My Colonoscopy

I had another colonoscopy yesterday and the results are that I have Crohn's Disease. No big surprise there. I've had it for 14 years now. Each year my doctors seem compelled to confirm this. I think my doctor was really hoping that my stomach problems were due to the shortening of my bowel from my last surgery. I really don't see why this would have been good news. Every time I eat, I need to run to the bathroom. It keeps me thin but not exactly feeling healthy and it really interferes with my life. I was really hoping that my last surgery would have made me normal. It was far from successful. I guess I really needed it because at the time my intestine closed down almost completely. Now I have two ulcers and inflammation at the surgery site and inflammation in my rectum. What a pain in the butt!! For anybody who doesn't know: Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that could occur anywhere in the digestive tract. It causes inflammation deep into the the tissues of the intestinal wall. This can cause the intestine to narrow. I think of it as a kinked hose. The intestine is supposed to be opened and flow smoothly. If it gets kinked, a lot of pressure builds up until it finally pushes its way through. I am in lots of pain while it builds up and then I literally have to run to the bathroom. This is how my life has been for a long time now. Nobody knows what causes Crohn's disease. There have been studies linking it to a certain bacteria and other studies believing it has to do with missing chromosomes. There have been studies that have connect the two theories. It is hard to treat a disease when they don't know the cause. The one thing they do know is that something causes the body's immune system to become overactive thus causing inflammation. It's as if the body thinks there is something that needs to be attacked but since nothing is there, it attacks itself. There are all sorts of medications with all different ways of treating the inflammation. So far, none of them has ever helped me where I felt like I was in remission. All of them had some sort of adverse affect on me or just plain didn't work. I have gone the natural route to no avail. I hope someday I find something that will help me. Until then, I try to live every day as happy as possible and I try not to let the Crohn's disease get in my way too much.