> Health and Disease > Gastrointestinal > Crohn’s disease

As a youngster, Ferne Sherkin-Langer just couldn’t escape the fact that she was different. At nine, she had to leave summer camp early after seizing up with cramps and coming down with a severe case of diarrhea.

Then, on a trip with high-school friends to Europe, diarrhea struck again–accompanied this time by rectal bleeding. The mortified teenager had to rush home to Toronto.

Doctors thought her problem might be an ulcer, a parasite or even psychosomatic. Few had any inkling as to the real cause: Crohn’s disease.

"I was 19 when I first heard the name of my disease," writes Sherkin-Langer in If This Is a Test, Have I Passed Yet?. "I wanted to stand up and yell: ‘See, you all doubted me. All this time I have had Crohn’s disease.’"

An inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn’s results from an irregular immune reaction to bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract that leaves tissues inflamed and ulcerated. Though few people die from it, the pain is often incapacitating and the blockages created by scarred tissue can be life-threatening if they impede waste materials from passing through to the colon.

Some people in advanced stages of the disease may undergo an ileostomy or colostomy. These surgical procedures reroute the passage of waste materials from the diseased intestine or colon to a new opening in the front of the abdomen called a stoma. Instead of having bowel movements, people with ileostomies or colostomies wear bags over their stomas, disposing and replacing them on an as-needed basis.

Diet and Exercise

Many experts now see Crohn’s as an autoimmune disease that arises from a complex interplay of genetic factors and western dietary habits. People with a sibling who has Crohn’s have a 30 per cent greater risk of developing it, while those with a close relative have a 10 per cent greater risk. And people who regularly eat processed foods–especially those made of white refined sugar and flour-also increase their odds of developing Crohn’s.

A few years ago, researchers in Britain linked bacterial contamination in cow’s milk to higher-than-usual incidences. Other suspected risk factors include drinking caffeine, smoking and using oral contraceptives.

Since living with Crohn’s means living with a digestive system under constant attack, people who suffer from the disease must vigilantly watch what they put into it. In many cases, particular foods may worsen symptoms. Milk and dairy products, wheat, corn, cabbage, tomatoes, citrus fruits and eggs have all been known to create complications in different individuals with Crohn’s.

One dietary treatment, known as an elimination diet, excludes all foods from a person’s diet and reintroduces them one at a time, monitoring the person’s symptoms to determine food intolerances. Sherkin-Langer subsisted on baby food for a few days until she discovered that dairy products seemed to precipitate attacks of the disease. She has now removed them from her diet–with positive results.

Besides avoiding foods containing white refined sugar and flour, as well as those to which they have an intolerance, people with Crohn’s should steer clear of saturated fats from animal sources, hydrogenated vegetable fats, cooked or heated polyunsaturated fats, artificial colourings and flavourings, and preservatives. A high-protein, low-fat diet consisting of whole-grain bread or unrefined rice, unprocessed meats and fish, beans and lentils, fresh fruit and leafy green vegetables can do wonders for boosting energy and alleviating symptoms.

For more information about Ferne Sherkin-Langer’s If This Is a Test, Have I Passed Yet? (Macmillan Canada, 1994), contact her at fshlanger@hotmail.com.

Sabitri Ghosh is an award-winning writer and researcher whose articles have appeared in The Globe and Mail and World Vision’s Childview Magazine.

Source: alive #246, April 2003