Posted 1/28/2016 7:22 AM (GMT 0)
Yep. Tbh I'm not sure why my diagnosis changed - can't recall the detail. I was so ill in hospital at the time I didn't care what they called it. I believe (though could be so mistaken) the original diagnosis of UC which stood for about 10 years, three GIs and a number of colonoscopies was based on biopsies and extent of inflammation - but there was always the anomalie of rectal sparing. It was subsequently changed to Crohns based on subsequent colonoscopies and biopsies and there I've stayed. I'm suspicious that when i was in a very bad way, and surgery was a distinct possibility, they felt the need to be more precise ... And hence the re/diagnosis. But I don't really know - they said I had Crohns that had masqueraded as UC.
Not of any help to you I realise, but at least you know you're not alone. I don't believe mis diagnosis is as rare as people suggest. After all, it only becomes a real issue if surgery looms given the differing likely outcomes. So many could live with mis diagnosis quite happily unaware... As treatment varies so little between the two. However I don't see it as a medical failing, I suspect it is a difficult distinction in some.