease is often very difficult, as chrones disease symptoms can vary from person to person and is also pretty similar to the symptoms of Ulcerative colitis. Chrones disease can also begin at any age, but it does seem though that the times of the highest risk are between adolescence and a persons early adulthood.

The current thinking is that there is a genetic link to Chrones disease and it seems that people with a Jewish ancestry seem to have a higher risk of developing Crohn's Disease.

Smoking and Chrones Disease
Smoking also seems to increase the risk of Chrones.

Chrones disease is fairly common with about 7 people in every 100,000 developing the disease.

Below are some of the main Symptoms of Chrons Disease:

* Fever
* Diarrhea
* A Loss of appetite
* Weight loss
* Abdominal sounds (gurgling or splashing sound heard over the intestine)
* Fatigue and tiredness
* Bleeding from the anus
* Gastrointestinal bleeding
* Tenesmus - which means pain with passing a stool
* Stools that are Foul-smelling
* Pain in your Abdomen

Some of the less common chrones disease symptoms:

* Blood in your stools
* Skin ulcers
* Rashes
* Pain in your joints
* Anal Incontinence
* Swollen gums
* Constipation
* Abdominal fullness and gas

Please note: If you have these symptoms, it does not mean that you have chrones disease as mentioned before chrones disease can be pretty hard to diagnose and the best advice as always is to go and speak to your doctor.

(Chrones Disease Symptoms: Date First Published: 21 September 2007)

A few Causes and Facts of Chrones Disease

In my post today I have decided to go over a few more of the facts, causes and symptoms of Chrones Disease.

What exactly is Chrones Disease?
Chrones disease is defined as a chronic autoimmune disease which can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract but most commonly occurs in the ileum, the ileum is the area where your large and small intestines meet.

Chrones Disease are there other names for the disease?
Firstly the correct spelling of Chrones Disease is actually Crohn's Disease, I use Chrones every time im when im not really thinking about it, and have found that so do many other people and so this blog is really for people who like me keep forgetting how to spell it - now it has just stuck! Other names for chrones are: Inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, Regional enteritis, Ileitis and Granulomatous ileocolitis. Chrones disease is similar to ulcerative colitis but is not the same. (more of the differences between Chrones disease and ulcerative colitis later)

What are the causes of Chrones disease?
Chrones is an autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system attacks your body's own cells. In the Autoimmune disorder in Chrones disease, these 'bad' immune cells attack the gastrointestinal system. The actual cause of why this happens is still not known, but there seems to be some sort of a link to genetics.

In Chrones disease this often happens in the ileum, where the end of the small intestine joins the large intestine. But chrones can also affect any other part of your digestive system. What happens is the wall in your intestines thickens and deep ulcers often occur well as your digestive system chrones disease can also affect other organs in your body and may cause, Skin rash, Fistulas which are abnormal connections between your digestive system and adjacent organs or skin, Liver inflammation, arthritis, your eyes can become inflamed, kidney stones and deep vein thrombosis.

About Chrones Disease - Some Facts

I have had a few queries from people asking what is Chrones Disease? (which is correctly spelt Crohn's disease)

Basically Chrones disease is a chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease of the
gastrointestinal tract that is incurable. Chrones disease usually occurs in people between the ages of 18-25, but can begin much later in life as well.

Because Chrones disease is chronic, patients often go through unpredictable periods in which the disease flares up and the symptoms of the disease re-appear. Then these periods are followed by periods of remission where the symptoms disappear or decrease and the person with chrones appears to be in good health.

Throughout the world, the west has the highest percentage of chrones disease sufferers, with Canada having one of the highest rates in the world.

The cause of Chrones disease is not really known but it is believed to be an autoimmune disease that has links to genetics. The condition occurs when the immune system contributes to damage of the gastrointestinal tract by causing inflammation.

As mentioned earlier, there is currently no known medical or surgical cure for Chrones disease, unlike the other major type of IBD called ulcerative colitis.

Many people live with Chrones disease for many years and dont know that they have it until the usual onset of chrones disease between the ages of 15 and 30. There are no difference in numbers or chances of getting the disease between men and women.

Chrones disease can cause a variety of symptoms that include Growth failure which is common in children who have Chrones disease. Infact many children are first diagnosed with Chrones disease based on inability to maintain normal growth.

Older people who have Chrones disease may show weight loss coupled with decreased food intake, since individuals with intestinal symptoms from Chrons disease often feel better when they do not eat and might lose their appetite. This is often one of the fist signs that a person has Chrones Disease.

Chrones Disease Books

I found that books about Chrones Disease a great help to me when I was first diagnosed, some really helped and some left me with more questions than answers! That is why I thought it's would be a good Idea to create a post about some of the books that are available and then possibly in the future write a sort of Chrones Disease Book review.

Also just to let you know I will try and find links to the books for both USA and UK book sites as well as many other countries that I can find, if any of you are from any other country and know where you can find them online please let me know and I will add them. I have also where possible linked to sites that offer 2nd hand books as this is greener (save the trees!!) and cheaper too :-)

The Chrones Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book
Taken from the back cover: "Crohn's disease nearly took my life and dream of running in the Olympics. This book is helping me control my disease and stay in training." --Rene Felton, Track and Field National Record Holder"

"This text gave me a better insight into my illness. I have found that knowing what to expect makes coping with the disease easier." --Rolf Benirschke, Placekicker, San Diego Chargers

Where you can buy The Chrones Disease and Ulcerative
Colitis Fact Book:

Amazon USA:

USA: AbeBooks.com Used: $1.00!!

UK: Amazon.co.uk New £10.99
UK: AbeBooks.co.uk Used: £1.00

Australia: AbeBooks New A$27.73

Canada: AbeBooks Used C$10.67

France and Germany: The Chrones Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book is also available from any of the AbeBooks links above.