Eating SCD

The concept of “Standard of Care” is a bit subjective. See this wikipedia entry for more, but the basic idea is that the standard of care is what any competent physician would do for that particular patient in that particular situation. This can vary somewhat with local practices. The American College of Gastroenterolgy provides clinical guidelines that GI’s can use along with their clinical experience and professional judgment to determine the course of treatment for your IBD. The ACG publishes these guidelines as a list on their website. You can find the list of guidelines here. Scroll down for the Crohn’s and colitis entries.

Of course other nations have their own professional associations:

Here are guidelines done for the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) in 2008-2011.

Here is a guideline published by GUT, an International Journal of Gastroenterolgy and Hepatology in 2004.

Perhaps these published guidelines will be helpful when you are trying to understand the advice of your physician.

Research from the University of Bristol:

Scientists have been unclear for some time about how most probiotics work. A new study has found a scientific ‘design’ for a probiotic that could be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease.

Continue reading ‘Research: Probiotic to treat inflammatory disease?’

Symptoms and severity of Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis can vary greatly between individuals.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine have now identified a gene expression profile that can divide patients with CD and UC into two otherwise undistinguishable subgroups — those with a high incidence of treatment-nonresponsive, frequently relapsing, or chronically active disease and those with mild disease.

This could help doctors and patients better determine the kind of treatment they may wish to pursue. This could be especially relevant if you are concerned about choosing between more aggressive medical therapies and/or more holistic approaches.

Read the report here.