My aunt has crohn’s disease. When would a complete removal of the rectum and most of the colon be the answer?
My aunt has had severe crohns for about 5 years now. She has done all she could to avoid having surgery. Up until recently all the doctors had said she should get a colostomy bag and allow her rectal area to heal. She has several fistulas and a lot of scar tissue near her rectum. It has gotten so bad now that the doctors say, it would be best to remove her rectum and mostly all of her large intestine. She has been on imuran and remicade. They said they can not remove the scar tissue from her anal area, because it would leave her incontinent. Does diseased tissue have any chance at all to heal? I dont understand why they dont even try to do a reversible surgery? Why does such a drastic surgery have to be done? From what I have read, it sounds like, she will be in less pain though. No woman wants to have something like this done. It is just awful.
They said they can’t remove the scar tissue from her anal area because it would leave her incontinent. I think she should get a second opinion from another expert also.
Tagged with: anal area • colostomy bag • crohns • diseased tissue • doctors • drastic surgery • fistulas • imuran • incontinent • large intestine • rectal area • rectum • remicade • scar tissue • second opinion
Filed under: Colon Health Questions
Denisedds (88)
Here are some natural supplements that have helped others with this condition.
Optiflora: to repopulate the bowel lining with "friendly bacteria"
Alfalfa Complex: anti-inflammatory; high mineral content promotes healing; promotes cleansing of bowel irritants
Zinc: promotes healing
B-Complex: anti-stress; increases absorption
Vita-E: aids healing and reduces scar tissue
GLA Complex: essential for tissue healing
Help doesn’t come overnight with a program such as this. It requires time and consistency.
Hope this is useful and feel free to contact me with questions or the brand I recommend.
this is between your aunt and her doctor. apparently your aunt has refused the minor surgeries that could have helped her along the way. sometimes the reversal surgery isn’t an option after having the bag. it goes along with this disease.
She should get a second opinion. Another option MIGHT be to do a retread of the rectum/colon. They would clean it out, remove all the fistulas, polyps and scar tissue and hook her up to a colostomy bag to let it heal. Hopefully it would heal enough for them to hook her back up normally with an anastomosis. More info:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002231.htm
Yes, this is awful…
Sounds like that the very least, she should get a second opinion
from another expert in the field but I suspect that her options are
limited…
Sorry to hear about ur aunt i also have chron’s disease but i have it under control ‘at the moment’ i has (4) ops (small) to remove fiisures and i had a lot of doctor and nurse care for dressings etc.
i would think this type of op ur aunt is going having would be a last solution. try everything else 1st. there are plenty of books and info on the net regarding this disease.
i know what she is going through and my thoughts and prayers are with her.
take care
Sorry to hear about your aunt. I have had Crohn’s for about 25 years and it can be rough BUT they are making great strides in research so before she has such radical surgery she should get a second opinion in either New York or Los Angeles (or any MAJOR city) since these doctors see more patients and thus have more experiences with the more difficult cases. I had luck with Remicade but then grew allergic and now Humira is AMAZING – but I did not have so much scar tissue or fistulas – which seems to be the case with your Aunt. I write a detailed Patient Blog about my experiences at http://www.hospitalpatient.org and I think the Posts on Humira and Remicade might help you. In any event, please feel free to email me and I can share with you whatever insights possible.