Crohn's Disease is a digestive system disease. It is also known as an autoimmune disease because it occurs when your immune system attacks your gastrointestinal tract.
Now based on those two statements alone, any rational person should be able to assume that this is a curable disease. Curable because you can choose what you put into your mouth and thereby choose what will not make it into your intestinal tract.
And if that is the case, why are millions of people still suffering from the appalling effects of Crohn's Disease? Well, lets see what the experts have to say.
Most doctors will tell you that the actual cause of Crohn's Disease is unknown and that there is no cure, as they continue to prescribe pill after deadly pill to treat the rashes, sore throats, diarrhea, severe muscle pain, weakness, cramps, vomiting and headaches. Yet most people who obediently swallow these pills and explanations, rarely get better and some have even reported getting sicker over time. So what, exactly, do we know about Crohn's Disease?
The Intestinal Tract
We know that the intestinal tract has well over 400 different species of bacteria. They begin to develop in the human body with the first sip of our mother's milk. Some are helpful, some are harmful, and some are both, yet indispensable to a healthy digestive system.
All of these bacteria exist in the intestine of a healthy person in peace and harmony. Each doing the job it was programmed to do as long as they are in balance. Crohn's Disease occurs when this balance is disturbed. So what could possibly disturb this not-so-delicate balance? An overabundance of any one specific bacteria is usually the culprit.
One of our most beloved comfort-foods, carbohydrates, play an enormous role in feeding certain bacteria in our digestive tract. Carbohydrates that are not fully digested and absorbed will remain in our stomachs and become food for the bacteria living there. These microbes digest this unused food using fermentation. By definition, fermentation is the conversion of carbohydrates into alcohols or acids under anaerobic conditions. Anaerobic simply means airless.
The problem arises from the waste products of this process. Fermentation in the stomach produces gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. It also produces lactic acid and acetic acid as well as other toxins as by-products. These are all irritants to the human body. Evidence shows that feeding some of the benign and helpful bacteria in this way may cause them to mutate into the more harmful types.
As the well-fed bacteria continues to multiply, the fermentation process increases and so does your bodily discomfort. As the situation worsens, natural enzymes in the stomach that aid in food digestion are destroyed by the bacteria, which greatly aids the bacteria in its quest to grow as large as it possibly can.
As this condition begins to spiral out of control, the brain sends a signal to your white blood cells to lock and load. But by the time the cavalry arrives, the protective layer of mucus surrounding the small intestine is gone and the small intestine is laid bare. The last defense between what we eat and our bloodstream has been breached.
The chronic pain has set in. The diarrhea has started. And the disease has begun.
The Cure
So now, in acute pain and weak because you can't keep anything down, nor anything in, you see your doctor and he tells you that you have Crohn's Disease and there is no cure. As he dutifully prescribes you six different medications for your myriad of symptoms, you accept this diagnosis and begin trying to rearrange the rest of your life near a bathroom.
Or you ask someone else. Someone who does not receive any royalties from the pharmaceutical companies. You ask someone who does not have a stake in keeping you sick.
