Jamie Harris was in her 20s when she was diagnosed with Crohn\u2019s disease.She shares her journey from symptoms and diagnosis to finding effective treatment to help raise awareness.Harris wants others to know that persistent symptoms like frequent bathroom trips, fatigue, or abdominal pain aren\u2019t always due to diet.<\/p>\n
In 2010, Jamie Harris was living her best life in her 20s. She was in graduate school pursuing her teaching certificate and dating the love of her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a fun time in my life\u2026I went on a trip to London with my boyfriend, who now is my husband,\u201d she told Healthline. \u201cI went to the bathroom, and I didn\u2019t know if it was from travel, but I had blood in my stool.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she got home from the vacation, her symptoms continued, including an intense stomachache.<\/p>\n
After seeing her general practitioner, he told Harris to add more fiber and psyllium husk to her diet. However, the sharp pain in her stomach continued for a year. She also started losing weight.<\/p>\n
At this point, Harris was student-teaching and shared her concerns with one of her own teachers, who urged Harris to go to the emergency room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey ran the blood tests and were like, \u2018Wow, your white blood cell count is way elevated,\u2019 and then they ran further tests, and then that\u2019s when I got referred to a GI doctor,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
The GI doctor officially diagnosed her with Crohn\u2019s disease<\/a>, a chronic, relapsing inflammatory condition that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract.<\/p>\n \u201cCrohn\u2019s disease can present as superficial or deep ulcers (canker sores), and if left untreated, it can progress to bowel damage, including a buildup of scar tissue\u2014what we call strictures or fistulas<\/a>\u2014which are connections between one loop of bowel and another loop of bowel or a connection from the bowel to the skin,\u201d Emanuelle Bellaguarda,<\/a> MD, Gastroenterologist and Associate Professor at Northwestern University, told Healthline.<\/p>\n Harris\u2019s first year of navigating the diagnosis was difficult physically and mentally.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like I kind of went into a little depression<\/a>. I\u2019m supposed to be at the peak of my life, and it wasn\u2019t that anymore,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n When Harris began experiencing symptoms, her mom, who was a registered dietitian for 40 years, suggested that she may have an intolerance<\/a> to gluten.<\/p>\n \u201cI started cutting back on [certain] foods, and my mom told me to keep a food journal, which I did, but I felt like everything was hurting my stomach,\u201d said Harris.<\/p>\n She also tried the BRAT diet<\/a> (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) for a while.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then I was just so limited because every time I ate, I felt like I would have a stomachache, so I did try to manage through diet, and then it\u2019s kind of bad, but I just stopped eating because it was so painful, and that\u2019s when I lost 20 pounds,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n While eating healthy is important for gut health and may improve symptoms such as diarrhea<\/a> and bloating, Bellaguarda said there are no studies showing that diet alone can heal the inflammatory burden associated with Crohn\u2019s disease or prevent its progression.<\/p>\n Bellaguarda said treatment of Crohn\u2019s disease depends on its presentation, a patient\u2019s comorbidities, and prior medications.<\/p>\n While doctors know more about Crohn\u2019s disease today than they did 10 years ago, there is still no cure.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, when we think about a treatment plan for Crohn\u2019s disease, we focus on a two-step approach to therapy,\u201d said Bellaguarda.<\/p>\n The first step is to get patients well symptomatically and heal the bowel back to normal or stabilize the progression of the disease. The second step is the maintenance phase.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue the medication that worked to get them well as their maintenance therapy,\u201d Bellaguarda said. \u201cFortunately, we do have many effective medications to get patients well and keep them well, including biologic agents such as Omvoh<\/a> or small molecule agents such as JAK inhibitors.\u201d<\/p>\n Initially, after Harris was diagnosed, she tried different pill medications to manage her condition, which masked some symptoms.<\/p>\n \u201cI never felt fully 100%. And what doctors like to do is they won\u2019t move you onto a new medication until one fails or they don\u2019t see improvement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n After two years of trying medications, she started getting infusion therapy<\/a>. Today, she receives the infusion every six weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore, infusions would take like four to six hours [which felt] like the whole day. But now with the options, they\u2019re a little bit faster, so I can go on with my life and day,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n