Preventive Measures
Reactivation can be prevented by several methods. Which include:
- Always remain physically active based on your doctor’s recommendations and get good sleep at night.
- Always eat a diet filled with nutrients that doesn’t cause flare-ups and ask your doctors about vitamins and mineral supplements. Keeping a food record can help you know which food is responsible for the reactivation, so you can avoid them.
You must be consistent as possible with your recommended drugs. Even if you don’t see symptoms, missing a dose can cause flare-up.
If you smoke cigarettes, you have to stop. Studies have shown that smoking reduces the number of healthy bacteria in the gut, which can have negative effects on crohn’s disease. Smoking is bad for the intestinal tract tissue and is a risk factor for cancer of the throat, mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver and pancreas.
You can keep records of dates and rates at which flare-ups occur and the level of intensity. You should also record your symptoms and which treatments are effective. Give a copy of your record to your doctor and keep another one for emergency visits.
Flare-ups can be very stressful, so you have to be intentional about improving the condition and your quality of life.
Diagnosis
There is no test for diagnosing crohn’s disease. Tests are usually done to remove other potential causes of your symptoms before concluding its crohn’s.
Examples of these tests include:
- Blood tests
- Colonoscopy
- A biopsy of the intestinal tract tissue
- Stool sample tests
- Imaging tests like CT scans and MRI scans
In some cases, you will go through multiple rounds of tests to eliminate other diseases, particularly similar ones such as other inflammatory bowel disease.