Well, like Butt-eze said and like my other post in her thread this was a great decision. My mom did go, as did my youngest brother, who I think only went to get out of the house...he's not seemed like he's all that interested, perhaps my mom convinced him to go. Eh, maybe he even wanted to learn more about what is making big brother run to the bathroom like the Nazi's are coming again. Also one thing to note first off is how "sick" and ragged a lot of the attendees were, as I looked around all day at all the people around me, they all looked very "ill" and "generally unhealthy" (as do I currently), I actually saw a lot of suspect moon face and it made me feel at home. People did look worn out and everyones skin, hair, stance, and overall appearance etc...reflected this aura of "disease", there's nothing like it. It was a crowd but not like any crowd you'd find elsewhere in society, just had this feeling like I've never felt before.
Anywho, the convention was good and all but slightly disappointing in the fact that it was mostly about the basics. Like the 75% or so that I am speaking about was all stuff I learned about with Crohns already in, back probably in the first 2 hours of reading that I did when first diagnosed. Back in Sept of 2006 after being officially diagnosed after my first colonoscopy, the nurses (who were great) came to me with about 5 packets of info all about Crohns and coping, treatments, etc... for me to read in the hospital bed. This was all info that was covered most of the time at the convention (at least in the 3 presentations I was in). I went to one that was for for families (which was probably a mistake since it was mostly full of parents and kids of the 5-15year old range, I could have spent this crucial time at something more relevant to me), then the second one (where someone actually passed out in and they almost had to call 911) was about treatment through medications was quite good. That's the one where I learned a few new things, as well as the prednisone info that Dingbat admired.
I also learned in there a few newer treatments are being looked into, and the presenter (a Dr. David Gold I believe) talked about the fact that many docs go from the least powerful/effective meds (like Asacol) and don't try things like Remicade until several things have failed. He called that the bottom up approach, and contrasted it to doing things with the most powerful (like Remicade) right off the bat after diagnosis. He went over this concept only because it was one of the questions by someone in the audience, but it made sense. He said in some studies the patients who had the heavy guns used at Crohns FIRST, DID go into remission quicker (for obvious reasons), BUT, a year later showed much less difference in terms of the condition of the disease compared to the "Bottom Up" patients.
I simply assumed I started off on Asacol first because of cost mostly, but Remicade as a last resort due to cost also makes sense. This dr. who presented states it's also due to the side effects and power itself (which totally makes sense, and I figured this, but he says it's an influential factor as well)....Asacol actually had a good chance of making me worse according to this newest doc I see, as he says the small intestines secrete more fluid from Asacol, and with a moderate to severe Crohns patient (like me) that's obviously stupid as my large bowel is not in the condition needed to absorb this extra fluid, so the result is Diarrhea. Great...Anyways I digress...The Tysarbi that Butteze mentioned also came up, and my mom wrote it down like I said, I just put it in the back of my head as one more treatment that I HAVEN'T tried yet.
The final presentation I attended was regarding diet, and it covered VERY rudimentary stuff....not much I learned in there, and the dietician presenting was sorta dense. I went up afterwards to ask her a couple ?'s and she answered 2 of the 3 fine, but the one I asked about Creatine she made an arse of herself about, saying that it doesn't do anything and bodybuilders don't need protein shakes and creatine unless you are competing, as they're ineffective. Boy, I wish I would've known that, since the 40 lbs of muscle (that's mostly gone at the moment) only came on after I got serious about bodybuilding and added those two supps into my regimen...dumb fool of a woman...she also made my mom who was in there upset about recommending Iron supplementation without knowing enough about it. My mom had to correct her (she's a pharmacist director) politely afterwards and say that her advice could make patients go toxic. My mom said this woman should have stuck to food, that's her forte, and not gone into something that could sicken people...This presenter did talk about such things as probiotics, fiber, and low residue, and sugars, juices, etc... a lot of basic info I already knew. ALTHOUGH, this dietician did recommend that when Crohns patients are in remission, as long as they can handle it, go with high fiber as much as you can, to regulate things and make up for the lower fiber days in the flares. This suprised me because I have wondered about this thinking that you shouldn't be so liberal with fiber even in remission, for fear that it could cause you to flare again. She didn't seem to give off the vibe that that'd be much of a concern....ah well, still glad I went to that presentation also....
I skipped the Colon Cancer and "Chin Up" presentations. Colon Cancer is a concern of mine but not something I HAD to see that minute, as I still am only 25. I will worry more about that in a couple years as I approach 30. And the Chin Up one was about depression and negativity etc....I already know all about that, and am being treated for depression as it is. It's all been told to me since I was a kid with depression "think positive", "glass half full" "rely on your friends and family" etc...yeah yeah yeah.....
I only had to go the bathrooms once there during the 6 hour trip/convention, and it was only half full suprisingly. Although that was during some presentations though.
Funny thing was lunch though...I looked around at everybody's Turkey sandwiches and the little plastic trays that we all had our food come in were filled with the lettuce and tomatos off the sandwiches...practically the entire room picked off the veggies and ate just the crousaint bread and meat. I wouldve thought the CCFA would have ordered food without this and saved money.
Poor George would've thrown a fit yelling at people they're going to go acidic without the veggies...
