Cure for Crohns?

An article in the Scotsman claims Prof John Hermon-Taylor has found a vaccine for Crohns.

Make of it what you will. I am still unsure about MAP being the cause of my condition, but I still limit my dairy intake. Not sure about one of the comments at the end of the article.

"My campaign tells everyone to boil their drinking waters as well, even if it is bottled. Water filtration does NOT kill MAP."

Cocaine Cubical Usage

This weekend I witnessed a common site whilst out on the town. All the cubicals in the pub where full of youths stuffing their noses with cocaine. Luckily I am still feeling well, but it amused me to imagine myself stuck in this scene and busting for the john. Perhaps such an experience wouldn't be so amusing if it were real.


Anyway, on the subject of toliets. As a Crohns suffer you really appreciate a good boys room. I think more should be made of good tolietory services, perhaps an idea for a website, www.plush-bogs.co.uk, to highlight the best and worst in the country.

It's all about;

Motion sensor taps and flush
Old school push button world dryer hand dryers - easy elbow action

Radom hand dryer review video on Google videos

Amazingly many serivce stations on the M1 motorway get toliet technology mix just right! Respect due

Straight pill popping

The Crohns is doing good at the moment. I have been following the guidance from my intolerance test and have been staying away from the Yeast. My digestion is acting like a normal persons and sticking to the spirits has made why hangovers a lot more bearable.

Today I hit the toilet and dropped a rather large hot one. In fact I was rather proud of the beast; it was defiantly a "crowd pleaser".

The only thing that concerns me at the moment is my pill menu. I am popping more pills than ever these days, although only one set is prescribed. Am I becoming a hypo like my uncle? I remember checking my older relatives when I was a youth and thinking "god, these guys are paranoid health freaks". Perhaps spending money on supplements is a good thing? It's just hard to know what's a con and what is really beneficial.

Anyways, here's my pill list..

1. 3 x Azathioprinie (prescribed - this stuff is the nuts)
2. Aloeride 180mg (seems to settle my stomach)
3. Large code liver oil (why not?)
4. Jointace - Glucosamine + Chondroitin (my dog takes this shit!)
5. Bio-Acidophilus (bacteria that wants to be your friend)

Intolerance Results

Today the York test results arrived. The only food substance I showed an intolerance to was Yeast. Upon reading the results I didn't know whether to be over joyed or disappointed, prehaps I had expected more.

Some notable foods that contain Yeast are: Beer, Cider, Wine, Bread, Pastries, Soya Sauce, and vinegar (notice the inclusion of the alcoholic beverages first).

This all falls inline with my own discoveries about which foods disagree with me. Now that I am more informed, a concise effort to avoid these foods can begin.

I will monitor my progress, and perhaps re-introduce dairy into my diet... Looks like I will be sticking to the Rum and Vodka.

P.S Crohns suffers seem to have intolerances to different food substances, so if you have Crohns it doesn't mean that you also have a Yeast intolerance. I will post my results from the Yeast free diet, and if warranted recommend the intolerance test.

Self Mutilation

This week my very kind Auntie has purchased me an intolerance test. To conduct the test you have to jab your finger with a miniscule needle to draw some blood then soak it up with the provided magic wand, hence the picture and title of this post.

The whole procedure wasn't that bad, but I must admit to being a bit of a pussy. Drawing my own blood is not something I am practiced in, and I found the whole experience very strange. Needles no problem, camera on a tub up your bum, piece of piss and the drugs are great. Barium chalk drink, perhaps a little difficult. Colonic irrigation, interesting when administered by a hot nurse.

Anyways, I await my long list of things to stay away from. Hopefully there will be nothing to severe, like, oxygen or sun light.

The Results to Follow :)

Back in the Days

Things are going kind of well at the moment, so I am going to tell you about my Crohns experiences as a youth.

The Crohns has manifested itself in several ways from when I first experienced problems. When I was young I used to be a healthy chubby lad. Full of beans and boundless energy. When I hit my mid teens I found myself being constantly fatigued. My appetite dropped off over the years and I begin to loose weight. At the age of 15/16 I was very ill. Keeping food down was very hard and my weight plummeted.

All this was very frightening, as I had not been diagnosed with anything. One doctor blamed my condition on eating citrus fruit the night before?!? Contemplations of eating disorder even crossed my mind.

Eventually I was diagnosed with Crohns whilst I was in hospital just before my GCSEs. My weight had dropped to under 8 stone. Keeping food down was impossible, even digesting water was hard. The one freind who visited me whilst I was in hospital will never be forgotten.

Finally they had diagnosed me correctly! Steroids were prescribed, which suck, and I hate, but they did kick off a recovery. Eventually I was put on Azathioprine, which helps me a lot and I still take it today. Along the way I was also given some crazy Nestle protein style drink called, E(something), this tasted crap, but did provide some nutrition.

In my late teens I was learning to live with the illness. Keeping stuff down, especially beer was a struggle. My weight was still poor, and I was constantly knackered, eventually being given the short lived nick name of monging bur.

