I looked up Accutane on google (what a wonderful thing the internet is) and it told me from the FDA site that it is a treatment for very severe acne. The list of side effects made my head spin but nowhere did it say it caused crohns. What it did say was this:
· Abdomen (stomach area) problems. Certain symptoms may mean that your internal organs are being damaged. These organs include the liver, pancreas, bowel (intestines), and esophagus (connection between mouth and stomach). If your organs are damaged, they may not get better even after you stop taking Accutane. Stop taking Accutane and call your prescriber if you get severe stomach, chest or bowel pain, trouble swallowing or painful swallowing, new or worsening heartburn, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, yellowing of your skin or eyes, or dark urine.
If your organs are damaged then you would probably get crohns like symptoms which is where that sort of info is coming from.
I too have seen top specialists in Australia and crohns is never classed as hereditary, but familial, meaning that while it's not passed from immediate family it can appear in a family cluster, say an aunt, cousin, etc. No one in my family has it but we think my grandmother died from it as she was classed as having a 'wasting disease.'
I've heard all sorts of things causing and curing crohns. I had one person tell a packed audience that they could cure all disease with the power of their mind. what a load of crap.
Some people are susceptible to a condition being triggered. Some people also get cancer while others don't. I have neighbours in their 70's. She's got mesotheleomia (asbestos) and he doesn't. Yet he was the one who built with it, laid it all around the farm and breathed most of it in. Yet it's his wife that is dying with it.
You never know. I don't think anyone really knows what triggers or causes crohns. They don't really know how to treat it and most treatments are still hit and miss. Some drugs work exceptionally well on a few and don't work on others.
Using the internet for information is a double edged sword, there is plenty of great info out there, and some not so trustworthy info out there.
There, that's my two cents worth for this evening. I shall retire to bed now and reflect on a full day of rain in a district that has been in drought for nearly a decade now.
