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Do you think there will ever be a cure for Crohn's

(Mods, please move if this is posted in the wrong subforum).

As i was tucking into my ultra boring plain chicken and potatoes earlier today I was thinking to myself - 'wow, a lifetime of lowfibre food? Really...Really?' .

My friend who was eating with me (and she had a fascinating curry - something i used to eat!). And she knows everything about my crohn's - the way i dealt with it was to tell everyone (so they can make me dinner which wouldn't cause a problem hehehe). Anyway, she said out of the blue and quite innocently - 'hey, do you think they'd ever find a cure?'

It was like she was reading my face as I ate my dinner.

And

I thought to myself - i wonder if they ever will..............

Are they researchin' much about how to find a cure for Crohns?
 
Good question Martin.
At present in OZ here is a study in progress in my home state of Queensland. There is one that I have heard of being conducted in Penn. Somehow I form the impression that there is not so much a lack of clinical trials, but a dearth of meaningful results.

Until ALL the factors that may contribute to the development of CD are identified, I am rather pessimistic. I suppose that because our condition does not receive the same research funding as breast or prostate cancers we are the ugly ducklings. Having said that, CD is neither 'glamourous', [that is not to say that cancers are] -nor is it for the most part life threatening .

Wish that I could be more positive, but this is the way I feel. Hope springs eternal! I am heading towards seventy and my thoughts are very much with younger Crohnies! I have had my day in the sun!
 
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nogutsnoglory

Moderator
I truly believe we aren't too far off from a cure and that exploration of the gut microbial environment will be key to the answer.

That being said, as long as our medical science is geared towards finding medications (band aids) rather than solutions (cures) I'm afraid there will not be a cure in my lifetime.

Unlike cancer and AIDS, where people were once dropping dead like flies, Crohn's is pretty rare and "manageable" and does not get the same funding and attention.

I pray for a cure!
 
I am hesitant to say they will find a "cure", especially anytime soon. I mean I do think in the far off future there will be a cure for crohns and for a lot of these other diseases, but right now there is just too much greed out there. They want to spend money on different things, like these billion dollar pharmaceuticals that make them big $$$. I mean think about it, why find a cure when you can charge over $6000 for just one infusion of Humira??

That being said, I agree with nogutsnoglory, I do think they will find that crohns has something to do with bacteria and gut flora...
 

nogutsnoglory

Moderator
I couldn't agree more that big pharma has zero interest in a cure unless its a pill they can charge us a million dollars for. Charging us for these infusions, shots and services we need is much more profitable for the medical establishment and they need our business.
 
Thats a bit of a shame (obviously). I know its superficial but living with Crohns is so annoying - only for the damn lack of food i can eat. :-(
 

kiny

Well-known member
It depends on what crohn's disease is I would think.

If it's an autoimmune disease you're out of luck, an autoimmune disease means that immune system has lost control and is now targeting regular epithelial cells, bone or other cells and is regarding them as an antigen. You only have to look at other autoimmune disease where they spend billion on to realise there is no cure in sight for them, you can't simply rewire an immune system. UC is for the most part autoimmune, the immune system targets colon epithelial cells.

BUT, crohn's disease is likely not an autoimmune disease, for something to be an autoimmune disease you need an autoantigen like in UC, that isn't present in crohn's disease, the autoimmune theory has pretty much been thrown overboard by 90% of scientists researching crohn's disease.

So what's left is bacterial involvement, either pathogenic or commensal, and finding a cure for that is much easier, since targeting a pathogen as you would in an infectious disease or modulation of the gut flora is something that is within the realm of possibilities.

What you also would need is help people with external manifestations, find a way to reverse fibrosis and stenosing for example.

But these things are within the realm of possibility.
 
Kiny - I like your posts even though 90% of the time ai understand only 10% of what you're writing lol
However, I have been thinking about what you wrote...
I do believe that biologics, although being a "bandaid", could change the picture. Imagine that one of those startups manage to develop a biologics x10 more effective with /10 side effects from what we got nowadays.
This will be no cure, as it does not attend the root cause. But this, I believe, could change IBD from chronic illness to something more similar to migreans... this could chnage the world, too.
What do you think?
 
I hope that one day we can be all free of this horrible condition.

I could see a day when there are treatments with exceedingly high success rate with very minimal/low side effects like worriedboy says.
 

nogutsnoglory

Moderator
I think there will likely be a cure or preventative in my lifetime. I think the advances are major and that we are on the brink of some major breakthroughs in terms of understanding gut flora and genes responsible for this disease. I think more and more people are realizing the negative impact of a western diet on IBD.

Sadly I think it's going to take more people getting sick for scientists to take us seriously. Why work for an IBD cure when there are hundreds of millions affected by cancer, heart disease, diabetes etc. We are a blip on the radar. If a major philanthropist has a family member with IBD it might really help us to move forward.
 
hmmm I dunno...I've decided we all might be a key first stage in human evolution and in a few hundred years humans will survive without the need for intestinal organs or any kind of excretion...no? Have I been watching too much science fiction? :p
 
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