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How many crohns patients had pets growing up?

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Posted 4/24/2010 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Tsitodawg,
Thanks for your input. Just to let you know, we did finally get a kitten 2 years ago. We did get him shortly after she was diagnosed. His name is Waldo and is a cutie. So now we do have a cuddly little addition to the family. When my kids were little though, I did not want a pet because I knew the burden would fall on me to clean up after it. I already had 4 kids and a husband, a pet to clean up after was not needed. Especially a dog, they are alot of work. The cat is not so bad. We can go away for the weekend and he is fine alone for a few days with plenty of food and water. I do agree though, pets do always give plenty of unconditonal love. Diana
Posted 4/24/2010 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
  Selling hookworms???!!!  shocked    I've had animals since I was a toddler.  What I do know of my family history it seems that I am the first to have Crohn's, but now my adult son has all the symptoms, but keeps on putting off being checked.  My grown daughter has ulcerative colitis. smhair
Posted 4/24/2010 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
vls, I had an awful reaction to the MMR too. Like you, I had to get one before I started college. I had such horrid pain in my knees and ankles that I could barely walk. Every step felt like they were being turned inside out. Of course my doctor said no way could the MMR cause that, but it most certainly did! It lasted about 3 weeks.
Posted 4/24/2010 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
 

Plenty of pets in this family too although I must admit that son is meticulous about washing his hands and I mean meticulous, nothing wrong with that I can hear you all say and I would agree that it is a good thing but it almost borders on obsessive compulsive behaviour.

I did read a generalisation somewhere that stated that sufferers of Crohns are more likely to suffer with OCD and are more likely to be of above average intelligence!!

Anyone care to admit to either??

Posted 4/25/2010 12:01 AM (GMT 0)
Vixen, I used to have terrible OCD! It got really bad in my late teens. I take meds for it now, so it's minimally bothersome.

Intelligence? Well, I did pretty good in school blush. I could be a professional student and be very happy :-).
Posted 4/25/2010 9:05 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks spookyhurst,

It would be interesting to hear if many others are affected this way -son doesn't appear to be so affected now as well as handwashing everything had to be 'in it's place' in his bedroom, lol the state of it now I almost wish he could go back to having it :)

Posted 4/25/2010 11:39 AM (GMT 0)
I have owned A dog since I was 12.
And always been around animals birds, rabbits, dogs and horses.

But I like this theory. Now I have 3 dogs.
Posted 4/25/2010 2:35 PM (GMT 0)
Vixen I might suggest you start your own post on your questions, so we don't hijack Riasmom's post. Thanks for your understanding.
Posted 4/25/2010 7:04 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry Nanners, my intention was not to hijack another's post-I actually believe that what I said was relevant to the post. Riasmom stated that a theory was that we were too clean and that her daughter did not like playing in the dirt and she was wondering if she was not exposed to enough germs and that she wished maybe that they had had pets.
What I was trying to say is that despite having pets my son still has Crohns BUT that he was pretty obsessive about hand washing and cleanliness and that I had read that a lot of crohns sufferers did have OCD, which if this is true could possibly add some weight to one of the many suspected theories.
I agree that the intelligence bit wasn't relevant to this thread but as I had read it in the same line as the bit about OCD that is why I added it.
Apologies to Riasmom I will hush my mouth.
Posted 4/25/2010 7:11 PM (GMT 0)
Riasmom,
Don't blame yourself for not having breastfed , my son was breastfed for 12 months and that didn't stop this disease either!!
I know exactly how you are feeling but until they find an exact cause no one will never know what triggers it.
(ok mouth is now shut!)
Posted 4/25/2010 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
Riesasmom,

When I learned that children even as young as 1-2 years old have gotten Crohn's, it throws a lot of theories (and blame) out the window.

Researchers are constantly trying to find out the cause(s) of Crohn's, and it's just not a simple cause and effect. There are so many different genes and variables involved. Hopefully someday the researchers will know the exact cause(s), and then maybe better treatments (and hopefully cures) will be developed!!!

