Aa
confused?!?!
Ok, I am 29 years old, and have always had problems with my bowels. But, the last year or so, things have gotten really bad. I will go for 1-2 weeks being coonstipated, then have bloody diarrhea for 2-3 days, then go back to being constipated. I had a colonoscopy the 1st of this month, and was supposed to go back in and get my hemerroids banded on the 7th. When I went back in after my colonoscopy though, the GI doctor would not do the surgery on my hemerroids, he said my colonoscopy came back abnormal, and my colon was inflamed. He said it looked like I might have Crohn's. He would not ever say for sure though if it was Crohn's, or something else. He wants me to now do a CT scan on my abdomen and pelvis, and he put me on flagyl, and Cholestyramine. I am basically just confused, does this mean I have Crohn's, or is it something else?
Thank you very much for the information. It makes a little more sense to me now, My GI doc did take biopsies, he also removed some polyps, hopefully we will find out more soon.
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it looks as if your GI doctor is doing the correct tests for diagnosis. Hopefully, when he did the coloscopy, he did some biopsies of the inflamed tissue and sent this for pathological review, to determine whether the inflammation is caused by Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis. He was absolutely correct in not giving you a diagnosis at the time of the colonoscopy - he needs to get the biopsied tissue looked at by a pathologist who has experience of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, which I am sure he is doing. Gastros cannot tell by looking at inflamed intestines during colonoscopy whether the cause is UC or Crohn's. The tissue cells need to be looked at under a microscope in a path lab.
Crohn's does not usually first present in the colon, whereas Ulcerative Colits does, and in my own experience, Crohn's does not present with bloody diarrhea initially - it was some 15 yrs before I had blood in my stool and a rectal haemorrhage. But...IBD is insidious and can present differently in different people, it is not a clear cut disease.
Crohn's usually presents around the terminal ileum, the end of the small intestine before it joins, through the ileal caecal valve, the colon) whereas Ulcerative Colitis is confined to the colon. However, sometimes, albeit rarely, it is impossible for pathologists to differentiate between Crohn's and UC. I have Crohn's Colitis (in both the small intestine and colon), but this is seen in a minority of patients. This does not mean I also have Ulcerative Colitis, but Crohn's in both small and large intestines. (I know, it sounds horribly complicated, but then, it is).
Although both diseases are classed as Inflamatory Bowel Disease, they differ in that UC only affects the inner lining of the colon, Crohn's affects the three mucosal layers of the intestines, small and large. Some medications overlap between Crohn's and UC, as do surgeries, but quite honestly if I had to choose, I would rather have UC, which does not normally mean the horrendous weight loss and malnutrition seen with Crohn's, its' other complications, as Crohn's can affect anywhere from the mouth to the anus. Sometimes, eyes are affected,
The medication your GI has prescribed is pretty basic, until he gets a definitive diagnosis. The CT scan on your abdomen and pelvis is also a normal procedure to identify the cause of your symptoms. The pattern of bloody diarrhea alternating with constipation is more indicative of Ulcerative Colitis than Crohn's. I have had Crohn's for some 40 years and don't think I have ever been constipated in my life!
I aologise if this is too much information...but when I was diagnosed in 1970, there wasn't even any information in the local , and of course, we did not have the internet then, for which I am eternally grateful.
You sound in very good hands with your GI - if I can help any further, please let me know.
Take care,
Liz.