Living with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
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Living with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
10.06.2010
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), is comprised of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis - two serious, chronic digestive diseases that affect five million people worldwide. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis directly affect the digestive system and cause intestinal tissue to become inflamed, form sores, and bleed easily.

There is no cure, no known cause, and little public understanding of the pain and chronic suffering with which IBD patients courageously cope every day of their lives.

To coincide with World Digestive Health Day, UCC will host a Public Forum on Monday, June 14th next.   The aim of this Forum is to provide an awareness about IBD and provide up-to-date information on living with this condition.  The event is being organised by the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC), in association with Danone, and will take place at 7.30pm in Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, UCC.

The forum will be chaired by Professor Eamon Quigley, Professor of Medicine at UCC and Principal Investigator at the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre.  Professor Quigley will review some new and exciting developments and discuss how subtle forms of gut inflammation may affect the function of the gut and lead to symptoms such as pain, constipation and diarrhoea. Disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis may well fit into this category and could benefit, as a result, from new treatments.

Other eminent speakers at the Forum will include Professor David Rampton, Professor of Clinical Gastroenterology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Outlining his talk, Professor Rampton explained: “For many people with IBD, quality of life is, at least for some of the time, not as good as the rest of the population. In this talk, I shall talk first about how quality of life is measured, and then cover the reasons why it is often impaired in patients with IBD.  I shall then go on to talk about what both doctors and patients themselves can do to put right some of the causes of poor quality of life in IBD, and thereby make possible a full and active life for most of the time for most people with IBD.”

Dr Paud O’Regan, Consultant Physician and Gastroenterologist South Tipperary General Hospital will focus his talk on what works for patients in the treatment of IBD based on his extensive experience in this area.

The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre is a UCC/Teagasc Research Centre funded by Science Foundation Ireland and industry, focusing on gastrointestinal health and development of therapies for debilitating disorders such as Crohn's disease, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and food poisoning (http://apc.ucc.ie)

The Forum will take place on Monday, June 14th from 7.30-9.00pm in Lecture Theatre G01, Brookfield Health Science Building, College Road, UCC.  Patients, families and friends are all welcome. Admission is free.

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