Crohn S Disease

As you read this, your intestinal tract is playing host to a multitude of guests -- several trillion bacteria, between 500 and 1,000 different strains. But there's no need to rush off to the emergency room: This throng of tiny creatures, which together can weigh more than 4 pounds, exists in every human on the planet. They perform a variety of useful tasks that our own bodies cannot. They keep harmful bacteria in check, help regulate the immune system and even make vitamin K, a key blood-clotting agent.

With all the smiling faces that brightened up yesterday's gray skies, it seemed more like a family gathering than a 2.4-mile walk to benefit the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America. But as the more than 400 men, women and children crossed the finish line at Centennial Park, there were no self-congratulations. Their admiration and applause clearly were directed toward the event's organizers: a pair of soft-spoken 14-year-old girls from Ellicott City determined to help a favorite teacher who suffers from Crohn's disease.

Fifty-one white and red banners are flying on Columbia's streets, 14,000 slick, multicolored brochures have been distributed and $35,000 has been pledged for Sunday's Miles for Miracles Pace Setter Walk, to benefit the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America. It is an effort that would make a professional event planner proud. But this walk is the work of two 14-year-old Ellicott City girls: Shayna Meliker and Carrie Gartner. They started the project about 1 1/2 years ago, after learning that their religious teacher at Beth Shalom Congregation, Chaya Solomon-Hoffman, had Crohn's disease, a chronic disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive or gastrointestinal tract.

WHEN Shayna Meliker and Carrie Gartner learned that their Hebrew teacher suffered from Crohn's disease, they decided to organize a walkathon to help find a cure. Shayna and Carrie, both eighth-graders at Burleigh Manor Middle School, have known teacher Chaya Solomon of Baltimore for about two years. Last May, they learned from another teacher at Beth Shalom in Columbia that Solomon was in the hospital, fighting a flare-up of Crohn's disease. "We were a little freaked out" because we didn't know anything about it, Shayna recalled.

Do you have any natural remedies for insomnia? I have suddenly become unable to sleep at night. I drink hot milk before I go to bed, but it doesn't help. I just lie there, watching the minutes tick past. I never had this problem before. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. I hesitate to take sleeping pills. Taking a hot bath at least an hour before bedtime might be helpful. As your body cools down, it triggers chemical messengers that promote drowsiness. A high-carbohydrate snack like cereal, crackers or cookies before bed can also help.

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of holiday season columns by Kevin Cowherd and Susan Reimer highlighting people in the Baltimore area who exemplify the spirit of The Sun's annual Spirit of Sharing program. I WENT looking for a Thanksgiving story because the newspaper was full of depressing articles about cops being gunned down and knucklehead administrators lousing up the schools, and I needed to get my mind off all of that, which is when I heard about Tricia Wilson. The first thing you should know is that she won't spend today stuffing herself silly and waddling over to the couch to chat with family members or watch football on TV, as so many of us will.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have received a grant of $5.1 million over five years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, part of the National Institutes of Health. The grant will fund a multidisciplinary Program Project to begin to develop a cure for Crohn's disease by isolating new treatment targets. "To date, no one has been able to determine exactly what causes Crohn's disease, and this has limited the ability of researchers to develop successful treatments.

Q. I read your column on the effect that coconut macaroons might have on Crohn's disease. Having suffered with this dread disease for years, I bought four boxes of Archway cookies. Much to my shock, there has been dramatic improvement in my diarrhea in less than a week.I am on prednisone, which has horrible side effects. My gastroenterologist pooh-poohed this new remedy, but the macaroons have given me far more relief than any medication I have taken.It is still too early to tell if this improvement is a temporary blip on the radar screen, but it is the first optimism that I have had in years!

Joel Cutler was 8 or 9 when he came down with Crohn's disease, a "brutal" illness, as he puts it now, that causes incapacitating diarrhea and painful abdominal cramps.When he was 12, he lived for a year with an ostomy, an artificial opening in the abdomen through which fecal matter empties into a bag. At 15, he spent three months in a s hospital, living solely on intravenous feedings to give his tortured gut a rest and his body a chance to grow.Today, at 39, he runs a business, is happily married and delights in his baby daughter.

A children's concert at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall yesterday featuring ventriloquist Shari Lewis and her sidekick Lamb Chop, raised about $100,000 for the Crohn's Disease and Colitis Foundation of America in Maryland, a foundation spokeswoman said.The foundation is the onlyy nonprofit health organization dedicated solely to serving people with Crohn's disease and ulcerated colitis, also known as inflammatory bowel disease.Pub Date: 4/01/96