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How long have UC and Chron's Disease been so prevalent?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/15/2011 11:47 AM (GMT 0)
I'm just curious about the history of these diseases. Have they always been around in the same ratios to the normal population, or are they becoming more prevalent in the present day society?
Posted 6/15/2011 12:29 PM (GMT 0)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2466707/
Posted 6/15/2011 1:10 PM (GMT 0)
It has increased almost exponentially. There is a stat that the increase is 20x from today compared to either the 40's or the 50's. The population has what? Doubled since then in the western world?
Posted 6/15/2011 5:18 PM (GMT 0)
What's normal population? Life and population and exposure to so many things has changed exponentially since just 10 years ago.

q
Posted 6/15/2011 5:29 PM (GMT 0)
UC was almost non existent in South Africa until after 1994 when American Fast Foods shops started operating in South Africa. My doctor who is from India told me that UC in India also started there when American fast food outlets started operating in India.
Posted 6/15/2011 6:38 PM (GMT 0)
Auto-immune diseases are consider modern, industrial diseases. 

The hygiene hypothesis and its analogues posit that divorcing humans from their natural parasites has left parts of the immune system without their natural complements.

This notion was first developed when Ethiopian Jews were relocated to Israel where they were dewormed.  Before deworming, there were no incidences of auto-immune disease in this group; afterward, its members developed diseases/ conditions like IBD and asthma.

If this hyposthesis is to be believed, then it's no surprise that cases of IBD trend upward as countries become more modernized and more industrial.

Posted 6/15/2011 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
I have to wonder if people who eat organically their whole lives, fresh farm foods and nothing processed would have this illness. I know we have some vegetarians on the board but were they eating mass produced foods or farm raised? I feel like the majority of the foods sold in major grocery stores in the US (and beyond) is not good quality, especially the meats but the veggies are even GMO and treated with all sorts of fertilizers and pestacides. That industry scares me but it's so prevalent that you can't even eat out if you're concerned because you have no control.
Posted 6/16/2011 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
See The Changing World of IBD, edited by Scherl & Dubinsky, for reliable epidemiology of IBD-- published in recent yr. Anybody who thinks having worms or other parasites in their intestines is beneficial to one's overall health is misguided or delusional. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 6/16/2011 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
I tried to respond to quincy's reply and instead ignored her accidentally. Sorry! Not sure how to unignore it. When I say normal population I mean general society. As in... did there used to be 1 in 1,000 people with IBD and now it's down to say 1 in 250? (just random numbers!).

I'm just looking for reasons behind the disease. If industrialization has influenced a drastic increase in IBD symptoms overall in society, then we have to be causing this ourselves. Perhaps the causes can be deducted from a closer look at the way things have changed.
Posted 6/16/2011 1:49 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks to everyone who responded... I got a bit of good info from you all. Thanks!
Posted 6/16/2011 2:30 AM (GMT 0)
IBD is most likely a spectrum of G/I diseases, not just UC or Crohn's. Dr. Daniel Present of CUNY/Mt. Sinai Hospital, who is a major U.S. authority on IBD, has been stating this for several yrs. Therefore, there are probably multiple causes, including infectious organisms and genetics. Because complex immunology and endocrinology factor into research, it's not easy to delineate the causes. When one has a chronic incurable ailment, one does better to cultivate a considerable amount of patience to deal with its frustrations, and try to look at the situation rationally and pragmatically. I don't think it helps to apply boogeyman terms like "industrialization". Humans had all kinds of vile ailments prior to industrialization, had their growth stunted by nutritional deficiencies then-unrecognized, etc., etc. Some problems do not have ready solutions-- that's life! It doesn't mean hopelessness, but that more time is needed for major research to continue unraveling still-mysterious disease processes. Of course I say this believing in the validity of the scientific method, which HAS led to cures for many disabling and/or fatal illnesses over the past century. It's hard to wait for definitive answers when you're 20-something; as you grow older, you'll get more accustomed to that. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 6/16/2011 3:18 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Old Hat. I personally bounce back and forth between trying to accept things as they are and trying to better my life. Everyone, including medical doctors, has their own opinion of things... and I sometimes get overwhelmed with all the possibilities that exist as potential causes for IBD.

I think the disease could be due to many things... from medications wiping out the gut flora in the intestines, to parasites and other microbes, and possibly yeast. I also think stress has a very negative effect on things. Most likely a combination of all of these is what presents itself as a "flare".

