Word: bowels
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Rosen, 44, needs all this food -enough to feed a family of eight-as a result of treatment for a mysterious and frustrating intestinal disorder, Crohn's disease. A chronic inflammation of the bowel, Crohn's afflicts an estimated 1 million Americans, including 100,000 children. It goes by a variety of other names, including regional enteritis, ileitis and granulomatous colitis, depending on which part of the intestinal tract is affected. Repeated flare-ups can totally block the intestine. Fistulas or abnormal passages may develop in the inflamed bowel and lead into adjacent organs. In some instances...
...virus or a flaw in the body's immune system may be involved. A cure is similarly elusive. In attempting to control the disease, doctors use drugs that suppress inflammation and the immune system. In severe cases, they must resort to surgery, cutting away diseased portions of bowel and then reconnecting the ends or creating a hole through the abdomen so wastes can be collected in a pouch. But even with such drastic measures, the disease may recur, necessitating more extensive operations...
...illness began when she was 19 and was treated with drugs alone for 20 years. But since 1976, she has undergone six operations; she has lost her large intestine and all but 27½ in. of her 20-ft.-long small intestine. Because food passes through her truncated bowel so quickly, she does not get needed nutrients or fluids. To stay alive, she must eat eleven full meals a day,* a total of 20,000 calories. She also receives supplemental fluids intravenously and vitamin injections. At 5 ft. 4 in., she weighs...
...Addison's disease," but the public was told that he had "a partial adrenal insufficiency." Dwight Eisenhower was the exception. After he was felled by a heart attack, he and his physicians chose full medical disclosure, issuing daily bulletins that went so far as to describe presidential bowel movements. Lyndon Johnson was generous with details of his 1965 gall bladder operation-and, as a now-famous photograph attests, he even showed off his scar for the nation...
Fearful of the cost and trauma of traditional surgical cures, or simply embarrassed, most sufferers medicate themselves. Popular over-the-counter preparations can indeed relieve some symptoms temporarily. So can hot baths and a change in diet and bowel habits. But doctors emphasize that whenever rectal bleeding occurs, there should be a prompt proctological examination; while hemorrhoids themselves are not life-threatening, such bleeding may be a sign of cancer or some other serious ailment. Happily, most hemorrhoid complaints can now be treated simply and almost painlessly in the doctor's office...