large intestine?

No you don't have a different disease, you have crohn's, specifically crohn's colitis which is when crohn's is affecting the colon (large intestine). CD can affect any part of the GI tract and there are 5 subtypes of CD...

Gastroduodenal CD - Gastroduodenal Crohn's disease, which affects the stomach and the duodenum (the highest, or beginning, portion of the small intestine), is often misdiagnosed as ulcer disease. The correct diagnosis frequently is not made until various ulcer treatments have failed, or until Crohn's disease is identified farther down the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms of gastroduodenal CD include loss of appetite, weight loss, nausea, pain in the upper middle of the abdomen, and vomiting.

Jejunoileitis - Jejunoileitis is Crohn's disease of the jejunum (the longest portion of the small intestine), which is located between the duodenum and the ileum. Symptoms include mild to intense abdominal pain and cramps after meals, diarrhea, and malnutrition caused by malabsorption of nutrients. (The majority of nutrients are absorbed in the jejunum.) Fistulas (abnormal openings in the intestinal tract) may form. These can link a diseased area of the small intestine to another area of the intestine or another organ, such as the bladder. Fistulas may increase the risk of developing infections outside of the GI tract.

IleitisVIEW IMAGE - Ileitis affects the ileum (the lowest, or last, part of the small intestine). Symptoms include diarrhea and cramping or pain in the right lower quadrant and periumbilical (around the bellybutton) area, especially after meals. Malabsorption of vitamin B12 can lead to tingling in the fingers or toes (peripheral neuropathy). Folate deficiency can hinder the development of red blood cells, putting the patient at higher risk of developing anemia. Fistulas can develop, as can inflammatory masses.

IleocolitisVIEW IMAGE - Ileocolitis is the most common type of Crohn's disease. It affects the ileum (the lowest part of the small intestine) and the colon (the large intestine). Often, the diseased area of the colon is continuous with the diseased ileum, and therefore involves the ileocecal valve between the ileum and the colon. In some cases, however, areas of the colon not contiguous with the ileum are involved. Symptoms of ileocolitis are essentially the same as those present in ileitis. Weight loss is also common.

Crohn's Colitis (Granulomatous Colitis ) - Crohn's colitis affects the colon. It is distinguished from ulcerative colitis in two ways. First, there are often areas of healthy tissue between areas of diseased tissue; ulcerative colitis is always continuous. Second, while ulcerative colitis always affects the rectum and areas of the colon beyond the rectum, Crohn's colitis can spare the rectum, appearing only in the colon.

:)

Yes, you would be a crohn's colitis subtype...it depends, everyone's crohn's colitis is probably a little different, I have never had a blockage (thank goodness, knocking on wood I never do), I also don't get cramps, I used to get really bad lower back pains though. Do you drink plenty of fluids everyday? I think if you're prone to blockages maybe drinking alot of fluids daily might help that a little, I don't know much about blockages so I can't speak on experiance about them. If your meds aren't working you should tell your doc and maybe he can try a different med on you, but often it can take time (months) for the meds to kick in as well. Probiotics daily and indefinitely can be helpful too (I've been taking them everyday for about 5 yrs now).

:)

They probably should say there are 6 subtypes of CD and included proctitis, being inflammation of the rectom, I know that with CD being able to affect any part of the GI tract (and more than one area at a time) includes the rectom since the GI tract does consist of any part from the mouth to the anus. You could technically be in the catagory of crohn's colitis (because as it states above in that list, crohn's colitis can spare the rectom but that doesn't mean it always does), but if it's only affecting your rectom that's clear cut proctitis...technically for me my CD started in/on the anus (the outside) with perianal crohn's skin tags and this was in my teens and I had no bowel movement problems or weird stool issues (D, blood, ect) just normal formed once a day poops and the tags back then would just appear out of the blue and disappear just the same, it was very strange. My CD didn't become "full blown" until about a yr and 4 months after I had my first baby, again starting with the perianal crohn's skin tags but then the disease moved quickly into my rectom, colon and TI.

:)

Hey Trigirl you are very welcome, it is good info and I didn't even realize that with CD there were 5 subtypes for the longest time but I guess with it being able to affect any part of the entire GI tract it certainly makes sense.

:)

I agree with trigirl, that's some great information, pb4! I'll add one other subclass of Crohn's colitis. I have read that 2 to 3% of people with Crohn's have only perianal disease, without any other GI involvement. Maybe you started in that class, pb4.

Thanks writer glad that info was of interest to you as well....

Here is a link that shows actual pics, the first set of pics is hemheroides the set of pics below that is perianal crohn's skin tags AKA: elephant ears

http://www.emedmag.com/html/pre/fea/features/011504.asp

Mine definitely started in that class writer and shortly after having my baby I began to have major issues with my tags, which were misDX as hemmies, the pain got so bad (even my pubic bone ached constantly) that I had to have my bowel movements (still normal at first) in the bathtub with water, at that time I was using hemheroid cream and stuff on them as my GP instructed but that didn't help and they just got worse, so she sent me in for an emergency hemheroidectomy and they banded them (while in this awful flare) and just before that surgey I started having bowel movement frequency (but still normal formed stools, no D or blood) and I told the surgeon and she said it was probably nothing more than just the aggrivation of my "hemmies".  So of course after that surgery I got so sick (internally with CD) within days, D, blood, mucus major weight loss, almost pooping myself (still had a little more muscle control at that time) and I was "going" non stop so my GP then sent me to my first GI and as soon as he saw my tags (first visit with him was a sigmoidoscopy as well) he said those are not hemheroides, those are perianal crohn's skin tags and I was like what the he!! is that and the rest is history a horrible 18 yr long history to date.

He then sent me to another colon and rectom surgeon who apologized to me when I gave him the name of the surgeon that banded my tags (said she was one of his students and that he stressed the difference between the 2 were of great importance) told me that had she not done the surgery and instead DX me proplerly would have sent me home with cortifoam which would have shrunk them up then I could have gotten then snipped off.  He also said that I would likely still have gotten new ones but they could just be treated the same way and I wouldn't be the mess that I was/am, will be for the rest of my life.  His other explanation was that because of that surgery being done while the tags were flaring that it would be harder for me to ever get my internal CD under control (full remission). 

Alot of stuff to take in especially in such a short period of time and being a young new mom too I was 23 just about to turn 24 when I went through all this and my body was still recovering from having a baby for the first time.  This disease really sucks.

:)

FallColors,

Unfortunately I don't still have the reference. I tried a quick search on PubMed, but couldn't find it. It was from an article published in a medical journal that assessed the percentages of patients affected by the different types of Crohn's disease. If I turn it up again, I'll post the citation.

pb4,

That sounds horrible! : (
I'm sorry you had to go through it. There is nothing fun about having Crohn's, but some aspects are definitely the pits.