Crohns disease and psycological stress.

by Thomas
(Norway)

I am a step father for a little girl aged 4 that this year got the diagnose Mb Crohn, Crohns disease. She have been in and out of the hospital all year before they finally found a way to cope with the symptoms with Cortisone and Immurel. Unfortunally for her (and us) she has a father that has not been there for her all her life. He is a violent man, he has abused the little daugthers mother in many ways and is also beleived to have been violent agains a older sister of the little one. Even though this has happened it is hard to prove and all the steps taken towards him through the police has so far been unsucsessfull because of lack of evidence. He has now gone to court to claim his "share" of time with the young girl. He has now seen her for 1 hour after not seeing her for over 10 months. After this meeting the little girl got ill again, with fever, vomiting and a lot of crying and keeping close to her mother. The big problem is that there is a psycologist engaged by the court to give a statement about the fathers ability to take care of his daughter. He (the psycologist) is in that opinion that there is no connection between the Mb Crohn disease and a stressfull environment. We on the other han can see with our own eyes that this is not good at all for the little girl. Therefore I am now searching for something that can prove or at least give an indication that there is a connection between stress and the ilness and how to cope with it. So if any of the readers know of any good articles, studies and so fort that can give us as much literature on the matter as possible I would be most grateful.

Thomas
Norway

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Crohn's and psychological stress NEW
by: Annette Young

Hi there,

I was very sorry to read about your step-daughter and all that she is growing through and of course, as a family, how you must all be affected.

I am a qualified stress management counselor and I know the effect that stress can have on the body. Whatever condition is experienced, stress can make it worse in a number of ways and in fact stressful situations that are ignored can lead to a number of long-term illnesses.

At one time, stress was considered to be the cause of Crohn's disease but it has now been established that it is a powerful trigger instead. One that should be avoided.

In the light of your family battle and looking for evidence to support your case, it might be a good idea to find out how stress or everyday things affect your step-daughter. Keep a food journal but also add things such as concerns, flare-ups, feelings etc. This might be very useful as evidence.

I attach some links that may be useful and really hope that it helps.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/crohns-disease/DS00104/DSECTION=lifestyle-and-home-remedies

http://www.healthline.com/health/crohns-disease/stress-flare-ups

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1248995/The-stress-dads-divorce-brought-Crohns-disease-reveals-RICK-PARFITT-JNR.html

http://www.crohnscolitis.ie/living_with_3.html

Do let us know the outcome if possible.

Best wishes,

Annette

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