Posts Tagged ‘Age Group’

Teens with Crohns

04.24.10

Welcome! I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease nearly ten years ago and, being a teenager at the time, I found it difficult to talk to others about the disease that did not have it. I created this site as a place to share stories and information – for teens, by teens – with Crohn’s Disease, Colitis, or IBS.

Apparently I’ve made a big impact here. I’m glad to do what I can to make a difference.Any advice you may wish to pass on to others is also welcome. Since most all of us follow special diets, there is a recipe section. I have tried many of the recipes listed here, and several have become my favorites.

Try them and let me know what you think. You might be saying to yourself at this point, “But I’m not a teenager!  What can TWC do for me?”  In the past seven years I’ve received e-mail from Crohn’s patients of all ages who have had plenty of advice to offer and stories to share. 

No matter what your age group, be it preteen, teen, or used-to-be-teen, there is all sorts of useful information here that easily applies to all ages. If you feel good there’s no reason you can’t go out with your friends. You may feel more tired than you did before you were diagnosed with IBD, so you’ll want to be sure you can leave and go home if you need to.

You may not be able to eat the same foods you did before, so plan ahead to make sure that if food is involved, there is something that you can eat available. If you aren’t feeling well but you still don’t want to pass up a big date or party, you’ll have to do a bit more planning.

If you can, try to go out somewhere that you can easily make it to a bathroom. A restaurant, a movie, or at your house or your friends’ house are probably the easiest places.

• Eat something at home before you go so you can avoid eating any of your no-no foods.
• Bring your medication with you in case you need to take it while you’re out.

You shouldn’t feel pressured to eat something that is going to make you sick later. Your friends wouldn’t want you to feel badly. So if you explain to them that a food may make you sick, they will understand, I’m sure. If you’re in a situation where food is being served that you can’t eat, you have a few choices available to you.

1. Call ahead or look online to find out the menu. The restaurant may have their menu online, or they may be able to fax or email it to you. You might be able to find something on the menu that would be OK for you to eat. Even just a little something to order and nibble on so you don’t feel out of place.
2. Eat before you go. Have something to eat that’s OK for you, and you won’t be so hungry at the party or event

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Crohns Disease Life Expectancy

11.08.09

In this cohort, there were 167 men and 227 women diagnosed between 1934 and 1984, with a median year of diagnosis of 1975. The median follow-up time for patients who died was 15 years (mean = 15.84 years) and for those still alive is 27 years (mean = 29.19 years), this overall median follow-up is 24 years with a range of 0–58 years (mean = 23.92).

The observed and expected numbers of deaths for men and women in each age group for each quinquenia . The overall SMR for the cohort from 1941 to 2000 was 1.29 (95% CI 1.12–1.45). It was higher in women, 1.43 (95% CI 1.22–1.65) compared with men, 1.13 (95% CI 0.87–1.35) although this difference was not statistically significant . SMR in the total cohort between 1941 and 2000 decreased with age, from 16.95 (95% CI 14.99–18.91) for patients aged 10–19 years, to 0.92 (95% CI 0.65–1.19) in patients aged over 75 years .

The overall SMR for this cohort has decreased over the period of this study, but the change is not statistically significant.

Cox regression was used to analyze trends in mortality according to gender and shows that there is a trend for men with Crohns disease to die younger and live for a shorter period following diagnosis than women. They have a 16% (95% CI −2% to 23%) increased mortality at all ages and survival following diagnosis 16% (95% CI −9% to 21%) shorter than women, but this is not statistically significant (P = 0.15) and is not adjusted to take into account the increased mortality seen in men in the general population.

Life table analysis shows that the life expectancy for men diagnosed with Crohns disease in this cohort is 77.3 years and 79.0 years for women. Overall life expectancy has not statistically significantly changed over the duration of the study and is not statistically significantly different from the life expectancy of the general population (population median over the study period is 71 for males and 77 for females).

However, Kaplan–Meier analysis of age at death of these patients shows that patients diagnosed under 20 years have a median age at death of 64 years (inter-quartile range 59–70 years), whilst those patients diagnosed over the age of 20 years do not experience reduced life expectancy. Some people may also experience fever, mouth ulcers or nausea and vomiting.

People with Crohns disease of the anus can experience pain (especially while passing a bowel motion) or an itch. A few people have disease effecting other parts of the body and may experience swollen joints, inflamed eyes, skin rashes or jaundice (yellow colour of the skin).

The symptoms and their severity vary from person to person and may flare up or improve over time. Many people will experience periods of remission when they are completely free of symptoms. With current medical treatment life expectancy is normal.

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