Chron’s Disease

Can stress make Crohn’s disease worse?

There is no evidence showing that stress causes Crohn’s disease. However, people with Crohn’s disease sometimes feel increased stress in their lives from having to live with a chronic illness. Some people with Crohn’s disease also report that they experience a flare in disease when they are experiencing a stressful event or situation. There is no type of person that is more likely to experience a flare in disease than another when under stress. For people who find there is a connection between their stress level and a worsening of their symptoms, using relaxation techniques, such as slow breathing, and taking special care to eat well and get enough sleep, may help them feel better.

Has this been my experience?

Quite frankly no. When I decided to put down my thoughts about Crohn’s disease and my experiences with Crohn’s disease I did a bit of research online. To date, this short passage has been literally the only one that I have found tying Crohn’s disease to stress. Personally, I can’t imagine why that would be. To me there is a huge connection between stress and Crohn’s disease and I can quite confidently say this because that’s been my own personal experience. Now, I realize that everyone’s experience with the disease tends to be different but my research on the subject of Crohn’s disease has been extensive enough to come to the conclusion that there are similarities. Just as we are all different as human beings we are also physically very much alike, that is a given. Why would Crohn’s disease be any different?

How I react to stress.

The way it works is this; (and I would have to think that in terms of Crohn’s disease I am not alone) when other people are under stress they get a headache but when I come under stress I get a blocked bowel. Of course, this depends on just how stressed I am and the blockage happened after an extended period of pretty serious stress, the symptoms tending to manifest according to degree. Nonetheless, this has been the case all of my life and for as far back as I can remember.

Let me illustrate. About four years ago I was admitted to hospital for the blocked bowel that I mentioned above and in the course of events I had surgery and a bit of the bowel was removed. All fine and good. Since then my condition seems to have gone into remission, or at least partial remission as I am not symptom free but all in all I am doing very well thank you very much and certainly much better than I ever have been. I would also like to mention at this time that I have never gone into remission for this long a period of time in my life before. So, was that because of the surgery? Essentially all the surgery did was to take out the scar tissue that had developed over the previous years. I am sure that this did improve my situation but Crohn’s disease isn’t all about scar tissue.

Change of mindset.

I have always been aware of the presence of a mind - body link. For me the idea of that connection has always been there but I did not take it any further than that. My hospital experience changed the way I thought about things. It was a difficult time and for various reasons which I won’t detail here I wound up spending more time than I care to think of lying prone in a hospital bed with lots of time to think. My conclusions were inescapable. Ultimately, I believe, that I was there because of how I react to stress and how the Crohn’s disease translates that stress. My proof of this is, as I mentioned, that after having put by ideas about stress into play in my life the Crohn’s disease has lessened considerably over the past four years and it is a shadow of what it was. I do not honestly believe that this will change.

In my case changing my frame of mind was a fairly simple thing to do. It seemed obvious that given a choice between a blocked bowel and relaxed mind I will choose a relaxed mind every time. It’s easy to alter your way of thinking when faced with possible disastrous consequences. Just ask anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer how easy it was to quit smoking. Across the board they will say that there was no problem quitting and no, or at least very limited, withdrawals were experienced. This says two things. The first is that under the right circumstances, or otherwise, change is very possible and secondly, how extremely strong the mind — body link is.

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Why is their no evidenceof the mind-body link with Crohn’s disease?

Why is their no evidence linking Crohn’s disease with stress? I am not overly sure. I believe that the problem lies with the system more than with supposed evidence and that one has to look at the attitudes of those that are treating the disease and compiling the results/statistics. Medical practitioners for all their knowledge still, in the experience of this writer, discount the mind — body link to an overwhelming degree. Again, how that can be is difficult to understand. The placebo effect is very well-known and accepted and is a perfect example of the mind healing the body yet still the possibility of it is discounted. One only has to look, at least in the UK, at how very underfunded the mental health facilities in the national health service are to see where their priorities are.

We live in a capitalist system.

There is also another aspect at play here. We live in a capitalist system. Pharmaceutical companies make money selling drugs to cure disease. As a matter of fact the health industry is one of the largest in our capitalist system and makes billions in profits every year. One would have to assume that the Pharmaceutical companies are not spending their time looking for cures that don’t require drugs. Add to that the fact that the more complicated the cure the more expensive the cost and subsequent profits. If this seems to be a somewhat cynical opinion it is only necessary to look at the treatments for AIDS. To begin with, any research done to find a cure for AIDS was held up for the first five years by two leading drug research companies who put the whole thing on hold while they argued over international copyright, I am not making this up it is a matter of record. People are dying every day in different parts of the world in alarming numbers because the drug companies will not release their copyright.

Putting these two aspects together means that the mind — body link in regards to Crohn’s disease has one hell of an up hill climb.

It means that the mind — body link should not and cannot be ignored yet it is. If you have Crohn’s disease I do not advise you in anyway to ignore your medications, if they help. I do strongly advise, however, that there is another aspect of your disease that is most likely not being addressed and in this author’s opinion you would be very well advised to address it. Again, it is my honest wish for this not to sound as cynical as I know it sounds but one must never underestimate the power of a closed mind and never ever underestimate the power of money because sure as sheep eat grass you will get caught in the middle.