Help pretty please x x

Welcome - you have found an amazing supportive and wise group of people. I am new to this site and my son (age 20) is new to Crohn's disease. He was dx one year ago and within 6 months had a blockage (hospitalized in March) and then a few weeks later had a 4 inch resection. He was not given an option to dilate because his surgeon said "It will often come back in this area." I am not sure if that is true but I do know the re section went amazingly well. Was back at school within 4 days (VERY SORE AND WEAK) and has felt much better with no obstruction. He was worried a stricture might be returning but instead has bacterial overgrowth of some type. SO if you cannot had a dilation I hope the resection goes well and alleviates any pain you may have!

It's hard to know whether a balloon dilatation would help, or whether it would even be considered, without knowing the details of exactly what the stricture looks like. In other words, how long is it? How narrowed? Scar tissue, inflammation, both? What meds are you on and have they helped it any?

It's probably true that even if you had it and it does help, it might just be temporary. But how long is temporary? A few months? A few years? Again, we can't answer that.

Your best bet is to find a good surgeon and IBD specialist, both of them having experience, and see what they say. This gets into an area where medicine is both a science and an art, and experience and judgment matter.

Ask around, or online, or your GI, or ask your surgeon directly, how much experience he/she has with Crohn's. If the surgeon is pretty experienced or highly recommended, then it probably makes sense just to work with them and do as they advise. If you get the impression the surgeon isn't so experienced, it's reasonable for you to ask for a second opinion if you can, before you decide what to do.

The main question to ask is if the stricture is primarily inflammation or scar tissue. Medication can sometimes bring down the inflammation. I had two strictures in my TI close together. I had a bowel obstruction which wasn't responding to Prednisone and they suspected it was primarily scar tissue. The two strictures measured to about 17 cm. They didn't offer dilation as an option so I don't know much about that, but I had a re-section and it's been two years with no return of the Crohn's. Good luck and ask us anything!