Anyone get crohns after they stopped smoking?

Same thing happened to me, although I was also incredibly stressed at the time. I started smoking again and I actually feel better.

I have Crohn's colitis too and I always wonder if it had anything to with the fact my mother smoked while pregnant with me ... and then my parents smoked in the house while growing up. Basically "I smoked" as a second hand smoker until age 18 although I've never been a smoker.

Any thoughts on this???

My mom has UC, though she didn't get it until her mid 60's, a few years after I already had crohn's...I'm the youngest of 6 kids and so far no one else has an IBD besides myself and my mom, though my oldest sister does have IBS...my mom (nor my dad) never smoked, but I did grow up around smokers, most of my siblings smoked (they started young, in their teens)...according to the research aritcle I have regarding IBD and the Genetics where it talks about smoking (that I mentioned in my reply above) they say that smoking increases the risk (including second-hand smoke) for those that are predisoposed to getting an IBD...that said, it doesn't mean it's necessarily everyone's (who's predisposed to IBD) trigger though, it's still very complex and they have much to learn yet.

Just as they say that smoking for crohnies is a big no no cuz it will affect the small intestines with disease activity...I can say that it was only when I first got sick that my small intestines were involved and only for about a yr and a half, then it cleared up but remained constant in my colon, on and off in my rectom and permanantly with my perianal crohn's skin tags.

:)

stopped smoking when i became pregnant with my second child.after he was born,in Dec 2002.about March2002, I started having problems.Extreme pain,blood,etc.was told it was uc,meds did nothing,diet and exercise got me in remission and was fine untill last Oct. and was diagnosed with Crohns.I am on 6mp for the crohns and am doing ok,but recently started smoking again after almost nine years.I dont know one way or the other if smoking helps or hurts.I have read that nicotine helps, but smoking is soooo bad for you its not worth it.I am attempting to stop smoking once again.It is wild that so many people that quit smoking developed crohns or uc.My DR said he has seen many women who have had their second and third child and come down with these diseases-like it takes all the good "stuff"from the mom to give to baby and mom is zapped!Dont start smoking again please try the patch to see if you feel better...smoking is so bad...starting back is one of my biggest regrets,getting on the patch this week.Good luck to all!!

I've been a smoker since the age of 14...I would quit each yr for about 6 or so months then start again (thought I'd be doing good by giving my body a break from smoking) the only CD symptoms I had were the perianal crohn's skin tags which all docs told me were simply hemmies, I thought it strange cuz I never got constipated and always had one nice normal and easy poop everyday (the tags would come and go on their own so since I had never heard of CD when I was a teen I thought the docs must be right)...

When I became pregnant with my first baby, I quit smoking in the second month of pregnancy, had a perfect pregnancy, although the anal tags were pretty big especially by the time delivery came, even the OB saw my anal tags and commented about what nasty hemmies I had but she would just cut away from them (episiotomy) Shortly after having my baby I started smoking again (was under alot of emotional stress)....a yr and a half went by and then all the sudden the tags became huge and painful and started oozing a little, and I started noticing that I was having to poop more than once a day (they were still formed and all normal looking), my GP sent me in for an emergency hemerrhoidectomy where they banded them and things did not get any better after that (of course cuz they were not, nor ever hemmies, but instead perianal crohn's skin tags) then all hell broke loose (this all happend within a month and a half)...D, blood, mucous, umbarable anal pain, tons of urgency and frequency) had to fill the tub with water to poop cuz of the pain from my anus.


about 11 yrs into my CD I decided to quit smoking, big mistake for ME, so I started again after 3 yrs of total hell (yet again) and along with the other changes I made things got somewhat better.

Pregnancy (even with the first baby) hormones are linked to CD same with birth control pills (which I was also on at age of 15, that's probably when the anal skin tags started to appear) and smoking (and I strongly believe STRESS) all have factors with crohn's.

:)

a lot of smokers use smoking as a stress relief and stress can trigger your CD.  Therefore, if you stop smoking and dont know how to control your stress & going through withdraw it can cause the symptoms of your cd to increase.  I know I smoked for 10yrs and stopped once I was preg.  I never had anxiety until I stopped smoking, my cd has increased, yet I still do not know how to control my stress because before I would just light up and feel so much better.  Eventhough its been hard, I'm so glad I stopped.  I recently found out that I have a clotting disorder(my blood is to thick) so if I would have continued to smoke my risk for a blood clot, stroke, etc. would have been greatly increased.  I had a mini Stroke when I was 25 that was very scary.  I'm so glad I quit, I know how hard it is to quit, plus it helps ease your app. so I understand why so many people dont stop, but it was the best thing I ever did besides having my kids.  I just kept thinking I do not want to get cancer and die I will not do that to my boys.

I just want to make clear that I'm not advocating smoking at all, even though I smoke myself I would NEVER encourage anyone to smoke (often threads about smoking get out of hand between the smokers and non-smokers and with valid links regarding smoking and IBD I'd hate to see this thread get shut down).

There are other ways to get cancer though, it doesn't happen from smoking only (or even second-hand smoking alone) there are tons of things in our environment that make us susceptible to cancer, but I can see the obvious point of smoking increasing those chances.

Anyhow, here's a link about smoking and inflammation in the colon, of course it pertains to UC since with UC the colon/rectom are limited to disease activity (making it one of the ways it differs from crohn's)...still a very good read though.  It proves basically that it's infact the carbon monoxide that shuts down inflammation in the colon (not nicotine as previously thought)...good news is that from one of my CCFC journals they mentioned with having this new knowledge that resesarchers are going to try and make a med that mimics this, without the harmful effects of smoking.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/35173.php

:)

No probelm TEDDY...

I should have added, I do only smoke 6 cigs a day since I started again about 6 ish yrs ago now...my GP told me that 6/day is no worse than waiting on a busy road of cars/turcks/deisles for the light to change to cross the street, basically comparing 6/day to the same amount of pollution/toxins I'd be breathing in. I use to smoke almost a pack a day so I'm glad that I've been able to stay at 6/day and that it seems to be helping along with the other changes I've made listed in my signature.

:)

That is interesting vid53...only this ...

"Secondhand smoke in children does have an effect on the course of IBD. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have a decreased risk of ulcerative colitis and an increased risk of developing Crohn's disease."

Goes against most everything the Dr. Kevin Rioux (an IBD researcher in Alberta) says about second-hand smoke and children...because the offspring of an IBD patient (either CD or UC) can develop either CD or UC he highly recommends that a parent(s) with an IBD do not smoke around their children since their children could develop either CD or UC regardless if the parent(s) have CD or UC.

As in my case, my mom has UC and I have CD, she never smoked but as I explained above, I grew up around second-hand smoke when my siblings (and family friends came over for visits) smoked around me.

:)