by Jennifer Howard

Created on: July 09, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I do not personally have Crohn's disease, but my fiance does. I can attest that it can be difficult to learn not only to cope with the disease medically, but socially as well. I would like to offer some insight to those with Crohn's and those who love someone with the disease.

I met Mike three years ago. By this time he had been living with Crohns since the age of six. Even though he was not properly diagnosed until a few years later. He had already had many hospitalizations and flare ups. As a child two of his flare ups almost cost him his life.

As a child he had been through things no child should have to endure because of his disease. At that time treatments were not as advanced as they are today. To make matters worse he was born later in life to older parents. They were from a different generation. His Mother in particular not only treated him as if he would die at any moment, but told him as much.

By the time I met Mike he was thirty two, and had lived with the disease most of his life. He was not as pro active about having Crohns as he should have been. He rescheduled his appointments regularly. He neglected to take his vitamins regularly. He forgot his shot of anti inflammatory medication on occasion.

We started off as friends. By this time in his life he was mostly comfortable in sharing that he had Crohn's disease. When our friendship started to take a more romantic turn I decided to find out what I could about Crohn's. I was determined to know just what I was in for if I decided to take things further with Mike.

So I headed to WebMD to find out what just might be in store for me. I found out that Crohns is a chronic inflammatory disease of the digestive tract. There are a wide variety of symptoms. The most common being diarrhea and abdominal pain. There is no cure for Crohns only treatment through medication and surgery. There is also an increased risk of colon cancer in people with Crohns.

Well after reading what WebMD had to offer along with a variety of other sites I decided should things get more serious this would be something I could handle.

Every case of Crohns is different. Depending on the severity of the case you may not even need treatment. Mike's case has been on the severe side most of his life. He has dealt with the diarrhea and abdominal pain constantly through out his life. He has also had out break out of ulcers and fissures in his anal sphincter. He has also dealt with anal fistulas and perirectal abscesses.

Dealing with all of this was

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