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The symptoms and the manifestations of Crohn's disease are very treatable. It's really reassuring. Nowadays, we have a large armamentarium of treatment options. And most patients were able to get, to respond and to actually go into remission. And majority of the symptoms and even the complications of Crohn's disease are now treatable and reversible.
The symptoms and the manifestations of Crohn's disease are very treatable. It's really reassuring. Nowadays, we have a large armamentarium of treatment options. And most patients were able to get, to respond and to actually go into remission. And majority of the symptoms and even the complications of Crohn's disease are now treatable and reversible.
There's no cure however, there are excellent treatments now available, which means people can lead relatively normal lives. The treatments include five ASAs, or aminosalicylates. Those are mild forms of immunosuppressants and they target the digestive tract directly. Those are usually our starting medications. The next set of medications that are often used are antibiotics. Certain types of Crohn's disease, antibiotics such as Ciprofloxacin and flagyl have been shown to be very effective. Steroids, whether they be systemic conventional corticosteroids such as prednisone or non-systemic steroids such as budesonide are also very helpful, especially in the acute phase where patients are really, really sick. We don't like to use steroids long term because they have a lot of potential side effects. However, in the short term, they're very affecting getting control over a patient's disease.
The next step up from there are immuno modulators. Those are medications that have been around for a long time. They're in the pill form, such as azathioprine or 6-MP, and they're a very effective form of immunosuppressants. And they help in certain situations. The newer kids on the block, if you may, over the last, say, 10 or 15 years, our biologics. Those are stronger, more sophisticated immunosuppressants. Sometimes they're in the form of an infusion such as Remicade, or they're in the form of an injection such as Humira or Adalimumab. These are medications that target very, very specific components of the inflammatory process and help patients with Crohn's disease. And what's great is there are newer and newer medications coming out regularly, and they're even better than the ones we had before. And so for someone who getting diagnosed, or who was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease, they should be relatively optimistic because there really is a very large armamentarium of treatment and patients are often in remission and lead very normal lives.
Steroids are basically anti-inflammatory medications that suppress your immune system. Since Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disease, where the immune system is for one reason or another, acting inappropriately in attacking one's own body. Intestines specifically by using medications such as steroids namely Prednisone, or budesonide is another form of steroids, that suppresses the immune system. Unfortunately, these medications not only suppress the immune system, but have effects on other organs as well.
So there's a number of over the counter therapies that have been reported to be helpful. Probiotics have been studied and seem to be helpful in modulating the gut microbiome. There are a number of different kinds. I specifically like a specific brand by the name of VSL number three that is a prescription strength probiotic that has been studied extensively and seems to be very helpful in this specific population. Other over the counter medications or supplements I should say are turmeric or curcumin, which is an anti-inflammatory agent that's been studied and it seems to be very helpful in inflammatory bowel disease conditions. Omega three fatty acids, have also been studied and they also seem to help with inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease, specifically.
So because Crohn's disease affects the entire digestive tract, potentially it can interfere with absorption of nutrients. In children, that may mean stunting growth and malnutrition. In addition, oftentimes once a patient is diagnosed with Crohn's disease as a child, some of the medications are in and of themselves, causing stunting of growth such as steroids. So occasionally patients, children, or even adults who get diagnosed with Crohn's disease must be put on steroids, at least in the short term, to get their disease under control. And that can stunt growth. And so really we have two components. One is the actual disease itself and the effects on the digestive tract is has, in terms of preventing absorption of food. Secondly, we have symptoms that prevent people, especially kids, from wanting to eat, being able to eat. And so that's the actual disease component. And then the treatments also, are such that it's particular steroids, they that can stunt growth.
The treatments for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are often very similar. The oral agents that we have, such as the five Aminosalicylates, prednisone, and the biologics work for both treatments.
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