Crohn's symptoms

I think everbody knows someone with Crohn's disease or knows someone who knows someone. The stories about those people symptoms are different each time. That's because the symptoms are numerous and different for each person. The symptoms are also very similair to other bowel diseases, what makes it even more difficult to diagnose Crohn's disease.

 

People with Crohn's will have (some of) these symptoms:

• Diarrhea (sometimes with blood); 
• Abdominal pain (sometimes with stomic cramps); 
• Sometimes constipation; 
• Anemia; 
• Weight loss; 
• Feeling tired; 
• Fever; 
• Night sweats;
• Lagging growth in children / teens; 
• Rectal pain and/or rectal bleeding;
• Minor wounds, fistulas and abscesses, often around the anus; 
• Strictures in the intestine may be caused by the formation of scar tissue in areas where ulcers and fistula's were created. This narrowing can cause symptoms such as pain and problems with bowel movements such as constipation. Over time, even an intestinal obstruction (ileus) arise.

Other symptoms that are not directly related to the inflammation in the bowel and/ or small intestine: 

• Painful, inflamed eyes; 
• Painful, swollen joints (especially knees, elbows, ankles and wrists);
• Skin problems: painful, bluish-red spots on the skin (erythema nododsum), usually of the lower legs; 
• Arthritis;
• Small ulcers in the mouth; 
• Gallstones.

People with Crohn's have a slightly increased risk of getting cancer. That's why they also need regular check-up's.

 

The course of the disease is different with each patient. Some people have occasional symptoms, while others frequently have violent attacks. A Crohn's attack is also called a flare(-up), inflammation or an active period. My flare has been going on for a year now. Some will have a flare for a few months followed by years with minor symptoms, or just the other way around. With Crohn's it's very unpredictable.

 

Besides the symptoms of Crohn's, people with this disease can also have side effects from the medication they have to take. That's why sometimes it's difficult to find out if a symptom is caused by Crohn's or caused by use of medication. 

My first symptoms

I think I was 15 years old when I started to have bowel problems: pain, diarrhea, feeling sick, feeling tired, my belly would swell up and shock from time to time. I have been to my doctor many times and she had all kinds of explanations: you may have a virus, you may have a lactose intollerance 'I will send you to a dietistion', you may be stressed, it might be your period, etc.

I think I was 18 years old when she finally gave it a name: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I wasn't really sure if I was happy with this diagnose, I still think it's a made up name for symptoms they can't name. 'Oh it's something with your bowel? Well than we know what you have, IBS'. An easy way on how to put people at ease because we tend to need names for our symptoms to cope with it.

But even I never thought that I would have something like Crohn's disease, because in my mind those people where really sick and as I mentioned earlier, very skinny and I was a normal size girl, and if I would eat everything that I liked, I could grow pretty fast. I couldn't eat anything I liked, my bowel would protest, but I never compromised on food, I would eat what I liked, even if it would mean my bowel would hurt or I had to find the nearest bathroom really quick. I just thought this was semi-normal and I just had to deal with it.

About 4 years ago my bowel really started to hurt, swell up, I felt sick and it just wouldn't stop. We even thought that I might be pregnant, but the test was negative. So again I went to see my doctor. She wanted me to draw some blood. The result came in a few days later and it showed an infection. So my doctor prescriped me some antibiotics and after almost 3 months I started to feel better.

When I would go on holidays I always made sure I had pill's against diarrhea with me and was hoping I wasn't going to be to sick this time. Not like I can't do anything sick, but just not feeling very well.

It was the same with going away by car. Unconsciously I know every gas station with a toilet along the roads. I thought everybody knows that, but when I ask people, they don't. They even start to laugh when I tell them this. Guess it's not that normal.. haha.

So I have had al sorts of symptoms and discomforts since I was a teenager, but I just didn't really know any better. That was just part of me, and everybody has stomic pains from time to time, right?

When I was diagnosed with Crohn's it all fell in to place. Maybe I wasn't just a lazy teenager, I just needed the extra sleep. And maybe that's why I had the flu more often than other people. And more obviously that's why I had the bowel problems and pain.