What is Crohn's?

Crohn's Disease is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that can affect the entire digestive tract. It is an autoimmune disease where your blood cells are basically attacking your gut (or in my specific case, the terminal ileum--the end of my small intestine--and some spots here and there in my colon). So I guess that is the great irony of my life--I got accepted to graduate school for Immunology and a year later came down with an autoimmune disease. Hooray! Anyhow, if it seems like I am being flip or bitter, let me disabuse you of that notion...living with a chronic disease is no picnic, but everyone has their special challenges in life and I am happy that I have people helping me keep my disease under control. Yay Dr. Rubin and the U of C Gastroenterology Department! You guys are the best.

In any case, living with Crohn's can be a challenge, but as I have already alluded, when you have the best people taking care of you, it makes it easier. Fortunately my own experience with Crohn's has been a manageable one, as my condition has remained pretty mild. I was first diagnosed with Crohn's in 2001 and it came as quite a shock. I had no symptoms or any idea something was wrong; I just went to the bathroom and (I'm apologizing in advance here; trying to be as minimally graphic as possible) there was a lot of blood on the toilet paper. This, as a young man, was quite disturbing to me and so I freaked out, asked my mom what I should do, and she called our family friend Dr. Jim, a gastroenterologist near my childhood home outside Detroit. He saw me right away (thanks Dr. Jim!), a couple days later I had my first colonoscopy and then I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease.

Since that day, I have been on Asacol, an anti-inflammatory medicine for my gut, and every now and then I have to take some antibiotics because the bacteria in your digestive tract can get carried away sometimes when you have Crohn's. Occasionally I have some abdominal pain, but for the most part my condition has been well controlled. Crohn's flares have been anecdotally linked to stress, however, and I had a big flare around the time I took my first USMLE (doctor licensing) exam. I got pretty sick and had frequent fevers and lost a lot of weight. Fortunately, I still did really well on the exam so I hopefully remain an attractive candidate for residency programs. However, a lot of people have complications from their Crohn's Disease that are much worse than mine. Things like perforated bowels, fistulas (when one organ in your body makes an unnatural and unhealthy connection to another, or to the skin surface) and much worse pain can be common in many Crohn's patients, and often surgery is required to remove the damaged area of the intestine. This is not meant to be a downer, but it illustrates what I am trying to do here: not everyone has it as easy as I do with their Crohn's, and I want to help them out, too.

But it's not all gloom and doom. Here are some positive things to come out of my having an autoimmune disease:

1) I had a colonscopy before both of my parents. This was very helpful when I was trying to convince them to get a colonoscopy as a preventative screening measure for colon cancer (recommended for all people of a certain age...though I swear my parents are both well under 40. Really). I knew that it wasn't too bad, and important for their health. They both got it done--good job parents!
2) I have gotten to meet a lot of cool people. You know how when you are diagnosed with a chronic disease and then you find out that everyone either has that disease or knows someone with that disease? Oh wait, you probably don't. But nevertheless, it is true. I have met some truly amazing people through GIRF who are facing the same challenges that I am, and they are doing incredible things with their lives: scientists, architects, businessmen, lawyers, playing guitar for Pearl Jam (OK, so I didn't meet Mike McCready, but I still think it's awesome). It's really inspiring and I feel very fortunate to know these people, all because I was suddenly diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I'll bet you know someone cool with IBD, too.
3) One day I can practice truthful empathy with my patients. Nothing makes you feel for a person with a difficult medical condition like being there yourself.
4) I've gotten a lot better about taking care of myself and eating well, not drinking too much, etc. Here's a pearl of wisdom for you: smoking makes Crohn's disease worse, so if you have CD and smoke, QUIT IT.

See? Having Crohn's Disease could be a whole lot worse.