Hang in there, and no blaming allowed!
Posted 4/25/2010 8:54 PM (GMT 0)
Vixen
No worries! We're all here for the same reason. I think it all relates one way or another. I guess my main goal(like everyone here) is to find a cure for my daughter. But my thoughts are, that if we don't know how we got crohns, how can we prevent it, or cure it. The cleanliness theory made sense to me, but others did not have the same experiences growing up and still got crohns. I got that thought in my head and needed to ask what others thought. It's wonderful to have a place to get some honest feedback.I apreciate yours too. Thanks, Diana
Posted 4/25/2010 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
I have always had a dog. When I was a kid I had all the typical pets. frogs. snakes, etc. I was not diagnosed until I was 48. My friends grew up the same way. I am the only one with CD.

I have spent much of my like outdoors.

Roger
Posted 4/25/2010 11:36 PM (GMT 0)
We had dogs my whole life, then cats, fish, hamsters, hermit crabs, birds, and rabbits. Now just a dog and two chinchillas. My brother and I did our share of playing in the dirt too lol those were the days huh? I don't really buy into the too clean thing, my family likes to tell me stories about how I would get really filthy outside and come back in like nothing lol. Then I was active in Boy Scouts for 13 years... I was outside quite a bit. I believe the disease is genetic that has a way of getting "triggered".
Posted 4/26/2010 1:50 AM (GMT 0)
I was never vaccinated for anything and I got Crohns at the age of 21.  It all started a year or two after I was on antibiotics for 6 months for strep throat.  I think the disease is all about the microbiome and our ability to have a symbiotic relationship to bacteria in our guts.
Posted 4/26/2010 3:16 AM (GMT 0)
I think there is a feeling to need to have control over your life, especially when you are ill with something that they do not know what causes it or makes it worse. So there can certainly be manifestations of different compensations for regaining that control, like OCD.

I wonder if the intelligence bit is actually because we spend more time indoor bound.  I know I have resorted to reading the encyclopedia so I did not go bonkers while in the hospital.  So now I am very good at trivia.  But as an academic I cannot go on TV and use this vast knowledge.:)  It is just "not done" according to one of my professors. 

Posted 4/26/2010 3:57 AM (GMT 0)
Not totally sure if I have crohn's or not (positive blood test from prometheus) and I have colitis. Anyway, we had a lot of pets, I ate bugs, dirt etc..... as a child. Not sure about the worm theory. There might be something to it as crohn's and UC are mostly in the more developed countries. With that said, I don't think worms will cure us once we get it like many have tried. It may work because as a child, your immune system is developing. It another situation if you try to take them as an adult. I guess some get desparate enough. So sad.
Posted 4/26/2010 5:24 AM (GMT 0)
My OCD (and anxiety and panic attacks) and good grades predated the crohn's. If anything, the stress of OCD and perfectionism helped bring it on sad. I've often thought that if I wasn't such a high strung kid, maybe the crohn's would have held off a few years.
Posted 4/26/2010 5:32 AM (GMT 0)

medieval_peasant said...
I was never vaccinated for anything and I got Crohns at the age of 21. It all started a year or two after I was on antibiotics for 6 months for strep throat. I think the disease is all about the microbiome and our ability to have a symbiotic relationship to bacteria in our guts.

Do you follow SCD? Elaine Gotschall believed the same thing, that we get the wrong gut bugs growing (often following antibiotics), which leads to a variety of bowel diseases. They even say our mental health can be affected (like OCD) because our gut is like a second brain. There was a recent article about this in Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain
Posted 4/26/2010 6:08 AM (GMT 0)
I and my siblings (6 children in 6 years) went to the same school and recieved the same immunization shots and I'm the only one with any type of bowel disorder of the 6 so I think that theory is shot too!
Posted 4/26/2010 7:44 PM (GMT 0)
My daughter had two cats. Also was diagnosed with pinworm a couple of times - probably from the neighborhood sandbox.
Posted 4/27/2010 9:48 AM (GMT 0)
not to beat a dead horse, but the vaccination theory...I'm saying that when I was given the MMR I couldn't have been under more stress at the time and I believe that shot was the one thing that triggered the autoimmune response resulting in Crohns.  It was just too coinncidental and three drs agreed.  My son was to receive his booster shots later that same year and his dr said it was too risky and writes a letter every year to the school corp explaining why he is not to ever receive the MMR because of my reaction to it.
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