What is Crohn’s Disease?

Crohn's Disease - Exactly What Is It?

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a classification of digestive tract diseases that can grab hold of anyone. There are several forms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome from intolerance to gluten to Ulcerative Colitis. However, an increasing number of people have Crohn’s disease. What is Crohn’s disease? It is an inflammation of the digestive tract. This inflammation can put both a physical and psychological cramp in every day life.

How does inflammation affect the digestive tract in Crohn’s disease?

In a nutshell, the purpose of your digestive tract is to take the food you consume, break it down to provide nutrients for your body, and then eliminate the unnecessary waste. This process occurs in the organs between your mouth and anus.

Essentially, you eat food through your mouth. The food falls down your esophagus into your stomach. Your stomach has powerful acids that break down the food. The food is partially digested and then travels through your small intestine, large intestine, and bowel. Then you eliminate waste when you go the bathroom. In a person with Crohn’s disease, they have inflammation at some point or points in their digestive tract.

The location of the inflammation can affect the type and severity of Crohn’s disease symptoms you experience. For example, if you have inflammation present in your lower colon and rectal area then you may suffer from constipation, urgency, and nausea. If you have inflammation present in your small intestine then you are ripe for malabsorption issues. In general, the symptoms of Crohn’s disease include: diarrhea, constipation, urgency to go the bathroom, abdominal pain, abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, malabsorption, fever, chills, and weight loss.

As you can see, there are a host of Crohn’s disease symptoms that mimic other conditions of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Therefore, it is critical to receive an accurate diagnosis from your doctor.

How does a doctor diagnose Crohn’s disease?

Crohn’s disease can be difficult to diagnose since it does mimic many other digestive tract conditions. It can take some people years to get an accurate diagnosis. If you or your doctor suspect Crohn’s disease, you can run blood tests to confirm it. The blood tests will look at your complete blood count, red blood cells, hemoglobin, white blood cells, and platelets. Your doctor will also measure your sed rate which measures the amount of inflammation in your body. They can also run C-reactive protein and stool tests. Yet another option is to have a barium contrast study and also endoscopic procedures. The key is to find a doctor and/or specialist that are well versed in Crohn’s disease.

Set up an appointment with your doctor to asses your symptoms. Don’t self diagnose or self medicate because if you are incorrect, your treatment could actually aggravate your condition. For example, you may believe that you have Crohn’s disease when in reality you have Celiac disease. Celiac disease can only be alleviated by avoiding all gluten products. If you simply try to treat yourself for Crohn’s disease then you will not get better. You need the confirmation of a doctor before you begin any new diet or medication program.