Helping Family Members with Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's or Other Bowel Diseases

My sister was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 1966 when she was a teenager and I was four years old. The constant stomach pain and frequent uncontrollable diarrhea made it impossible for her to finish high school. My sister-in-law was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis around 1969, when I was seven or eight. A serious flare up led to the premature birth of her second child. The doctors were unable to save him.

The treatment options for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's were very limited in the sixties and seventies. Even diagnosing the conditions was difficult. Barium X-rays were around back then, but often failed to show the problem. Both my sister and sister-in-law underwent several exploratory surgeries, as their doctors searched for the source of their pain.

Because I grew up watching my loved ones suffer from these diseases and from the procedures used for diagnosis, one of my goals as a health writer has been to provide information about options for those who suffer from Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. Crohn's, in particular, is often misunderstood. For many years, some of my family members and even my sister's physicians believed that her symptoms were psychosomatic, since barium X-rays and exploratory surgeries revealed nothing. She went through many tests, some of which she found quite embarrassing. Doctor's tried a variety of medications including steroids, immuno-suppressive drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs and strong pain medications, before finally recommending a colostomy as her only option for living a fairly normal life. Colostomy is rarely recommended for Crohn's patients today, since symptoms often appear in other portions of the intestines after surgery.