The treatment of all IBD has progressed by leaps and bounds. Only 20 years ago repeated major surgery was the norm. Current drug therapy prevents most surgery but it is important to start treatment early. Delaying drug therapy, relying on 'lifestyle and diet', is a bad move
I appreciate pilots will not want to start drugs because of the risk to their medical, but the consequences of advanced Crohns are not nice
I note we have not had chapter and verse about what other regulators do about immunosuppresants - that would be interesting because we see many younger sufferers effectively symptom free and stable on early treatment. The same applies to rheumatoid. I am not a regulator, not even an AME, but this may be an area where they are running to catch up with clinical medicine so there may be better news on the horizon
Information from others with more knowledge would be helpful