The pain surged throughout Zachary Keith’s abdomen without warning. The Boston University College of Communication sophomore, who is currently on leave, said the long walk to Student Health Services was excruciating from his room at Warren Towers.

“It felt almost like a thousand knives stabbing into my stomach,” he said. “And it came in waves.”

After a week in the hospital and numerous tests and examinations, Keith was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease –an inflammatory bowel disease that causes swelling of the lower part of the small intestine.

Doctors do not know the exact cause of Crohn’s Disease, but according to WEBMD.com, it’s when “the body’s immune system reacts to a virus or a bacterium, causing inflammation in the intestine.” Symptoms of Crohn’s Disease include abdominal pain, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, weight loss and fever, according to the website.

Once someone is diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, it cannot be cured, only controlled.

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Audrey Wells said she attributes her first “flare up” to dealing with too much too fast.

“We had a 10-page term paper due, I had just broken up with my boyfriend at the time, my dad went away and I was watching the house,” she said. “It was a lot of stress all at once and I started to feel the intestinal symptoms.”

Wells and Keith quickly received diagnose after their first episodes.

When Wells’s intestinal pains persisted for over a week, she decided to go to the doctor. After blood tests, doctors found a high inflammation rate and referred her to a gastroenterologist who found a developing growth on her intestinal wall.

“I had a colonoscopy and they found that I had Crohn’s,” she said. “It was a pretty severe case. They found a fistula, which is a complication of the flare-up.”

Doctors at Student Health Services initially though Keith’s pains were caused by appendicitis and sent him to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.

“I was admitted into the emergency room and they did a CAT scan,” he said. “That very night the doctors said it was Crohn’s. I was admitted into the regular hospital and I was there for a week. The first time was pretty bad.”

NEGOTIATING A MEDICINAL MAZE

For Keith and Wells, Crohn’s disease became an illness that would greatly affect their lifestyles. Both needed to understand the nature of their disease and the types of treatments available to prevent future flare ups.

Since his first episode, Keith has opted to take the traditional approach to treating his illness. Doctors prescribed the powerful anti-inflammatory drug Prednisone, which is also used in chemotherapy, as well as the immunosuppressant Mercaptoturpurine, commonly known as 6MP.

Keith said the drugs he takes work in tandem to reduce inflammation and weaken the immune system. While he will not take Prednisone and 6MP for long periods of time, because they can have damaging side effects, he will likely be taking medications for the rest of his life.

“For the most part, it’s under control,” he said. “But the medicines are completely screwing me up. Praise the day when I’m off of them, or at least the one main one, Prednisone. I’m currently being weaned off of it.”

Wells understood the side effects of Prednisone and, after conducting her own research, found a steroid called Entocort that worked the same way as Prednisone, but without the side effects.

Wells has also seen a therapist to work on stress reduction.

Bonnie Conklin, nurse administrator at BU’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, said students often come to the clinic with stress problems relating to chronic illnesses.

“It’s not uncommon for students who have a secondary disease like [Irritable Bowel Syndrome] to have an anxiety disorder, because those people will be present with anxiety,” she said. “Stress and anxiety can affect that illness particularly.”

WHEN HEALTH BECOMES AN OBSTACLE TO SUCCESS

Wells said she understood that college life can be stressful for even the most healthy students, but she wanted to attend school away from home.

“When I first came to BU, I wasn’t very nervous,” she said. “My doctor was very nervous and only wanted me to take 12 credits. I’ve only had a few flare ups last year and a few this year.”

On the other hand, Keith’s sudden diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease in late October dealt the final blow to his already unhappy semester at BU and ultimately led him to take a leave of absence.

“I was kind of unhappy in general at BU,” he said. “Coupled with not knowing what I was doing. It didn’t seem right to put myself through not having a good time and the pain of being sick. Coming from Florida and not being close to home was also very hard.”

Wells had severe episodes during fall semester finals week and believes they were stress related.

“Toward the end I missed a lot of classes,” Wells said. “The worst part of it was that I just wanted to be home in the care of my mother, but I couldn’t.”

Keith and Wells both said their grades were not greatly affected by their illness, not because of easy classes, but rather sympathetic professors.

“I actually haven’t seen much of a difference [in grades],” she said. “I’ve maintained a 3.7 [GPA] since I’ve been here. The reason being that my teachers were very understanding.”

Wells said students suffering from chronic illnesses like Crohn’s should not be embarrassed to leave school for support.

“Don’t be ashamed to drop a class, take an extra year or to cut out stress, whether it is a job or class,” she said. “Make sure that your friends are aware of your illness and you have friends who care and support you.”

Keith said he needed to be closer to his family and having to go back and forth to the hospital for check-ups was mentally taxing.

“I definitely appreciate that my parents support my decision to come home,” he said. “They even come with me to the appointments sometimes and speak with the doctors.

“Hopefully one day I will come back to BU or go somewhere else away from home,” he continued. “I don’t necessarily want to stay home for the rest of my life. It was going to the hospital that was a negative mental thing. At home, there are doctors who have private practices.”

GOAL SETTING FOR THE

CHRONICALLY ILL

While having a chronic illness has not kept Wells from her most important goals, there are some things she just cannot do anymore.

“I will say I used to run a lot,” she said, “I wanted to run a marathon. Sometimes I feel when I exercise or run, my stomach feels worse.”

But Wells refuses to let her illness stand in the way of her dreams.

“Actually, I’m a [psychology] major now,” she said. “I’m planning on going into therapy, and getting my Ph.D. is stressful in itself. Basically, I don’t want to screw over my dreams because I’m sick. I might have to reconsider, but I wouldn’t avoid a high-stress job because of it.”

Keith thinks it is hard for students dealing with chronic illnesses to function properly when they have the idea of being sick looming over their heads all the time.

“I’m not sure how Crohn’s ranks on the Chronic Disease-O-Meter,” he said. “But anyone who has a disease is affected not just physically, but psychologically.

“It does affect you mentally when you want to live a healthy life,” Keith continued. “Eventually, you just try to do things as normal as possible, or you’ll make yourself mentally ill all of the time instead of physically [ill].”