My son had a horrible and persistent Crohn's flare, despite doing all the good things to keep things subdued and stable

While researching possible triggers for this, I came across info I had never seen before suggesting that Crohn's may be more prevalent in people who were born during measles epidemics (my son was) or who reacted badly to measles vaccine (my son did) or had been infected with "wild" measles in early life....

one theory I saw suggests that http://www.gastrojournal.org/article...467-0/abstract

there are numerous other studies and articles when one starts searching

Perhaps this could explain the sudden flares that seem to come out of nowhere? Maybe the measles is activated and the system reacts? Just thinking aloud here.....

Certainly sounds likely to me. Many viruses stay in the body for a lifetime. Every spring I have shingles pain...to remind me!

So it is Lysine for me.

Thanks for an interesting article!

more articles on this

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Findin...nk.-a015811416

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...v043p00733.pdf

http://www.whale.to/a/crohns2.html

http://www.healingwell.com/library/ibd/info13.asp

Epstein Barr (the virus that causes mononucleosis) is another virus that tends to lie dormant within us forever, and has been associated with more other ailments (including all IBDs) than I can count.

I can't prove anything (nobody can) but I think every major ailment I've contracted during my lifetime has coincided with a virus (cold/flu) - Crohn's/IBS, Migraines, PN... reactivating something. The migraines were pegged to the EB virus by the migraine specialist, and digging into what he said, I believe he pegged it spot-on. I have a distant relative with chronic fatigue and is hyperallergenic (that may not be the correct term, but she pretty much lives in a bubble) that are both related to EB.

They've always told us that contracting these childhood diseases as children builds up immunities to all kinds of things later in life, and I don't doubt that. It's the reactivation by some other virus that seems to be the connection, and as viruses are always mutating, there's no way to predict or protect.

EB, Chickenpox (herpes), measles... The commonality is that they are all viruses.

More thinking aloud.

Doc

I've known about the possible connection of IBD/Crohn's to other microbes (not just viral) before....just was not aware of the theories on measles.

My son had rapid onset of neurological problems (eventually dxTourette Syndrome with co-morbid conditions) shortly after a MMR vaccination, and was born during the late 80s-early 90s measles epidemic

He has never had mono that we know of, but I did as a child (we called it glandular fever then) He did test +ve for EB antibodies...but I am told most of the population does

I also had double pneumonia the year before he was born...I have seen mycoplasma p. also implicated as a possible problem in Crohn's. I don't know if myco crosses the placenta?

He did have chicken pox when around 3yo

But this measles connection theory is new to me so I am trying to gather as much info as possible and will ask for specific testing when he has next bloodwork done to see if this could be a possible cause of his most recent severe flare