Personally what do YOU think causes your Crohn's Disease?

As a sufferer myself I have my own suspicions as to what it might be, but I want to hear what others think might be causing their Crohn's Disease?
Is it;
1) We all have wrong DNA
2) We are being attacked by a pathogen or bacteria
3) A chemical is bothering us
4) We are being exposed to something noxious in our food/water
6) We all have malfunctioning or dumb immune systems
5) You add your own idea for this one

I'd like to see if there is some type of consensus of ideas or not! And also another question-
When it first started happening to you did you have night sweats or not? In other words did you feel like your temperature was going up and down or not?
My hunch is that there is one common factor that is common to all of us, but what IS IT?!! Please try not to respond with what the Doctors have told you, but respond with what YOU feel that it is!

Runs in my family too. My brother and I both have it.

But as for the immune system, when I was younger I did have. Problem with my lymph nodes getting bigger and never going down. Eventually they were removed and never figured out why? I'm going back to the ENT this week and I'll ask that doctor if that could be linked to the crohn's.

My family has a history of IBD/Autoimmune diseases so genetics is probably my "cause". Stress from school usually triggers my flares along with season changes.

1) We all have wrong DNA
2) We are being attacked by a pathogen or bacteria
3) A chemical is bothering us
4) We are being exposed to something noxious in our food/water
6) We all have malfunctioning or dumb immune systems
5) You add your own idea for this one

1- My mom had UC but she got sick with her IBD AFTER I got sick with my CD, still, I got it from her, her's was just triggered after mine was.

2- We definitely have bacteria overgrowth issues due to our immune systems not functioning properly and therefore our immune system attacks harmless bacteria which in turn cause the inflammation.

3- & 4- There are multiple suspect environmental triggers as well, according to research, B/C pills are likely a trigger for CD along with toothpaste, and smoking is a known trigger specifically for Crohn's disease.

6- Part of the puzzle with having IBD is our immune system is malfunctioning/dumb, the other part is more than likely genetics....for those that only have themselves with an IBD, that doesn't mean someone else in your family didn't have it (great grandparent(s), great uncles, etc since there's really no way of knowing your entire family's health history and not to mention, people these days are still silent when it comes to discussing bowel habits.....and you don't know who in your family might also end up getting an IBD, it just hasn't been triggered for them yet, like in the case of myself and my mom.

5- Personally for me, I think it was birth control pills that initially triggered my disease, hormones do play a huge role in IBD as well, this had also been proven by research...this is why most of us women have more gut issues during our periods (and of course, men have hormones as well).

(You got 5 & 6 backwards but I still went in your order)

I suspect we all have a genetic propensity for an autoimmune disorder, but I think that the triggers may be different for each of us. That's why certain diets and/or medications help some people and not others. Our environment affects our bacterial balance, stress hormones, etc. which in turn may trigger flares, etc. Soo, it's not an illness like strep throat, a bacterial infection that responds to specific antibiotics. It's much more complicated, which is why medications and a cure is so difficult.
In terms of all of the crazy arguing going on in other threads, I think that when an individual is very ill and finds that something works for them, whether it be diet or medication, alternative or traditional, that person thinks they found a cure or figured it all out, and then s/he wants everyone to get well and wants to share their info. The problem is that we don't all respond to the same treatment....I think it's not exactly the same disease for all of us. For me, I don't even think that the same thing triggers my flares each time....in other words, I think my stress, or bacterial balance, diet or whatever changes over time, and then my body responds differently. So what works for me in one flare doesn't necessarily help in another. I guess it it were an easy problem, there would have been a cure by now.

I agree with gumby; Crohn's is not exactly the same disease for all of us. We all start off with #1, which, when the wonky genes are activated, leads in turn to #6 (or 5, rather!). But as there are as many as 71 genes associated with Crohn's disease, we are not all affected by exactly the same genes, but by different genes with different variations. Even before the environmental triggers have kicked in, parts of our Crohn's disease is already pre-determined (the severity of it, for a start).

And then there's the fun part of trying to work out what the triggers are. That's the almost impossible part, so it would seem - identifying the genes is the relatively easy one. But again, it is virtually certain that the triggers are variable and not the same for everybody.

Sorry, topic creator. I just realised I am saying basically the exact opposite to you! Anyway to answer you, no, I didn't have night sweats when diagnosed. But later on, as my disease worsened, I did start getting regular fevers. Still get 'em, although it's variable. Currently I'm not having them, except for very low-grade ones - too low to count, although I still manage to feel braindead...

Not quite a STP (same time post), but nearly.

Oh, and evening :p

I think it's a combination of many of things listed above, and I agree stress makes symptoms worse and may even trigger flare ups.

I am not sure where this fits on the list but I took Tetracycline (sp), an antibiotic for many years to control acne. I believe this is what caused me to have crohn's.

David

I search my family tree to find genetics, I have one aunt who has colitis, one uncle and my grandfather who had intestinal cancer. I feel as mine was caused by malnutrition as a child, we neverr ate right from birth, when I got marrried I ate right I got sick. I dont know, I wish I had an answer, I just want to eat and not get sick. you figure it out let me know please.

Crohn's can be constipating for some, it's rare though but it happens.

And yes cleanfreak, genetics is one part of the puzzle, having it triggered is the other part, so basically it would be laying dormant in all of us until it's triggered, which is why I say when people say it's not genetics for them cuz they're the only ones in their family that have it, they don't know when another family member will also end up with IBD, it's a matter of it being triggered.

In fact, someone on the UC forum just posted about his younger brother just recently getting sick and DX with IBD as well, and before that he was the only one in his family that had it.

My mom got sick with her UC in her mid 60's after I got sick with my CD in my early 20's. But I still got it from her even though mine was triggered before hers was.

@NiceCupofTea, as soon as you mentioned that you had constipation as a child, a bell went off.  I too suffered constipation as a teen and right up until I was diagnosed with Crohn's in 2007.  I used to mention to my friends that I could go about a week without having a bowel movement and thought it was funny.  I never suffered any ill effects, except when I was in Bali, Indonesia in 2000.  I remember going about 10 days until I finally went to a local drugstore to get a laxative and couldn't find any anywhere.  I was told that most everyone suffers from diarrhea there, not constipation.  Luckily, I ran into another lady that overheard me at the drugstore and she happened to have some exlax in her emergency bag.

Anyway after rambling I am starting to think that maybe there is something to be said about having constipation most of your life, then getting Crohn's.

Maybe I did something to my intestines from all that pushing that I ended up doing!

I have smoked, has my appendix out, have taken birth control, had infections w/ anitbiotics...I had more severe IBS symptoms till 33-34 before being thrown overboard with this DD..It is hard to pinpoint "what" enivronmental factor or some bacteria actually set this all in motion..There are a ton of autoimune diseases out there, and it is nearly impossible to be to pinpoint the "environmental" other than to firmly say it is a genetic defect..Triggers and intensity of the disease are up in the air..It is like explaining why a completely healthy person with no bad habits gets cancer!!