IBD Q&A featuring Dr. Joshua Steinberg, IBD Specialist in Denver
This IBD Q&A is for those of you who live with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)–or know someone who does. IBD is an umbrella term that refers to Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. As you know, May is IBD awareness month. So we decided to sit down for a chat with Dr. Joshua Steinberg, IBD director with Gastroenterology of the Rockies. It’s our hope this short yet informative IBD Q&A piece gives people hope if they are navigating the challenges that go with IBD or other digestive diseases.
Question: What do you wish more people knew about IBD, Crohn’s and Colitis?
Answer: “Please know that you are not alone in this. While IBD may be considered an “invisible illness,” more than 3 million people in the US are affected by Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Although it can be a very challenging and personal to talk about the disease openly, there are many resources available to help connect patients and caregivers to other folks living with IBD. I’d highly recommend engaging with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.”
“You could start by browsing their website for important education about treatments and dietary recommendations. They also provide essential support information that may help patients with IBD to better adapt in their personal and professional lives. You can also become involved with our local Rocky Mountain chapter. The local group offers educational materials, patient support information about fundraising events to help spread awareness and network with others in Colorado affected by IBD. Your gastroenterologist and entire care team, including nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, and mental health specialists are here for you, always.”
Question: What question should patients ask their doctors when they have unresolved IBD?
Answer: “Any question that a patient may have for their doctor is fair game. Here’s a good question to ask your doctor: “How can we know that my IBD treatment is truly working?”
“When starting a patient with UC or Crohn’s disease on any particular therapy, it’s important to establish shared goals and targets that we strive to achieve. In the short term, symptomatic improvement is critical. We want to reduce the following symptoms below. The goal: Reduce symptoms to a point where they’re no longer a disturbance to the patient’s quality of life.”
Rectal bleeding
Stool frequency
Abdominal pain
Urgency
Teaming up with your gastroenterologist
Question: What steps do you take as a doctor to help patients achieve IBD remission?
Answer: “If we can achieve all of these targets, including clinical, biomarker, and endoscopic remission, we can set people up for success. This can help people avoid long term complications and disease progression.”
“We know that symptom control or clinical remission is just the first step. Next, we set intermediate goals. Essentially, we want to achieve objective improvements of inflammatory markers in the blood C-reactive protein (CRP); or the stool (fecal calprotectin).”
“Why does this matter? Because these improvements could suggest reduction of the inflammatory burden in the digestive tract. In the longer term, we aim for the target of endoscopic remission. This means there is demonstrated healing of the bowel lining during a follow up colonoscopy exam.”
Need more information about IBD?
Explore the IBD page to learn more — including a comparison of overlapping symptoms found in other digestive diseases. This helpful chart compares Inflammatory Bowel Disease symptoms to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) to help see the differences and similarities.
We hope you’ve found this quick IBD Q&A blog post helpful. Need more information about how to manage IBD, Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis?
Call 303-604-5000 to schedule your consult with one of our GI specialists. We see patients at seven locations from Denver to Longmont.
Produced by Elise Oberliesen, digital marketing specialist; medical review provided by Emily Marshall, PA-C
