Crohn’s Disease: 3 Tips To Cope With It
If you have experienced frequent episodes of diarrhea, vomiting and colic, see your doctor, you could suffer from Crohn’s disease. Although it is a chronic disease, you can lead a normal life with good lifestyle habits.
Crohn’s disease greatly affects the quality of life of those who suffer from it. Experiencing severe colic, vomiting, diarrhea, and other symptoms frequently reduces the performance and confidence of diagnosed patients. Therefore, it is important to have certain tools to cope with this condition.
Because it is an incurable disease, it can generate stress and depression. The good news is that with the help of a psychologist, the patient can learn to cope with them and thus enjoy a good quality of life.
If you have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, don’t worry, below we will give you 3 tips to cope with it, but first we will review some aspects about the disease.
What is Crohn’s disease?
Crohn’s disease is a chronic and autoimmune intestinal disease . So far its causes are unknown. However, it is believed that it could have a genetic origin or in certain bacteria that the body does not tolerate.
The intestine produces a response to unknown agents, whereby the intestinal mucosa reacts and the organ becomes inflamed. Inflammation can occur anywhere in the digestive tract, but it usually affects the distal ileum and colon.
What are your symptoms?
Symptoms vary depending on the affected part of the digestive tract. The main symptoms are the following:
- Fever.
- Fatigue.
- Diarrhea.
- Abdominal pain.
- Loss of appetite and weight.
Sometimes the symptoms can get worse, be more intense or others can appear such as:
- Eruptions
- Constipation.
- Bloody stools
- Canker sores or sores in the mouth.
- Inflammation in the eyes.
- Sores around the anus.
- Pain and swelling in the joints.
In most cases the symptoms come and go within a few days. The duration of the complaints depends on the degree of complication of the disease.
Some people only experience them once or twice a year. In more severe cases, symptomatic outbreaks reappear every 3 months or even in less time.
Complications of this condition can be intestinal obstruction, fissures in the anus, ulcers and fistulas. Although it is not life threatening, it sometimes requires surgical intervention to relieve symptoms.
People diagnosed are at higher risk of colon cancer, so it is important to control the disease.
All of this affects patients not only physically, but also psychologically. When there are outbreaks of the disease, people often lock themselves at home because their life dynamics change. They cannot go out to work, socialize or do any activity that requires leaving the house, as this generally causes them embarrassment and insecurity.
How to cope with Crohn’s disease?
Although it is an incurable disease, people can cope with it. Learning to live with it is essential to improve the quality of life and stay healthy for as long as possible.
If you have Crohn’s disease, here are some tips that you could take into account to cope with your condition:
1. Know your pathology well
If you want to cope with your illness, it is best if you know it very well. Read and learn about it so that you understand everything about it.
- Your doctor will be a great ally: ask him any questions you have and let him know if there is something that worries you so he can help you.
- Involve your family and friends in this informative process so that they understand how you feel and help you when you need it.
Facing any illness with the people you care about will make you feel accompanied and much better on an emotional level. They can help you when you feel down physically and mentally.
2. Learn to deal with stress
Although stress is not a cause of Crohn’s disease, it can be a trigger for symptoms to appear or get worse. The mind has great power and influences how you feel physically. Don’t let stress and worry overwhelm you.
You can practice some activities that give you peace of mind and keep your mind occupied with positive things such as:
- Read.
- Yoga.
- Meditation.
- Listen to music.
3. Know the reactions of your body
The body always talks, listen to it! You must learn to detect the signals that the body gives you when faced with certain stimuli. When you eat any food, pay special attention to how you feel after eating it, that will help you know what you can and cannot eat.
Make a list of foods that you do not tolerate and avoid them at all costs so that a new outbreak of the disease does not appear. Eat in a balanced way and follow the nutritional recommendations of your specialist.
You are in control of your mind and body. Don’t let Crohn’s disease take over your life, learn to live with it. If you feel bad, take the medications prescribed by your doctor and go for a walk, listen to music or do any activity to clear your mind.
Don’t feel embarrassed about having an inflammatory bowel disease, that can happen to anyone. Continue with the normality of your life in the best possible way maintaining the premise that your health comes first.
