2023-10-31 15:30:00
Abdominal pain, diarrhea, bleeding, weight loss… even though they are increasingly widespread in Canada, inflammatory bowel diseases remain taboo and little-known even though they completely disrupt the daily lives of those who suffer from them.
• Read also: Prevention and new treatments: progress for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
“I have patients who no longer want to leave the house […] who ask me for notes so they can work remotely. Sometimes, they are in meetings and have to leave, very often, to go to the bathroom or because they are in pain,” said Dr.r Talat Bessissow, gastroenterologist and associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University, in Montreal.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY Dr. Talat Bessissow
By 2035, as many as 1.1% of the Canadian population – or 470,000 people – might suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which are the two most common , and this, on a national scale, estimated the gastroenterologist.
Impacts on daily life
Ulcerative colitis only affects the colon, while Crohn’s disease affects the entire digestive system. The most common symptoms are abdominal cramps, diarrhea, blood in the stools and weight loss.
“There is a disruption that causes our own immune system to attack our intestines and cause inflammation that will disrupt our body’s ability to digest and eliminate food properly,” he explained.
These symptoms, if left untreated, can affect the quality of life of those affected on a personal, social and professional level.
“I know patients who have applications that show the nearest toilets,” he also illustrated, specifying that some no longer even dare to go out with their friends.
According to him, “there is a taboo behind it, a shame regarding discussing this subject” which remains well anchored and accentuates the social issues behind this type of illness.
- Listen to the interview with the Dr Guy Aumais, gastroenterologist in Montreal and clinical researcher for the GEM project, at the microphone by Alexandre Dubé via
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Unknown causes
Inflammatory bowel disease (also called IBD) can occur at any age, but is most often diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40.
Nationally, approximately 322,600 people will suffer from IBD in 2023, according to the latest figures from Crohn’s and Colitis Canada released last June.
“Canada is one of the countries with the highest rate of these diseases in the world,” underlined the gastroenterologist.
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are progressing more and more, as in all Western countries, since the 1950s, but the causes are still very unclear.
“That’s what’s problematic with this disease, is that we don’t know what causes the disease. […]we just have hypotheses,” he explained, on the sidelines of Crohn’s Disease and Colitis Awareness Month in November.
The latest research points to genetic predispositions, but above all to food and the environment.
“We can think regarding what we eat, ultra-processed foods, exposure to antibiotics or even stress. We do not yet know what causes it, there is a lot of uncertainty and that is what makes treatment difficult,” added Dr.r Bessissow.
In addition, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic and cannot be cured, although treatments exist to relieve and control the symptoms.
In particular, a combination of anti-inflammatories and immunosuppressive drugs is used, which reduce the intensity of the immune response in the body, the gastroenterologist said.
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