I've been doing a lot of research and wondering if anyone else has heard of these

[Jackie010307]

Let me start off by saying I research things, that's part of how I deal with things. I only use reliable sources, such as mayo clinic, cleveland clinic, etc, along with a few things from pubmed. I do my best to ignore a lot of things that I can't find a few resources for, unless it's a large research study. That said, recently I've found a few things that make me wonder how long I've had whatever it is I have. The mayo clinic states that crohns can cause delayed sexual development. They don't go any further into that, but from what I can find it is pretty much any delay or lack of normal development during puberty. I cannot really find anything else linking the two, however it intrigues me because I have breast hypoplasia (I did not develop milk ducts at all). My second intriguing find was this http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9860428 It states that autoimmune hearing loss should be considered an extraintestional manifestation of crohn's. This seems to connect the two, but I haven't sat down and read through the entire pdf http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/000164802320396402?journalCode=oto I lost most of the hearing in my left year several years ago, and no one has ever found a reason for it. I also have psoriasis, which is known to be linked to crohn's, and my sister has crohn's. I'm starting to think that all this may be related, but I'm wondering if anyone else has heard of any of this and if there's anything else to back it up. Maybe I didn't get unlucky a bunch of times after all and it's all one thing!

 

[DustyKat]

Hey Jackie,

I'm not sure about the breast hypoplasia but Crohn's definitely can and does affect development in children. Most would find that chronic inflammation has been present has been for quite some before a diagnosis and it is this that affects a child's growth and puberty. It doesn't just affect puberty, there is many a parent on here that can attest to the fact that diagnosis is made on their child's failure to thrive...lack of growth in both weight and height. My own daughter was undiagnosed for some time and she certainly had delayed puberty. I have read of the experience of others on the forum and it would seem that the majority catch up after appropriate treatment but then you have those at opposite ends of the scale. Some haven't had there development affected at all whereas others state that they haven't reached their full height and also feel their sexual development has been affected as well. I certainly wouldn't rule out your Crohn's being responsible for breast hypolasia.

That is really interesting about the hearing. I wonder how many other members here may be affected without realising it may be related, hmmmm.

Take care, :heart:
Dusty. xxx

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Hm, that's interesting. I know that IBD can cause lack of growth in children so I wouldn't be surprised if it affected puberty too. I don't know anything about hearing loss with IBD but it wouldn't surprise me either as IBD seems to be able to affect just about every part of the body.

It's tempting to look at every health issue and try to tie it in to IBD - I do the same thing myself! I never ever got migraines until I got this (presumed) IBD illness. Same with GERD (acid reflux). Are they really related? I have no idea honestly, I presume so but it's really hard to say. Hopefully when I (and you too) get a proper diagnosis then I'll be able to find out more as to whether it's connected to my other health issues.

 

[Jackie010307]

I don know if any of it is really related, but I also have trouble believing I got hit with that many different things. I didn't have growth problems, I was 6 feet tall by 7th grade. I didn't gain any height after that, though. I didn't start my menstral cycle till 8th or 9th grade, though. I really don't know what to think, just trying to make sense of some of it!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I'm the same way - I hit my current height, 5 foot 8, also in about the 7th grade. I'm the shortest one in my family (also the only one with IBD) so I do wonder if there's a correlation there. My "little" brother is 6 foot 6 for reference! So I should probably be taller than I am. I hit puberty at 13 so that was a pretty normal age. But the height thing, yeah. Who knows!

 

[Jackie010307]

Adding another link. This is about a study at Duke University. They are studying a substance called interleukin-17, or IL-17. It points to inflammation in the back, specifically herniated discs, being linked to IL-17, as well as linking it to psoriasis, crohn's, and rheumatoid arthritis. This is fairly new, June of 2010, so it will be very interesting to see where this goes in the future. Anyway, here's the link http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=117674