Living with Crohn's Disease - Symptoms, Diet, Treatment

Crohn's disease is just one of the digestive conditions that involve an inflamed lining. When the lining of the digestive system is inflamed, ulcers develop and that causes diarrhea and abdominal pain. Overtime, this condition gets worse. No one knows what exactly causes Crohn's disease but it's thought that the immune system responds to a specific type of bacterium in an unusual way. There are some risk factors associated with Crohn's disease. Diet and stress aren't thought to be causes but they can make the condition worse.

Genetics is thought to play a part in the development of Crohn's disease. If you have relatives with the illness, your risk of developing it yourself increases. The average age of onset for Crohn's disease is between 20 and 30 years.

Diarrhea occurs with this disease because the inflammation in the intestines increases water and salt production and the colon cannot absorb it all. Another symptom of Crohn's disease is abdominal pain, which occurs because the swelling and scaring caused by the ulcers make it difficult for digested food to move through the colon. Blood in the stool occurs because the inflamed tissue ruptures when digested food moves through the colon, allowing blood to enter. As ulcers grow in size, these symptoms get worse.

People who have Crohn's disease often find they have no appetite, which means they lose too much weight. The weight loss is made worse by the body's inability to properly digest food and absorb nutrients and calories.

Diagnosing Crohn's disease usually requires a blood test (to determine if the patient has anemia) and a colonoscopy. A tissue sample may be removed during the colonoscopy for testing. An easier way to diagnose this disorder is through sigmoidoscopy, which looks only at the lower colon. This is faster than a colonoscopy. You may also need to have a barium enema so that a contrast X-ray can be done. This can also be done by ingesting the barium orally. The newest diagnostic method is a capsule endoscopy wherein you swallow a small camera in pill form. The camera takes pictures as it goes through the digestive system.

No cure has been found yet for Crohn's disease but there are treatment options including medications to help with the inflammation. Sometimes surgery is done to take out the ulcerated tissue in the bowel, which can provide relief from some of the symptoms. Crohn's disease is different from ulcerative colitis because the inflammed areas are spread out, which means they can be easily spotted and repairs to the tissue can be done more effectively.