There are two types of chronic (i.e. long standing) inflammatory bowel diseases: these are ulcerative colitis and chrons disease. In both these diseases there is inflammation of the wall of the gut which causes ulcers to form in the gut wall. If you were riding a bicycle on a tarred road and fell off and grazed your arm, the grazed area would be raw (i.e. has no skin on it), the underlying flesh is exposed and it bleeds a little. Ulcers in the wall of your gut look the same – they are raw areas where the lining of the gut have been destroyed by the inflammation, the underlying flesh is exposed and the ulcers bleed.
In ulcerative colitis the inflammation and ulcers only involve the wall of the colon. In crohns disease the inflammation and ulcers can involve any part of the wall of the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the anus. In ulcerative colitis the inflammation is limited to the lining of the gut wall, whereas in crohns disease the inflammation is very severe and involves the whole thickness of the gut wall.
In both diseases the person experiences bloody diarrhoea and mucous in the stools, as well as fatigue, no energy, anorexia and weight loss. A person with crohns disease often has abdominal pain caused by the inflammation of the wall of the gut and sometimes abscesses block the lumen of the gut, resulting in an obstruction. The person often avoids food because eating provokes the pain. The inflammation impairs absorption of food in the gut and so the person has malabsorption and various degrees of malnutrition. This all contributes to weight loss.
Ulcerative colitis and chrons disease can both be genetically inherited. The genes responsible for this have been identified on chromosomes 6, 12, 14 and 16. A gene called HLA-DR103 is associated with severe ulcerative colitis. A gene called HLA B27 is also involved. Therefore after reading this section it is important for you to also read the chapter on genetically inherited diseases on page 153.
Each disease will now be discussed separately:
Ulcerative Colitis
As I mentioned above, ulcerative colitis involves inflammation and ulceration of the lining of the gut wall. This was caused by extreme fear, anxiety and dread in your thought life. Ulcerative colitis is an anxiety disorder. To understand how it develops, you need to have read the background information in the chapter “How Long Term Fear, Anxiety and Stress Affects the Body” on page 180.
Stage 2 and 3 of stress alters the way in which the central nervous system processes sensory information coming from your gut. The nerves that stimulate your colon are told what to do by the central nervous system, which is under control of the hypothalamus in your brain. Remember the hypothalamus is the mind-body connection – it translates your thoughts into a physical reaction. When you have long term fear, anxiety and stress in your thought life, the hypothalamus alters the way in which the central nervous system functions. This results in an imbalance in the central nervous system where ‘wrong instructions’ are sent to the nerves that stimulate your gut – one of the consequences of this is malfunctioning or misfiring of the nerves. The persistent stimulation of the gut wall by the misfiring nerves causes irritation and inflammation of the lining. The inflammation damages the lining of the gut wall causing ulcers to form.
Azothiprine and steroids like Predisone are often prescribed by doctors to treat ulcerative colitis. These drugs do not cure ulcerative colitis, they are only a form of disease management and often complicate the disease with unwanted side effects such as increased risk of infections because the immune system is suppressed. The only way for ulcerative colitis to be truly eradicated is to deal with the fear and anxiety causing it. Turn to page 523.
Crohns Disease
Chrons disease is inflammation of the whole thickness of the wall of the gut and can involve any part of the gastrointestinal tract. This is caused by extreme self-rejection, self-hatred, a lack of self-esteem, guilt and/or drivenness to meet the expectation of another.31 Chrons disease afflicts individuals who are false burden bearers. The enemy has given them a false sense of responsibility for other people’s problems. Because they can’t control or fix the other person,
or the other person is not getting well or doing what they think they should do, they go down into guilt and blame themselves for the failure of another. They have a “Christ complex” where they feel responsible to be the Saviour for others.
Chrons disease afflicts individuals who are false burden bearers.
To understand crohns disease, you first need to get a background understanding of autoimmune diseases. Please read through the chapter on page 200, before reading this section any further.
Whatever goes on in your thought life, your brain converts into a physical reaction. As you read in the chapter on autoimmune diseases, when you attack yourself spiritually through thoughts of self-hatred, self-rejection, self-condemnation and/or guilt in your thought life, your body (immune system) responds by attacking its own tissue. In your case, the cells of your immune system attacked the lining and wall of your gut.
Eating cells (called macrophages) in the wall of your gut sends messengers called Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) and interleukin 1 (IL-1) to go and call another type of eating cell (called neutrophils), the neutrophils then attach to the lining of the gut wall and enter into the tissue in the wall. The messenger TNF-a causes the person to feel very sick (the person gets a fever, doesn’t want to eat and it causes bone disease). The messenger IL-1 activates the T cells which then activate mast cells. Remember mast cells produce chemicals that cause inflammation. Therefore the inflammation in the gut wall is caused by the eating cells (neutrophils) and mast cells which release toxic chemicals that damage the tissue of the gut wall. The damage to the gut wall by the inflammation causes ulcers to form. Normally
the macrophages and T cells stop this type of inflammation from going on too long and causing damage. But in a genetically predisposed person (remember chrons disease can be genetically inherited) and when a person is attacking themselves spiritually with thoughts of self-hatred, self-rejection and guilt – the macrophages and T cells don’t function as they were designed to – they turn on you and attack your own body tissue.
Azothiprine and steroids like Predisone are often prescribed by doctors to treat ulcerative colitis. These drugs do not cure ulcerative colitis, they are only a form of disease management and often complicate the disease with unwanted side effects such as increased risk of infections because the immune system is suppressed. In order to eradicate Chrons disease you need to get rid of the toxic mindset causing it. Stop allowing the enemy to hammer you over the head with guilt and self-accusation concerning other people’s problems. You are not responsible for fixing their mess. Do what you can to help and then leave them in God’s hands. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to bring conviction and the change.
Pray this with me: “Father I repent for buying into the enemy’s lies that lead me into self-hatred and guilt and I ask for Your forgiveness. I release myself from guilt and self-accusation and the false sense of responsibility for others. I take authority over the spirit of death and spirit of infirmity that was released through the guilt and self-hatred to attack my colon producing chrons disease – in Jesus’ Name I command you to be gone! In the Name of Jesus I command the immune system to stop attacking the colon and I command the lining and walls of my gastrointestinal system to be healed!”
When it comes to a low self-esteem and self-hatred, you need to renew your mind. In other words you need to change how you think about yourself and see yourself as God sees you. This comes from knowing who you are in Christ. Turn to page 498.
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