Harry:How old are you?

Suzanne: I'm 38 years old.

Harry: So you're a young lady.

Suzanne: What I'd like to know from you is your opinion on it because they don't seem to know too much about Chrone's itself.

Harry: Yes, that is correct. The condition is quite common and it is a condition in which there is chronic inflammation in the intestines. This can affect the intestines virtually anywhere from the mouth right down to the anus. But it most commonly involves the small intestines, especially the lower part of the small intestine or the ileum.

Suzanne: Yes. <

Harry: Is that where you have the problem?

Suzanne: Yes.

Harry: So you get these areas of chronic inflammation and the cause is unknown. Despite an enormous amount of work, we still don't understand the cause and that's why we do not have a cure. Now the problem with these areas of inflammation is that they can cause complications. They can sometimes cause an obstruction, they can sometimes even cause a perforation and they can sometimes cause a connection between say the intestine and the bladder - what we call a fistula. So there are a number of complications and these can be unpleasant and indeed, they can in fact be life-threatening. Now to come back to the treatment, as I said we don't know the cause and therefore we can't cure it. But we do have medicines that can keep the condition under control. Commonly the medicines that we use in the first instance are the standard anti-inflammatory medicines such as cortisone and others, and we would try those first. Can I ask you, what treatment have they put you onto?

Suzanne: I'm on cortisone and Asacol. I'm also waiting at the moment for organ rejection tablets.

Harry: Okay, so that's what we would use in the first instance. And commonly these treatments can keep the condition under control. If it fails, then very recently there has been a new medicine developed that has been found to be very, very useful in complicated cases that are not responding to the ordinary forms of treatment. I'm not going to worry you with the name of it but your doctor will know all about it. So all in all, while it's not a very happy situation I think you can be positive because we do have ways of controlling it and, as I said, very recently we've actually got much better medicines to control the more difficult cases.

Suzanne: Thank you.