Dear RDH:
I would first like to thank you for the very informative and enjoyable RDH magazines. I read them from cover to cover each month.
As a practicing hygienist for 12 years and a Crohn`s Disease veteran for 15 years, I was almost shocked to see the article on CD in your publication. My kudos to author Cindy Biron. I so rarely hear or read anything about CD that isn`t published by the Crohn`s and Colitis Foundation of America. Research for CD is so grossly underfunded compared to other diseases that I feel we`ve made progress if we can just keep informing more people of this debilitating disease. So, for this reason, I thank you for publishing the article.
There are, however, a couple of facts that are distorted in the article. First, the article states that our flare-ups are not stress related. Well, anyone with any form of inflammatory bowel disease will tell you that their disease is most definitely stress related. This is a well-documented fact. Secondly, the article states that asymptomatic patients usually are not treated with drugs. Newer research has indicated that our periods between flare-ups can be significantly extended by the use of the salicylate drugs such as Dipentum and Asacol. These are also considered maintenance drugs, and the dosage may be lower than that given during periods of active disease.
I again thank you for the article. Keep up the good work!
Grace A. Forero, RDH
Princeton, Illinois