A lot of people on here say I should just accept things as they are instead of trying to cure myself, but my instinct tells me otherwise. As you said, this disease could have many causes and is thus very individualistic. I'm reasoning that through trial and error I can at least improve my quality of life. I know it's possible, because I have already seen decent results... but am driven to see how else I may be able to heal further.

My goal: 1-3 solid, non-bloody, non-urgent, completely formed stools per day... and no pain.

I'm down to an average of around 3 per day, and have decreased my urgency tremendously. Only rarely do I see a trace of blood in the stool, and there's never any pooling of blood. There is no mucus either. The formed part is trickier, as I seem to have clumps more than one solid stool. This goes back and forth, as I have days were I go twice and they are really well formed, and then things get worse. Back and forth.

This isn't bad considering I was going over 10 times per day and had a decent amount of blood in the liquid stools last summer. It was bad. I couldn't drive 10 miles without almost soiling myself. It did happen once :-(

As a 20-something I can tell you what bothers me most about this disease (just to vent). Part of the time I just act reserved, mostly when I am having some pain or worry over urgency. There are plenty of situations where I'd love to be more outgoing with women I am around in public, you know... going up, getting to know them, getting more opportunities to go out on dates. I am improving in this area, but it is not without much dedication to heal myself beyond what conventional medicines have done for me. I think these situations bother me because they cannot be duplicated. At work I can just rest and make up the time. Same goes for household jobs and hobbies. That spontaneous chance at meeting new people is something that just happens, and I feel that I miss out on those situations because IBD has the effect of limiting me at times when I'm in public. When there is pain or urgency I completely focus on resolving that (finding a toilet!) first.
Posted 6/16/2011 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
Being a 20-something and in college when diagnosed, I accepted this disease before I found out what I had. Either medication worked or didn't, I knew I had options. Perhaps accepting my cards was always in my nature.
I strongly agree with Old Hat. Not only do we have to find the causes that trigger UC and Crohns, but we need to understand why and how can our findings prevent further medical complications that come with those diseases.
Posted 6/16/2011 4:08 AM (GMT 0)
sometimes i wonder if factory farming hasn't somehow played a role in ibd.  earlier on, there were no factory farms.  now, they are the standard for raising meat.  animals are given all kinds of drugs and raised in unatural, stressful environments.  personally, i think that MAP bacteria is involved in ibd.  and even if you are a vegetarian (which i am) it affects us, because fecal matter from factory farmed animals is used to make fertilizer for veggies!  i know, gross!
Posted 6/16/2011 11:16 AM (GMT 0)
I also recommend The Changing World of IBD. You can read a bit of it here: http://books.google.com/books?id=Yl4z8H1olusC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

The incidence (number of new cases per year) of UC is 8.4 to 13.4 per 100,000. The prevalence (number of existing cases) of IBD is 1.5 million in the US.

Posted 6/16/2011 11:36 AM (GMT 0)
At one time IBD was thought to be the product of an overbearing mother, and that thought persisted into the '60s and '70s in some places.  If you told those doctors that in. . . . 20-30-some years monoclonal antibodies would target TNF receptors, they'd probably think you were delusional, too.

Good thing science isn't so narrowminded and devoted to reinforcing its own internal biases.

 

Posted 6/16/2011 1:19 PM (GMT 0)
Endocrinology -concerned with the study of the biosynthesis, storage, chemistry, and physiological function of hormones and with the cells of the endocrine glands and tissues that secrete them.
Posted 6/17/2011 5:12 AM (GMT 0)
I think your goal is realistic, Thoreau. Urgency causes the worst of our UC handicaps, but if one heals enough to stop that the bms usually firm up, too. A while back Malkavian summarized the social effects of urgency & possibilities for intimacy: can someone care enough for a UC partner to risk getting pooped on? Several forum members replied affirmatively based on their own experience, in case you missed that thread. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 6/17/2011 5:28 AM (GMT 0)
The overbearing mother theory works for my situation, haha.
Posted 6/17/2011 6:05 PM (GMT 0)
Some believe this causes IBD in developed countries:

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), which causes Johne's Disease in many species of ruminants, is endemic in the food animal herds of almost every developed country.

www.crohns.org

 

Posted 6/17/2011 8:05 PM (GMT 0)
i'm with bleda
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