About

For the moment, I am using this blog to aggregate research evidence regarding the influence of various foods and diets on Crohn's Disease.  I am doing this so I can make informed decisions about what foods and supplements to offer my children, who have Crohn's Disease.

If I had Crohn's Disease, I suppose that I would be more willing to experiment with various therapies, but as a parent I feel a responsibility to my children to present scientific evidence in support of the choices we make.  When you don't follow mainstream trends, you need to be able to demonstrate that choices are thoughtful and not simply reactive or intuitive.  Although I am not feeling the love for medical control of Crohn's these days, I do not reject the need for scientific evidence in support of nutritional and other therapies.

I was not getting this information through the medical system.  My experience is that it is the drug way or the highway even when the drugs don't work or cause symptoms worse than Crohn's Disease.  While alternative medicine offered the possibility of improved health, it was not specific enough for Crohn's.  I am not convinced that you can throw Crohn's in with every other inflammatory disease out there.  I needed to draw on sources for particular nutrients, foods, and diets.

I also think that it is useful to show my kids a process that they can use to generate possible therapies for Crohn's Disease or any other problems that life throws them.  I don't want them vulnerable to medical or any other systems, especially those that force decisions based on authority.  Kids need to be able to grow into thinking for themselves and arriving at their own conclusions.

Since I am a social science researcher and not a scientist of any sort, I am interpreting what I read through an  inferior lens.  At one time I was a promising doctoral student, but this life course was altered for me because of the burden of illness and disability in my family.  I bring here some basic smarts and my years in the trenches.

So remember, then, I am not an expert in Crohn's Disease nor any other medical or scientific field.   I have a personal interest in Crohn's Disease and self-select and self-interpret articles.  There is no medical advice in this blog.  If anything, I challenge you to question and probe the status quo and to come to your own conclusions.

Please, if this blog strikes a cord with you, if you have anything to share, write to me.  Crohn's Disease is a terribly complicated, debilitating and difficult disease. There are many families out there who need some help beyond the often ineffective and incomplete offerings of the medical system.

Donna
B.A. Honours, M.E.S.

write me at donnamejeza at gmail