Homesickness is not the only sickness that strikes college students.
Crohn’s disease, a chronic, incurable inflammatory bowel disease, is making life difficult for many young adults who were once a beacon of health.
While possessing the ability to disrupt any part of the gastrointestinal tract, the disease usually affects the small intestine or colon, causing everyday activities to become an extreme nuisance.
“When this disease strikes, it actually strikes right about the time you are starting college,” said Mel Payne, president of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America Central Ohio Chapter. “That has got to be a frustrating thing when you are making that transition into college, and then suddenly this thing comes out of nowhere.”
Crohn’s disease affects men and women equally, with the majority of cases occurring between the ages of 15 and 30. The main symptoms are persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and rectal bleeding.
Since many of the symptoms are similar to other inflammatory bowel diseases and sufferers often believe the symptoms are a product of nerves or stress, diagnosis is not an easy task, Payne said.
“There are varying degrees of the disease,” Payne said. “Some people can have it their entire life, and they just exhibit mild symptoms. It goes from that all the way to where it is so severe that they might need surgery.”
Antibiotics have been the primary therapy for such bowel diseases. In 2001, the FDA approved Entocort, a prescription drug used in fighting Crohn’s disease.
“Entocort is different from standard conventional steroids in that conventional steroids also work very, very quickly, but the side effects are very troubling to everybody, especially young patients,” said Dr. Ellen Scherl, director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Medical College of Cornell University. “Entocort has significantly less side effects. The medication is good for inducing remission and also maintaining remission. That is really the goal of therapy.”
Founded in New York in 1967, CCFA now has 48 chapters across the United States.
“We try to have at least one presence in every state,” Payne said.
CCFA has chapters in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus.
According to its mission statement, the group is dedicated to finding a cure. The non-profit organization has worked to improve the quality of life for children and adults affected by digestive diseases through education and support.
The Central Ohio chapter has more than 500 members and provides sufferers with the opportunity to meet others who struggle with similar diseases.
“Sometimes they will talk about the disease; sometimes they won’t,” Payne said. “Sometimes it is just the fact that you are in a room, and you know all these people are going through what you are going through and they understand. That is really what it is about.”
Payne said some of the chapter’s members are Ohio State students, but she still hopes to have a bigger impact within the campus community.
“We have had in the past and are again trying to get an OSU support group in place,” he said. “But what happens is the students are the ones that actually facilitate this, so as they move on and graduate, there is usually a lull period until we get someone else in place.”
For more information about Crohn’s disease, chapter events or ways to volunteer, students can go to the CCFA Web site at www.ccfa.org.
