Crohn's Dictionary

Wouldn't it be great if someone created a dictionary for CD?  I'm not new to this scene, but I was thinking today, how many types of Crohn's are there?  I hear of Fistulizing Crohn's and Crohn's Colitis and don't really know what the differences are between them all.  Also, I was thinking of when I first came onto this site and couldn't understand what hardly anyone was talking about because of all the lingo, CD slang, and abbreviations.  So I thought for the newbies we could compile a list of all the funny (and i guess not so funny) terms we use.

I thought of a few obvious ones:

CD = Crohn's Disease

UC = Ulcerative Colitis

DD = D**n Disease

Crohnie = all our fun and fabulous friends that we meet here that have Crohn's!

I would love to compile a list of definitions and give them to my family!

so, post as many as you can think of!

Types Of Crohn's Disease

There are five subtypes of Crohn's disease, distinguished by the gastrointestinal area in which the disease occurs. While Crohn's disease lesions can appear anywhere in the digestive tract, lesions rarely occur in the mouth, esophagus, and stomach unless there are also lesions in the lower parts of the tract (intestines).

Gastroduodenal CD - Gastroduodenal Crohn's disease, which affects the stomach and the duodenum (the highest, or beginning, portion of the small intestine), is often misdiagnosed as ulcer disease. The correct diagnosis frequently is not made until various ulcer treatments have failed, or until Crohn's disease is identified farther down the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms of gastroduodenal CD include loss of appetite, weight loss, nausea, pain in the upper middle of the abdomen, and vomiting.

Jejunoileitis - Jejunoileitis is Crohn's disease of the jejunum (the longest portion of the small intestine), which is located between the duodenum and the ileum. Symptoms include mild to intense abdominal pain and cramps after meals, diarrhea, and malnutrition caused by malabsorption of nutrients. (The majority of nutrients are absorbed in the jejunum.) Fistulas (abnormal openings in the intestinal tract) may form. These can link a diseased area of the small intestine to another area of the intestine or another organ, such as the bladder. Fistulas may increase the risk of developing infections outside of the GI tract.

Ileitis - Ileitis affects the ileum (the lowest, or last, part of the small intestine). Symptoms include diarrhea and cramping or pain in the right lower quadrant and periumbilical (around the bellybutton) area, especially after meals. Malabsorption of vitamin B12 can lead to tingling in the fingers or toes (peripheral neuropathy). Folate deficiency can hinder the development of red blood cells, putting the patient at higher risk of developing anemia. Fistulas can develop, as can inflammatory masses.

Ileocolitis - Ileocolitis is the most common type of Crohn's disease. It affects the ileum (the lowest part of the small intestine) and the colon (the large intestine). Often, the diseased area of the colon is continuous with the diseased ileum, and therefore involves the ileocecal valve between the ileum and the colon. In some cases, however, areas of the colon not contiguous with the ileum are involved. Symptoms of ileocolitis are essentially the same as those present in ileitis. Weight loss is also common.

Crohn's Colitis (Granulomatous Colitis ) - Crohn's colitis affects the colon. It is distinguished from ulcerative colitis in two ways. First, there are often areas of healthy tissue between areas of diseased tissue; ulcerative colitis is always continuous. Second, while ulcerative colitis always affects the rectum and areas of the colon beyond the rectum, Crohn's colitis can spare the rectum, appearing only in the colon.

Fistulizing crohn's- there are some patients prone to getting fistulas while other crohn's patients may never experiance a fistula their entire lives living with crohn's.

Stricturing crohn's- there are also crohn's patients who might frequently deal with strictures due to their disease while others may never experiance it but are instead prone to inflammatory crohn's instead where they mainly have issues with inflammation and not strictures or fistulas.

:)

I second what Lavenderblue says pb4. Thanks...

pb4, thank you so much! I think I know what kind I have, after 30 yrs; Ileocolitis. I appreciate your effort.

Yeah I have ileocolitis myself. But I also have the stricturing type of Crohns. Lucky me.

You could likely just develop one and be done but I think the odds are against you even if you only develop one, but of course nothing's really written in stone either, just because you get one doesn't neccessarily mean you'll be prone to getting them often, it just likely increases your risk of it.

BTW, I too have crohn's colitis, when I first got sick CD was affecting my TI, colon, rectom and anus all at the same time for about the first 2 yrs of having CD but since then it's only remained constant in my colon and anus (perianal crohn's skin tags) and comes and goes in my rectom.

:)

I here ya MishBall, I think alot of people get confused and think they have both UC and CD, which is possible, it's just very rare (aprox 2%)...so if anyone's doc says "colitis" and does not specify ulcerative colitis, then the doc is simply referring to inflammation in the colon due to your crohn's...col=colon, itis=inflammation.

:)

Only if a person is sick with both diseases can they have CD in their small and UC in their colon...

UC is limited to the colon/rectom, CD can affect the entire GI tract from the mouth to the anus.

Generally it's more common for CD to start in the small but it's not written in stone, my CD started on my anus (outside) and moved up from there all the way to my small (the lower part of the small).

Apparently because it's more common for CD to start in the small, it's considered more rare for it to affect the colon (large bowel), however researchers have discovered a cluster of 9 different genes that play a role in severity and behavior of CD so that's why some are affected in particular areas more so than others.

:)

And then there are those of us who only have fistulizing CD in the rectum.  Oh joy.     Not sure is it fits into one of your categories or if we are a breed unto ourselves.