What do you think/ know about Crohn's clusters?

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imisspopcorn

imisspopcorn

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Hah, Carrie, when I first read your title I thought it was another sypmtom I hadn't heard of!!!
I know little about this except that one of the young girls who joined up a while back from NZ told me she came from a small town of like 600 people and there were a huge number of people there with Crohns, like 50 or something like that!
 
I wish there was some sort of epidemiology, like with hepatitis C outbreaks etc. I guess, since it's not communicable like other diseases, and not as lethal like leukemia, there isn't a need for epidemiology. But what if there is some sort of communicable aspect of this disease? (That is frightening0). I guess I shouldn't worry but somehow there is a environmental source/ trigger...
 
I'm getting my clip board ready...*Knock, Knock*.." Excuse me, I'm your neighbor, and I have few personal questions to ask."
 
This is very intriguing, though the most specific for geography I've seen as far as "epidemiology" in Crohn's was the "northern climates" and "idustrialized/civilized" regions of the world (or in Shaz and Jed's etc..case, it's the more Southern, anything farther away from the equatorial latitudes). What I know, is sometimes "out there" in the real world, it seems like nobody else has it, it's only when you hear "oh I know someone who has it" or come on line that you even get reminded it's not limited to you.
 
When we lived in our old house, both my hubby and myseilf had crohns then my next door neighbour was diagnosed with ti as well. A small cluster but still there. We used to live by the canal wether this had anything to do with it I do not know. There is a lot of bowel desease in both of our families as well. Peggy
 
I did hear there was a bit of a cluster where I was born and raised. It's the Wirral in Merseyside. Rather strange place, despite the fact that it's often regarded as a posh dormitory for Liverpool, it's actually very flat and hemmed in between nuclear reprocessing plants, chemical factories and oil refineries.
Now I live in the Yorkshire hills and you can actually smell the fresh air when you put your head out of the door
 
Had to click on this one Pop and let you know that the first thing I thought of when I read the title were those little chocolate cover peanut clusters and turtles (yummy!). I have heard of the Nova Scotia and Ohio thing as well. It is quite strange. I also just realized that I just recently and contact with someone who I think was raised in Nova Scotia - I'll have to ask her if she knows anything about that and see what she says.
 
I had never heard of this before. I grew up in Nova Scotia and was living there when I first got sick with Crohn's.
 
That is very interesting. I have never heard of the cluster thing, but I can tell you that I was diagnosed very shortly after moving to Ohio...hmmm??? On the other hand, looking back, I have had some indications of Crohn's since childhood. Of course, I did grow up in western PA...right next to Ohio.

There was a post some time ago about people in certain geographic regions being more prone to Crohn's, specifically, as Benson mentioned, those regions furthest from the equator. I think the suggestion was that the lack of sunlight during certain times of the year may have led to vitamin D deficiencies. And, of course, there is always the genetic component to consider.
 
Nova Scotia? I live in eastern Canada and have never heard of this. Is there an article that has more info on that cluster?
 
I was at conferance last year, where an epidemiologist talked about this. There is evidence that areas subjected to a water problem - E.Coli, giardia etc - that causes a bowel infection will have a rise in Crohn's and Colitis cases starting about 5 years afterwards. There was a town in Norway that was followed after a Giardia(Beaver fever) outbreak. Also the town of Waterton - where all the e.coli happened because the town water supply was contaminated.

Now, the researchers can't tell yet if it is the bowel infection itself that causes further disease or if the infection just turns on the genes that allow further disease development so they have no way to determine treatment from this information - except that it is probably best to avoid such infections if possible!!
 
I attended school in Pennsylvania in the 1980's in a place outside of Pittsburgh called Bellevue. In catching up with old classmates I have come to find that out of my graduating class alone there are at least 6 of us with crohn's disease specifically. I find it odd because after we moved away to lower Alabama I have yet to run into anyone else with Crohn's. I have people tell me their cousin or daughter has it but I have not met another one yet in person here and yet there were 6 of us in one grade in my school up there.
 
I find this facinating that this could happen. I personally had my old best friend who had crohns, but no one else. I still think stress caused ours because we both didnt have the best of childhoods/teenage years or early 20s. I wonder if you can be prone or vulnerable to it and something like the water can set it off in those people maybe.?
 
There are several cluster studies like that. I posted a list once but can't find the thread atm.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1375715/

There's just too many of such studies to be an accident. Even for a widespread disease, it happens far beyond the expected rate.

Also several studies that point out that migration affects the rates of Crohn's disease in a demographic more than genes do. This has been shown with migrants from the middle east moving to western and northern europe. A population with relatively low rates of crohn's disease from the middle east, actually exceeds the local population in rates of CD after they have migrated. Due to unknown environmental factors. Yet the rates of their brothers and sisters who remained in the country of origin retain their very low rates of CD.

Same with twins, twins sharing the same genetic predispositions to CD are far more likely to both have CD if they grew up in the same household, that number drops dramatically if they were brought up seperately in different areas.
 
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I honestly believe that we may have inherited an immune system quark that get's passed on but that crohn's comes from an outside factor. It can be e-coli in the water supply. It could be the way certain things get pasteurized before sell. I read one article about it being part of a vaccine in one town. I think it differs by cluster perhaps. Regardless i strongly believe it has an outside factor.

I have also read many things on neuroscience. Science has proven that your body knows something is up before you brain does. There have been many studies and tests that prove your body reacts first then the brain kicks in. I always maintained with my doctor that stress is not the cause of the flare but instead in reaction to the flare. My body senses the flare coming and begins and then the stress kicks in because of how limiting life is when flaring.

I find that my body is happiest existing on some pretty strange things and while none of them are great for my health neither is much else. Between all the chemicals and processes we have developed just about everything is tainted to some degree. From chemicals, pesticides and many more examples I could give have gone on long enough that those chemicals have seeped into the ground and dirt, into the water and air. We need to change the way we process our food and treat toxic things.
 

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