Many Crohn's disease patients require surgery to relieve chronic symptoms that do not respond to drug treatment or, like Gray, to correct complications such as an abscess that has begun to perforate. The bowel is cut above and below the diseased area and reconnected. But since Crohn's disease often recurs after surgery, it is very important, according to Kaminstein, for the individual and doctor to consider carefully the benefits, risks and costs of surgery compared with other treatments. He says surgery should be used only after attempts at other forms of therapy have failed. These can be surgically widened or stretched to relieve the obstruction.
Some people have long periods of remission, sometimes for years, when they are free of symptoms.
However, CCFA says the disease can recur at various times over a person's lifetime. This changing pattern of the disease means a person cannot always tell when treatment has helped. No special diet has been proven effective for preventing or treating Crohn's disease, but during a severe attack, Kaminstein says it is important to eat well to replace lost nutrients. In other words, by avoiding certain foods. She says that after 30 years of living with Crohn's disease, she knows exactly what foods trigger her symptoms or make them worse.