Crohn's Disease Symptoms - A Disorder of the Colon

What is Crohn's disease? It is a disorder of the colon. It is one type of inflammatory bowel disease. Another you may have heard of is Ulcerative Colitis. The diseases feature chronic inflammation of the large or small intestine. Unfortunately, the cause of Crohn's disease is unknown. Crohn's causes swelling of the deeper layers of the lining of the intestine.

Symptoms of Crohn's disease include: cramping, abdominal pain (often, but not always on the right lower side), diarrhea that may or may not contain blood, fever, weight loss. The disease usually starts in young adults with low grade fever and frequent diarrhea and cramping. Crohn's disease has been known to cause inflammation anywhere in the entire gastointestinal system, from the mouth to the anus. Because this is a chronic condition, meaning it is continual, scar tissue can build up in the intestines and even cause blockage and can also cause tears called fistulas, that will connect the bowels to another part of the body like the vagina, the bladder or the skin itself in the lining of the intestine.

Pain

Patients may experience crampy, achy, or even sharp pain in the affected area. Most often, patients with Crohn's disease feel pain on the lower right side of the abdomen (lower right quadrant) and just below the bellybutton. This is because the majority of cases of Crohn's disease involve disease in the terminal ileum, where the small intestine meets the large intestine. The terminal ileum crosses from left to right just above the beltline, and joins the large intestine in the lower right quadrant.

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.

Reduced appetite and weight loss. Abdominal pain and cramping and the inflammatory reaction in the wall of your bowel can affect both your appetite and your ability to digest and absorb food.

Fistula or abscess. Inflammation from Crohn's disease may tunnel through the wall of the bowel into adjacent organs, such as the bladder or vagina, creating an abnormal connection called a fistula. This can also lead to an abscess, a swollen, pus-filled sore. The fistula may also tunnel out through your skin. A common place for this type of fistula is in the area around the anus. When this occurs, it's called perianal fistula.

Fever. In severe cases, fever or other symptoms that affect the entire body may develop. A high fever may mean that you have a complication involving infection, such as an abscess.

Weight loss. Ongoing symptoms, such as diarrhea, can lead to weight loss.

Too few red blood cells (anemia). Some people with Crohn's disease develop anemia because of low iron levels caused by bloody stools or the intestinal inflammation itself.

The two major inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, share certain characteristics:

Symptoms usually appear in young adults.

Symptoms can develop gradually or have a sudden onset.

Both are chronic. In either disease, symptoms may flare up (relapse) after symptom-free periods (remission) or symptoms may be continuous without treatment.

Symptoms can be mild or very severe and disabling.

The severity of symptoms and relapse rates of both IBDs vary with seasons, with the highest risk in the winter and autumn and lowest in summer.

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