Crohn’s disease is a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease along with Ulcerative colitis. The digestive disorder disease is also known by the name regional ileitis and regional enteritis which affects the jejunum, ileum, colon, oesophagus, etc. It can be described as the chronic trans mural inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract of unknown etiology.

The disease commonly affects people in their late 20s and early 30s. The disease is independent of age, sex, socio-economic status, and geographic areas.

Etiology of Crohn’s disease:

The most common causative factors of Crohn’s disease can be listed as:

1. Infectious agents like measles virus and Mycobacterium Para tuberculosis.
2. Immunological factors like the presence of cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and anticolon antibodies.
3. Genetic factor – If you have a relative with Crohn’s disease there is a high risk of developing the disease.
4. Smoking – Increases the risk for Crohn’s disease three times.
5. Diet and food allergy.
6. Psychosocial factors.

Pathology of Crohn’s disease:

1. The disease commonly starts in the terminal ileum as ulcerations of the intestine.
2. Mucosal ulcers and inflammatory edema are present in the intestine.
3. Fibrotic thickening of the intestine results in hose pipe rigidity.
4. The characteristic feature of Crohn’s disease is that there will be skip areas (normal segments).
5. As the disease progresses, there will be a narrowing of the intestinal lumen causing intestinal obstruction.
6. There will be adhesions in between the intestinal loops or with other structures.

Clinical features of Crohn’s disease:

The disease is commonly insidious in onset and slowly progressive in nature.

The clinical features can be listed as:

1. Intermittent pain in the abdomen.
2. Diarrhoea – less severe without blood, pus, or mucous.
3. Weight loss.
4. Mild fever.
5. Lethargy.
6. Intestinal obstruction, perforation, and adhesions occur.
7. Erythema nodosum, pyoderma gangrenosum in the skin.
8. Iritis, uveitis affecting the eyes.
9. Joint diseases like Arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and sacroiliitis.

In acute cases of Crohn’s disease, it usually mimics acute appendicitis.

In chronic cases it presents the following features:

1. Stage of ileocolitis: presents with fever, anaemia, pain in the lower abdomen, and presence of mucous in stools. There will be tenderness in the right iliac fossa.
2. Stage of sub-acute intestinal obstruction: It is due to the narrowing of the intestinal lumen.
3. Stage of fistula formation: enterocolic, enteroenteric, enterovesical, enterocutaneous, etc.

What is Crohn’s disease in Ayurveda?

In Ayurveda Crohn’s disease can be correlated to grahani. In Ayurveda, grahani is an anatomical position between the jejunum and ileum. The vitiation of grahani by imbalanced doshas (mainly by pitta dosha) leads to the formation of the disease.

According to Ayurveda, the location of Agni is grahani. When the Agni is not functioning properly due to improper food habits, incompatible food habits, etc., ama (toxins) get accumulated in the intestine. Along with the increased heat in the intestine and ama, Kapha dosha gets vitiated resulting in the presence of mucous in stools.

Later pitta dosha gets vitiated leading to inflammatory changes and ulcerations. It results in the presence of blood and pus in the stools. If the pitta dosha is not functioning properly, absorption of nutrients take place improperly leading to malabsorption, weight loss, anaemia, tiredness, and weakness.

Treatment

Line of treatment:

In Ayurveda, the process aims at the correction of Agni and pitta dosha in the body. The toxins accumulated must be removed first from the body and then agni must be kindled. Only after the above correction further treatment must be made.

Management of diarrhoea must be done after assessing the nature of diarrhoea. Panchakarma therapies can be administered accordingly (therapeutic emesis, purgation, takradhara).

Tips

• Early to bed and early to rise.
• Avoid food items that are ushna guna in nature.
• Goat’s milk can be consumed.
• Avoid coffee, tea, and other dairy food items.
• Avoid pitta aggravating food items like spicy food items.
• Reduce stress and emotional problems.

Conclusion

In Ayurveda, the primary cause of Grahani disease is poor appetite & poor digestion, irregular and unhealthy diet habits and intake of more junk foods.

At Ayurclinic Melbourne, we provide effective management for Crohn’s disease with personalized and root cause based approach by following all the classic principles of Ayurveda. In most severe chronic cases, detoxification programmes and special ayurveda therapies are selective done as a part of individualized treatment. In severe cases, Panchakarma therapy is selectively done for such digestive disorders which are seen very effective.

To be noted, the result of Crohn’s disease is good with Ayurveda line of treatment. Therefore, it’s always advised to seek early consultation with the best Ayurvedic doctor for Crohn’s disease treatment.

For more information about how Ayurveda can assist in creating the finest health and well-being, call us: +61 3 9078 2940