Growing up with Crohns isn't easy, but I never let that stop me fur fill my ambitions or from having fun.

Good Times

I am actually feeling quite good at the moment. The Crohns plan is being followed, but I have added a new rule.

1. Stay away from Bread and wheat

My auntie has also put me onto an intolerance test, called the York test. I have posted a message on a Crohns forum to see if anyone has tried it. From reading the forum I have learnt that most people find that different things flare up their Crohns.

Recently I got a bit of a fright when reading Whisky's Crohns blog. She was mentioning something called a fistula. Apparently people with Crohns can develop wholes in their body!!!!!!!!! FREAK OUT!

Hopefully I won't be getting one of these.. Gots to stay of the smoking and be a good boy.

My Crohns Plan

For while I have been trying to follow my new Crohns plan in a quest to improve my condition.

The Crohns Plan
1. Trial Aloeride for two months
2. Continue not to smoke, and don't drink to much
3. Eat live Yoghurt
4. Stay away from Cow milk and Cheese. Try Goat substitute and Rice Dream
5. Drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day, and go easy on the tea and coffee
6. Take Omega 3 oil

The inspiration for these new lifestyle guidelines was an article on the Aloeride site. Aleoride is an alternative medicine which featured in an article that my Mum collected for me. Seen as I am a born skeptic, especially when a girly mag is recommending I purchase something, I am amazed I made the initial purchase.

The new plan has helped, but it is hard to say which measures are helping most.. Apart from staying off the smoking - As I know this is the way forward....

Still not feeling to crash hot at the moment, hoping to feel better soon as I have been following the plan well.

Crimson action

Had a freaky experience this week. When looking down into the toilet bowl, as you do when you have active Crohns, I was confronted with a bowel full of deep crimson blood. Previously I have seen blood, mainly on the paper, but to see all this dark red claret was not a nice experience. Luckily for anyone reading this I haven't yet purchase a new digital camera, otherwise i might have treated you to an image.

The not smoking had been going well, then came the weekend and I wasn't strong enough to cope whilst drinking. My friend said, "you know the answer to that then", I imagine he meant stop drinking as well... It could be done.

Feeling Good

Finally I have been strong and not smoked. It's been 4 days and I already feel much better. After staying off the evil tobacco and enjoying a relaxing weekend at my parents I hit the toilet with vigour to deposit what can only be descript as a Viking ship of a floater. It's strange how the weirdest things can make people happy. A grin hit my face as I took a peek down into the toilet bowl; like that of a proud father watching his sons first steps.

I will post my recently concocted plan of action for battling my Crohns that I am following shortly, but I must highlight the main ingredient to staying well is not smoking. Just have to continue to be strong, and despise smokers for the weak and pathetic animals that they are.

Ring of Fire

How my Crohns manifests itself has changed over the years, here is how it affects me currently.

I go to the toilet frequently with diarrhoea, sometimes up to three times a day. This has been happening for such a long time, that on the odd occasion when stool is solid I have been known to celebrate after inspecting the toilet bowel with a quick punch in the air and a muttering of "yes". I can sometimes go months on end without a poo of solid consistency.

The lack of proper digestion of my food leaves me lacking energy. When I have been really ill I have found myself failing asleep whilst driving to work in the morning and then find it hard to concentrate all day.

Occasionally I get some stomach pains in the lower gut. This is always concerning and alerts me to the fact that I am having a flare up of the illness internally.

The constant trips to the toilet leave me feeling shore. The diarrhoea can burn, which is very painful and un-comfortable. Often there will be blood on the toilet issue, either from the constant wiping, or from internal bleeding causing by the Crohns disease.

Recently I have had frightening moments when there is blood all over the toilet tissue. This has to of come from internally, which leads me to believe that the Crohns is affecting the lower half of my digestive track.

When I was younger my Crohns symptoms where different. This shows that the illness can developed and change the way it inflicts itself upon you. Perhaps in another post I will talk about how Crohns affected me as a teenager.

So it Begins

For a while I have been contemplating the blogging of my Crohns disease experiences. Recently I had been feeling quite well, but the inevitable relapse hit me hard yesterday, and I jumped out of bed at 3 in the morning to start this Blog.

The vast amount of quality blogs about Crohns surprised me, and I had second thoughts about starting my own. After a long period of thought I decided that I would be able to bring something different to the Crohns blog scene. So here I am!

The aim of this blog is the share my Crohns experiences with others. I was diagnosed with Crohns nearly a decade ago and have experienced growing up with the illness. Luckily I am not half as ill as some of people with this horrible affliction, but I have had my low moments.

Recently, I had been feeling good. I was on a slightly modified diet, had started talking some new Aloe Vera pills (which I was super sceptical of), was goning easy on the drinking, and stopped smoking. After a couple of weeks of smoking again, a hard weekend took its toll. I hit the toilet three times yesterday, and could hear the noises of any angry gut reeling back at me as I tried to sleep. Time to get back on it and look after myself!