Son been diagnosed first with UC then severe crohns not not severe and not positive. Trying a supplement (he had mild symptoms compared to the awful stuff kids are getting), anyone try a waiver with this yet?
Thanks
For expectation management, you should assume your DS will not get a waiver. If you do get a waiver, then you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Seems like the GI docs aren't sure what your DS has at this point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your post said he was diagnosed with UC, then severe Crohn's, then not severe, then maybe not Crohn's?
So regardless, your DS has some type of inflammatory bowel condition. If it's Crohn's, know that pathologies can occur outside the GI system. The military is considered about all the different ways the Crohn's can manifest itself. One of them is reactive arthritis or eye issues (specifically, uveitis). In Afghanistan, there was no GI specialist in country a few years ago. I think there may have been 2 eye surgeons in country and they were busy dealing with eye trauma from explosives, etc...
Because inflammatory bowel disease have a negative effect on nutrient absorption, those who have it are at risk for anemia and vitamin deficiencies.
Recurrence of symptoms is common. Maybe 10-20%? As for long term effects, the concern with UC is colorectal cancer which requires periodic colonoscopies MUCH sooner than the normal screening recommendations. With Crohn's the concern is small bowel adenocarcinoma.
So my point is there are a lot of associated conditions and increased risk with inflammatory bowel disease. The military recognizes these sequalae and are therefore very careful with giving waivers.