Does crohns eventually "burn out"

So my mom has had crohns for 40 years and for the last ten or so has not had a flare. Before that she was pretty sick, had three resections, fistulas, almost died from a perforation--you get the picture. She seems to think that with herself and some of the members from her old support group that the crohns has simply "burnt out", either because she's older or perhaps because the disease has done all of the damage that it could already. My mom is my hero-- she's been through so much and still stays cheerful! What do you guys think about the burn out theory?
BB

No one can answer this since even researchers have much more to learn about crohn's....I've been in a constant flare my entire 19 yrs of having it (I don't take oral RX cuz I'm either allergic or non-responsive to them) but as you see in my sig I do use the natural route. Since using the natural route I've been a bit better, more fucntional but I'm still limited due to urgency and frequency even though I have less frequency than before it still causes limitations in my life....crohn's never just "burns out" but it can go into remission and hopefully that's what your mom is experiancing right now...hoping it last her a long time!

pb4, what kind of grains do you eat?
My GI thinks I might need to go gluten free after surgery.

it's certainly possible that crohn's "burns out" in some people

My mom was diagnosed with Crohns when she was in here late 20's and ever since she had her first child (My sister) she has not had a symptom since. For what that knowledge is worth. However from most of the recherche i have read Crohns gets worse with age. I guess it goes to show you that no one really knows...

The only thing I've heard in this respect is that 'the first flare you have with Crohn's will always be your worst'.

I hope that's true because mine was horrific!

*Phoebe* said...
The only thing I've heard in this respect is that 'the first flare you have with Crohn's will always be your worst'.

I know this is an old post, but since this thread has been bumped up anyway, I'm just gonna say categorically that that statement is complete and utter bollocks.

I rage whenever I see anything along those lines, because I've seen it quite a few times and it is so wrong, I don't even know where to begin with explaining how wrong it is. All I can say is that any GI who says that the first Crohn's flare up is always the worst one should be fired on the spot for incompetence. It wouldn't matter if it was completely and utterly wrong, if it didn't encourage doctors to ignore "mild" disease on the grounds it won't get any worse. It probably will get worse, that's the honest :@~}{@~ing truth of it. Because that's what this miserable condition does: it squats inside your intestines and drains aways the quality of your life, bit by little bit. I'm sick and tired of it.

At the risk of sounding like your permanently ill-tempered elderly relative at the dinner table, there is no proof that Crohn's is an autoimmune disease. It's not even widely thought that it is anymore.

The whole theory of Crohn's being caused by an overactive immune system targeting healthy intestines was never proven to begin with.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19437144

Yet medical sites still labelled Crohn's as an autoimmune disease as though it were proven fact, instead of merely an unproven hypothesis. The Lancet thought Crohn's was mislabelled as an autoimmune disease.

What's in a name?

The latest research into the infectious causes of Crohn's (this entire article is free to read):

Latest concepts in etiology

At the very least, it's clearly nonsense to assert that Crohn's is an autoimmune disease as though it were established fact. Carry on believing it's autoimmune if you want to, but there's no compelling reason to.

Crohn's is infact an autoimmune disease...researchers couldn't all agree whether it was due to an over active or under active immune system therefore they agree on it being a malfunctioning immune system (it doesn't respond properly as it should)...

Some might note that there are some CDers that get sick with colds and flues a lot while other CDers don't. That in itself prooves the immune system isn't functioning properly.

Everyone will have their own opinion...the facts are the facts though.

'Autoimmune disease' was the old definition of the illness. It was a term coined before much of the recent research. The illness is no longer classified as such. (Even wikipedia now states it is an 'immune deficiency state'.)

The reason TNF alpha inhibitors are sometimes effective is because they limit the inflammatory response. That has nothing to do with the understanding of the cause of the inflammation.

Isn't life a mistery? Imagine a crohnie's life... So full of emotions and uncertainties.

ambling said...
The reason TNF alpha inhibitors are sometimes effective is because they limit the inflammatory response. That has nothing to do with the understanding of the cause of the inflammation.

lolzers, it helps to sometimes read the other replies first :p