This paper seems to describe the general strategy:
Neuronal regulation of the gut immune system and neuromodulation for treating inflammatory bowel disease https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8565205/
It would be incredible if it works, since it would avoid treatment with systemic immunosuppresives which can promote infection/cancer. However maybe there is still a local risk of the above?
I would also be concerned about the implant getting covered in nasty biofilms over time.
If this type of thing works, does that mean that medication that target the nerves might work against inflammatory disease?
> Australia has among the highest incidence of Crohn’s disease in the world
We really need to look at supply chain and environmental factors.
I worked with someone at big name university biomedical informatics department who found out only in their early 30's by emergency health crisis that they had Crohn's. Perhaps with some people it requires an emergency for there to be clinical investigation, or epigenetic conditions silence some pathologies until there is a specific stressor or gene activation.
I sure hope a CRISPR edit treatment comes along to permanently cure some of the serious Crohn subtypes.
I initially wrote this as a reply to a comment by "NotGMan" mentioning fasting/paleo that got flagged. They could have approached the subject more delicately but I believe they have a point.
About 3 years ago I had gut issues so bad I thought I was close to death. NHS couldn't see any problems and were basically telling me I'd gone nuts. They refused to do any further testing.
After a year of suffering I tried a 7 day water-only fast and the pain finally went away. I broke fast with only paleo foods and stayed that way for 6 months. I gradually introduced other foods after that period with the last being gluten about 2 years after the initial fast. I am almost cured, however I will never abuse my gut in the same way again. Less carbs, more salads...
This is just my personal experience of course but I have discovered so many other people with similar gut issues who are also being ignored by their doctors that you can't blame one for wondering if there is a conspiracy at play.
I wouldn't have believed any of this a few years ago but now I have serious doubts in modern medicine's ability to deal with chronic health issues, especially in the gut.
We do eat so many more processed foods (and other things) that it doesn't require that much of a stretch to the imagination that diet is a part of the problem or indeed the root cause.
Lack of openmindedness bothers me immensely and the nature of human biology is under no obligation to fit into tidy boxes for the sake of our understanding. The real world is fuzzy.
We have so many "bandaids" but very few cures these days. Perhaps AI systems will allow us to find root causes of these insidious diseases.
This is NOT to halt chrohn's disease. This is to reduce side effects from primitive colon-removal surgery to treat Crohn'# symptoms.
Is Crohn getting more and more common recently?
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I have Crohn’s but am one of the lucky 20% who is in long-term remission without surgery and without the more problematic drug therapies - thus far!
But if this works as well as hoped it will bring a lot of peace of mind that if I do ever need surgery, I won’t be going back in for more every few years.
Medical research is awesome, for all its inefficiencies.