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It's official: Crohn's disease makes you stupid

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 8/25/2016 12:29 AM (GMT 0)
In a study of patients with Crohn's disease, cognitive response times were 10% slower than normal and significantly correlated with symptoms of active inflammation, including abdominal pain and fatigue. Notably, the response times in Crohn's patients were slower than those assessed in people over the legal drink drive limit in most EU countries (blood alcohol content above 0.05 g/100ml) when assessed with the same computer-based cognitive test in a similar study by the same group.

/www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160824140049.htm

I knew it was the Crohn's making me dumb, and not just me being dumb. Bit scary about the response times though, as I've got a 200-mile drive tomorrow; "No police officer, I haven't been drinking, I've got Crohn's disease."
Posted 8/25/2016 12:44 AM (GMT 0)
Well if you want to be honest here......I think that would apply for ANYONE in pain or discomfort from these stupid diseases!!!!

Not just because we have Crohns....

Tess
Posted 8/25/2016 2:00 AM (GMT 0)
When I'm in a flare up, I can't concentrate at all. When I got my first flare up, I was trying very hard to talk to my GI. I remember him saying "Don't try to concentrate; don't exhaust yourself ". Since then, whenever I get a flare up, I detach myself from others and don't talk until symptoms are at bay.
Good luck with the driving test.
Posted 8/25/2016 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
I just posted this on the UC by mistake as well... I agree, but for me I find it doesn't correlate to the severity - even in remission right now there is a significant and noticeable change. Unless I am just getting old! haha.

Truthfully though, I have noticed it getting progressively worse over the the years since the disease set in.
Posted 8/25/2016 9:27 AM (GMT 0)
I had to laugh. This explains just so much.
Posted 8/25/2016 4:12 PM (GMT 0)
Wow now I know why I can never concentrate well...
Posted 8/25/2016 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
Incredible!! Makes perfect sense being that I am at the peak of a freaking flare up right now and I felt drunk at work yesterday. Not a good place to feel that way. The first time I had a true flare up(11/15) I was slurring my speech and not walking a strait line. Fortunately, all my co workers knew what I had and were extremely understanding so I left and went strait to Urgent Care. First time I was on steroids(God bless prednisone).
Doc is gonna call me later today with a prescription for more prednisone.
Posted 8/26/2016 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, during pain, my response time would be longer. I got that. When I am not in pain, I would function just as well as anybody else. It's hard to accept that Crohn's makes someone stupid.
Posted 8/27/2016 10:07 AM (GMT 0)

minnietoty said...
When I'm in a flare up, I can't concentrate at all. When I got my first flare up, I was trying very hard to talk to my GI. I remember him saying "Don't try to concentrate; don't exhaust yourself ". Since then, whenever I get a flare up, I detach myself from others and don't talk until symptoms are at bay.
Good luck with the driving test.

I feel the same and every tasks (todo list) I delay it (procrastination), it is better to take desicion when you are in good physical and mental situation

When I feel tired i simply get more sleep and rest

I do not talk about the pain either, because unfortunately people do not like weak people ( this is human nature)
Posted 8/27/2016 1:53 PM (GMT 0)
Well, my 200 mile drive went okay fortunately. It wasn't a driving test: I was taking my dozy brother to Lewes in Sussex for an interview. The town itself was lovely; proper nice.

@Canada Mark - No, I'm the same. Even when I was in remission when I had my ileostomy I still felt like my brain was lagging several steps behind most of the time. The only time I felt 'normal' with Crohn's was in the early years of having it, but as the years pass I seem to feel more and more fatigued.

@Paul - It's not just the pain though. It's also the inflammation, malabsorption, undereating, meds, surgeries, disturbed sleep, etc. exerting their cognitive toll. Our digestive system is crucial to our wellbeing; once that gets wrecked by Crohn's it's no wonder our brains suffer as well. If you look at folks with IBS, they may truly have a miserable time of it, but generally speaking their symptoms are confined to the gut only (e.g. bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, gas). That's 'cos IBS doesn't damage the gut in any way, and so wouldn't have any knock-on effects elsewhere in the body. If somebody with IBS suffers from fatigue, it will be because of anxiety, depression, or other physical disorders, but not the IBS itself.

In theory, us folks with Crohn's should go back to normal in remission, but in reality fatigue in remission is incredibly common. There's a few reasons for that; digestion may still be disturbed by scarring, undetected inflammation, altered gut flora, surgery, etc. Or we may be fatigued by immunesuppression from the meds. Basically, if you want optimum health until a ripe old age, the moral of the story is to not get Crohn's in the first place.
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