Is it just me or...

Does it seem that more and more people seem to know someone that has Crohns? It's too bad we never get real numbers on the disease and the growth rate.

I know tons of people at my work that have it (600 employees) but none that are even close to my age.  It would be nice having someone close in age to hang out with that has Crohns too

Just think about how many are out there that havn't been DX yet ( a lot of people live in denial too ).

:)

Yeah I'm 25 , I kind of hate going in to the GI or especially the VA hospital and having everyone look at me crazy because I'm under 50 :P It would be nice to have someone around who's my age and gets it. We should find out where everyone lives and start hanging out lol

CD is definitely not discriminating when it comes to age.... I think maybe part of it is that it's harder to talk about when you're still young and single and such. I know I kept almost everything on the "down-low" until I got married, and now I'm not so worried about scaring people away (especially a potential mate). Might sound kinda screwy, but I think I'm probably not the only one in or that has gone through that mindset.

I hate the "Medi-CARE" vs "Medic'AID" clarifications I have to give EVERY ONE who looks at my insurance information. They all assume that it SHOULD say medicaid because I'm not even 30 yet, but NO. I have MEDICARE. THE OLD PEOPLE ONE. YES, that's what they call it. Thanks guys. I'm 27 and I have the "OLD PEOPLE" government insurance. Pah. Oh well. I'm happy to have what insurance I have!

Growing up, my dad was the only person I knew that had Crohn's. It was a mysterious scary disease to me, and he almost died when I was 4 Luckily, I was not aware things were that dire. I remember spending most of the summer with my grandparents, and visiting my dad at the hospital one day for him to say "goodbye" should he not make it through surgery. He made it, and I remained clueless for awhile longer about Crohn's being such a dreadful disease.

I was diagnosed shortly before my 21st birthday (although I'd been sick since I was 19). I kept it to myself that I had Crohn's, and didn't even tell my new college friends. The ruse was up after a couple years and a big flair. It wasn't a whole lot later then there was a trickle of people who told me they knew someone with Crohn's.

Nowadays, it seems everyone knows a Crohnnie. At my local dog park, I know 3 other women that have it. All of them are in their 50's and have had it a long time.

I've read a theory that the huge increase in autoimmune diseases could be because the last two generations of mom's have bottle fed their babies, were heavily vaccinated, ate a high processed food diet, and were exposed to more environmental toxins. Once generation three came along, they paid the price. If that's the case, then it would seem like a community such as the Amish would not have the huge influx of autoimmune problems. If someone hasn't already done a study on this, they should!

Many moons ago, when this forum was young and we all knew each other by name and circumstance... ooh, about three years ago now.... this topic of how common CD is was thoroughly researched, and it was most illuminating.
Bear in mind that I suffer from bad brain fog, so my figures here may not be correct.
CD was first "discovered" in about 1938 I think it was, and written up in a paper by three doctors. Dr Crohn was the first author's name, so it was called Crohn's Disease - could've been Hasegawoto's Disease or something like that, one of the other docs had a name like that. Phew !
Originally, the average age of diagnosis was 33, and the spread of ages was relatively limited. There were no youngsters in their teens at all, and very few if any old people. The incidence was extremely low. Crohns was seen as similar to tuberculosus, but restricted to the gut.
Fast forward to the late nineties/early twenty first, and the scene is dramatically different.
We now know of Crohn's related problems with the skin, kidneys, gall bladder, lungs, eyes, joints....you name it. Very like tuberculosis, and adding weight to the idea that it is caused by a member of that bacterial family. But many if not virtually all doctors are pretty much ignorant of this; in the UK they totally ignore these symptoms when making a diagnosis. (I tend to have extra-intestinal symptoms, especially when I have a flare; these are dismissed, and my CD diagnosis is considered doubtful. Only GI findings are used.)
Scottish/Irish ancestry is now often considered a "sine qua non" (necessity) for having Crohn's Disease, the genes having originally come from a particular part of Ireland with the Celts.
There are infants being diagnosed with Crohns, children and teenagers are now an accepted and regularly diagnosed part of the CD population, and old people who have had it all their lives, as well as those who have just developed problems, are now being diagnosed. If I remember correctly, the average age of diagnosis is now in the low 20s. Incidence, the last figure I heard was 600 000 in the USA alone, which would make it...well, you do the math, I wasn't kidding about the brain fog !
Canada has if anything an even higher ratio of CD diagnoses, probably due to the very organised GI system they have; they actually have support groups for CD sufferers built into their therapy, can you imagine ? You get diagnosed, and you immediately get contacted by a support group, and get help with financial, work and school related issues !
Scotland, in particular the North East (that's me) and Tel Aviv in Israel, are the world capitals for Crohns Disease. This is reckoned to be because the genes that predispose towards it are particularly prevalent there. In my case, I must have Irish blood, that's where the Scots get them; in Israel, it is the Ashken*zi sect who have a particularly high incidence, no doubt due to religious tenets preventing dilution of genes. Kind of like the opposite of the Amish idea !
There's a theory that MAP, or something like it, is present in the soil of both Israel and North East Scotland, and that's why we have so many cases. But the more I read about genes, and epigenetic changes (where inert genes get switched on by environmental triggers like infection or chemicals like pesticides, then the switched on genes get passed down to following generations) and the more I find out about the chemicals we are surrounded by, the more I am convinced that it is very much started by a whole host of causes, some causing one permanent change and then others causing the actual real Crohns. Rather like the two step process that causes cancer.
I'm kind of lucky in Aberdeen. If I say to anyone local here, "I have Crohns", they always know what it is, usually because they already know someone who has it. Maybe a friend of a friend, but it is endemic here. But support is pretty thin on the ground, and the support groups are more about raising funds for research as far as I can see. I don't know any Crohnies "in the flesh".
The Amish are extensively studied - I sometimes wonder how they manage to live, they must have so much blood drawn off ! - but I don't know of any research done on them regarding CD. As they mainly are descended from Germanic or Scandinavian stock, you wouldn't ecpect them to have the genes associated with CD and UC.
Oops, sorry guys, did I just write an essay ?

I was also diagnosed with IBS from the first doctor I went to.

snohare-thank you for posting that :) It was very interesting. I have Scottish ancestry and my ancestors there did something naughty so got kicked out to Ireland(sometime after Queen Mary Stuart which is where our family's book traces blood to).
Hm...I wonder about certain environmental factors like pesticides too though...nine people were tested at the Mount Sinai hospital for chemicals that don't naturally occur in the body just as a 'let's see what we find' study and 53 chemicals related to gastrointestinal problems were found to be in them. Albeit, in trace amounts, but research has shown that even those small amounts can make a huge difference.

Didn't mean to go off there.
I agree with everyone else about finding more in the flesh to relate with.

I had flu like symptoms. I was 13 when it all started. I went from 168 to 123 in two months. I slept on my knees because it hurted to lay or sit down. I was throwing up water because it burned like acid.The first doctor I went gave me 3 meds to help with pain, nausea, and diarhea. He told my mom to take me to the ER so I can find a doctor if I didn't get better. The doctors did a colonscopy, lots of blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds, catscans.  I was diagnosed with an ucler, then Inflammtory Bowel Syndrome, then Crohn's. It started in Oct '00, went to first doc in Jan '01. I went to ER in April '01 and had first colonscopy in June '01. I was fully diagnosed in August or September '01(age 14). For some reason I just remember in the 4th grade I went to the ER because I was constipated. It is hard for me to stay on topic .