Think it's crohn's?

All those symptoms could be UC related as well, fissures (the splits on your skin in the anal region), the eyes issues and the mouth sores so the only way to know for sure is if you've had a colonoscopy to find out what the pattern of inflammation was like, patchy (with healthy tissues in between inflammed) is crohn's, having an entire area inflammed with no patchy sections of healthy tissue is UC, also the depth of the inflammation, with CD it can go through the many layers of the mucosal lining, with UC it's limited to the surface of the lining only.


:)

Yes, back in January, they said it was diverticular colitis, a rare form of colitis associated with diverticular disease that was diagnosed by the biopsy. After the colonoscopy, my doc said he couldn't tell by the scope what kind of inflammation I had for sure. I am suspicious of the diagnosis b/c four years ago when I got sick I had a CT scan and colonoscopy. The CT scan showed inflammation and the colonoscopy was negative w/ biopsies although they said I was not cleaned out very well. So, all we can say is that I had inflammation first. Recently, my prometheus blood test was positive for crohn's. So, I don't know what to think. I guess it is all academic but I have been so sick, the diagnosis doesn't seem to fit all the symptoms. With the diverticular colitis, you shouldn't have all these other symptoms. I am so glad I found this forum though, I get such great information and support. Thanks so much.

Thanks Gail. Yea, I have quite a mixed bag of things going on. Perhaps it is coincidental, but I have a lot of other symptoms of crohn's with the eyes, joints, sores in mouth and perianal area. So, I dunno. I wish I had gotten in to see my GI when those fissures were there. As soon as I started using the cortifoam, they healed up in 3 days! I guess it is academic but when you feel bad you want to know why. The other thing is that they only want me on meds for a year. I am afraid of when they cut off the colasal. But we'll cross the bridge when we get there. Thanks so much for being here! I always say it, but I'll say it again, these forums are the best.

I know Nanners, I didn't think it was associated with UC either but virtually any of the extra-intestinal manifestations that are seen with CD are also seen with UC....

Extra-intestinal symptoms that are not directly related to the inflammation in the colon and include eye inflammation, joint pains, skin rashes or lesions, and mouth ulcers. Scientists are unsure why symptoms outside the colon occur, but they often decrease in severity along with flare-ups.

Eye conditions that can occur with UC include conjunctivitis, episcleritis, uveitis, and iritis. Most eye conditions will improve when progress is made in treating the underlying UC, but some may require treatment. Conjunctivitis, or “pink eye,” is an inflammation of the tissue covering the eye and inner surface of the eyelid and may be treated with antibiotics. Uveitis is the inflammation of the middle layer of the eye wall and symptoms include light sensitivity, pain, redness, blurred vision and headaches. Uveitis is commonly treated with corticosteroids; if left untreated it could result in glaucoma or detached retina. Inflammation in the white of the eye is called episcleritis, symptoms include pain and reddening, and treatment is with a vasoconstrictor or corticosteroid. Iritis is inflammation in the iris and symptoms include pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision, redness, decreased pupil size, and floaters. Steroids and antibiotics may be used to treat iritis.

This is the link where I found the above info...    

http://ibdcrohns.about.com/cs/faqsuc/a/ucfaq.htm     (might have to copy and paste link into your search engine)

What shocks me even more is that some UCers can get fistulas too, I still have a hard time believing that one.

:)

Very interesting. It is hard to get in to see my GI even when you are sick. They usually just order some meds over the phone. Right now, I feel fine and those awful things have healed after weeks! Thanks for the chat! It's like if one more thing goes wrong, I am gonna feel like I have been jinxed!