Crohn's Disease - Symptoms
The symptoms of Crohn's disease can vary greatly from patient to patient. What were your symptoms at the onset of your disease?
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What are the symptoms of Crohn's disease?
Common symptoms of Crohn's disease include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and weight loss. Less common symptoms include poor appetite, fever, night sweats, rectal pain, and occasionally rectal bleeding. The symptoms of Crohn's disease are dependent on the location, the extent, and the severity of the inflammation. The different subtypes of Crohn's disease and their symptoms are:
- Crohn's colitis is inflammation that is confined to the colon. Abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea are the common symptoms. Anal fistulae and peri-rectal abscesses also can occur.
- Crohn's enteritis refers to inflammation confined to the small intestine (the first part, called the jejunum or the second part, called the ileum). Involvement of the ileum alone is referred to as Crohn's ileitis. Abdominal pain and diarrhea are the common symptoms. Obstruction of the small intestine also can occur.
- Crohn's terminal ileitis is inflammation that affects only the very end of the small intestine (terminal ileum), the part of the small intestine closest to the colon. Abdominal pain and diarrhea are the common symptoms. Small intestinal obstruction also can occur.
- Crohn's entero-colitis and ileo-colitis are terms to describe inflammation that involve both the small intestine and the colon. Bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain are the common symptoms. Small intestinal obstruction also can occur.
Crohn's terminal ileitis and ileo-colitis are the most common types of Crohn's disease. (Ulcerative colitis frequently involves only the rectum or rectum and sigmoid colon at the distal end of the colon. These are called ulcerative proctitis and procto-sigmoiditis, respectively.)
Up to one-third of patients with Crohn's disease may have one or more of the following conditions involving the anal area:
- Swelling of the tissue of the anal sphincter, the muscle at the end of the colon that controls defecation.
- Development of ulcers and fissures (long ulcers) within the anal sphincter. These ulcers and fissures can cause bleeding and pain with defecation.
- Development of anal fistulae (abnormal tunnels) between the anus or rectum and the skin surrounding the anus). Mucous and pus may drain from the openings of the fistulae on the skin.
- Development of peri-rectal abscesses (collections of pus in the anal and rectal area). Peri-rectal abscesses can cause fever, pain and tenderness around the anus.
See what others are saying
I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at 23 years old. I would get such bad stomach pains, I would double over. Everything I would eat I'd have to go to the bathroom or hope I was near a bathroom. I am now 36 and I haven't had a solid bowel movement since I was around 21. I've tried several medications and it just seems like nothing works. My doctor has always had me on pain medications. He was hoping they would kind of constipate me, but I have never in my life been constipated. Bentyl, Donnatol and a couple other meds, plus the pain killers, are the only things that ever seem to help me. I eat like a pig, but I am 5'9”, and when I first got sick I weighed 87 pounds. Not because I wanted to be a stick. I've managed to put on some weight, but when my nerves bother me, my Crohn's flares up really bad. My doctor says I'll more than likely be on some kind of pain medication for the rest of my life. I eat like I should with Crohn's, but yet I have severe flare ups. I just wish I could be normal.
I was 18 years old and had extreme stomach pain. I went to my doctor and had a fever that I was unaware of. They sent me to the hospital to have my appendix removed. After the surgery the surgeon told my parents that he just removed a perfectly healthy appendix and that I had Crohn's disease. At that time they removed 18 inches of my intestine. I lost a tremendous amount of weight and have be thin since. My main problem since then, I am now 39 years old is the inability to move my bowels, just the opposite of what I have heard other patients have. I have been hospitalized since, thank god no more surgeries for Crohn's. I recently had a hernia removed, which I was told could have been from straining all these years. I was also in the hospital for five days for what was supposed to be an outpatient procedure because the hernia was so large and there were many lymph nodes that needed to be removed.
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