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IBS vs. Mild Crohn's

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Posted 3/18/2011 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone,

People have been so helpful here about all my questions. Thank you!!! I just some more. I'm currently undergoing Crohn's testing, and the doctor is pretty convinced I have Crohn's based on my history and number of extra-intestinal symptoms. I'm having a Colonoscopy on March 29th, but I'm really worried they won't find anything and I'll have to wait even longer to find out the truth. I'm starting to doubt my symptoms. I do have rectal bleeding that's not from fissures or hemorrhhoids, but it's not tons of blood, sometimes just a few chunks. I have lower right abdominal pain, but it's not constant, and it's not as debilitating as people here describe. I have the diarrhea, but I'm not bone skinny. I have history of uveitis, arthritis and mouth ulcers, but I also have psoriatic arthritis and gluten intolerance, which might explain those symptoms. I know the only way of figuring out whether its Crohn's or IBS is a colonoscopy, since there has to be inflammation for it to be an IBD. However, is there any way to tell symptomatically if it's mild Crohn's or IBS?

Posted 3/18/2011 7:45 PM (GMT 0)
I know you don't want to hear this, but I highly suspect your doc is right. With IBS you do not bleed or have many of the other symptoms you have described.

You need to get that colonoscopy, thats the best way to get diagnosed. Even if they don't see something with the naked eye, it will show up in the biopsies. So make sure your doc takes biopsies.

Also, everyone on this forum suffers with some similar symptoms. But what one has, another may not. So not everyone will suffer the same. Take a deep breath, you only have a few more weeks till you have your answers.

Hugs!
Gail*Nanners*
Posted 3/18/2011 8:07 PM (GMT 0)
I have both Crohn's and IBS. You really do need a colonoscopy since you have some blood. Hope you get some answers soon!
Posted 3/18/2011 9:04 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone! This is a great forum. I understand the difference between IBS and Crohn's in terms of Crohn's causing visible damage and inflammation where IBS is more a syndrome with symptoms like Crohn's, but no change to the intestines. I think my question is more whether bad IBS symptoms can mimic or seem like a mild case of Crohn's, symptomatically only. My intestinal symptoms just don't seem as bad as people with Crohn's. It's not consistently debilitating, only when I have an attack, which are several times a week. Also, since I have psoriatic arthritis, it's hard to tease apart what would be potentially Crohn's, and what's arthritis. For example, uveitis can be caused my PsA too, as obviously can joint pain. The mouth ulcers could be a result of me being gluten intolerant, though I wasn't eating gluten at the time. Regardless, I'm undergoing the testing. I just can't explain away the bleeding, since during the rectal exam there were no fissures or hemorrhoids. There wasn't tons of blood, but there were chunks and twice the entire stool was dark red. I know that can't be normal.

In terms of biopsy, my doc said they'd take a biopsy if anything during the colonoscopy looked abnormal. Then they'd biopsy that. Should I tell them just to take random biopsies, even if it looks normal?

Posted 3/18/2011 11:24 PM (GMT 0)
My first GI told me I had IBS.  I presented with bloody stool and lots of mucous, not to mention gas and abdominal pain, and for a year I followed his advice and thought I had IBS.  Then he did a sigmoidoscopy and found I had ulcerative proctitis.  It took another GI and two more years before I got to Crohn's.  That was all very frustrating and annoying.

 

I don't know anything about psoriatic arthritis, but I do believe that a colonoscopy will help answer a lot of questions.  It is true that sometimes the inflammation is hard to find - most colonoscopies won't go further than the terminal ileum.  But since colitis and Crohn's typically have inflammation in the colon and/or the TI, a colonoscopy is likely to find inflammation somewhere.

 

You can have "mild" Crohn's but it's still worth treating.  Getting the inflammation in your bowel resolved will undoubtedly relieve some of your other problems.

Posted 3/19/2011 4:41 AM (GMT 0)
My intestinal symptoms have rarely ever been as bad as what many experience on here. I spent years thinking the diagnosis was wrong. I felt pretty good for 7 years. I saw a GP and told her that I was pretty sure the diagnosis was wrong - even though I had started to have fevers, joint pain, fatigue. She told me that "many people with Crohns often believe they don't have it because symptoms come and go and vary in intensity". But I do. Your colonoscopy will give you answers...
Posted 3/19/2011 5:55 PM (GMT 0)
It's best to know what is wrong. I had issues for 25+ years. Everytime I went to the doctor I was told it was IBS or lactose intolerence. My daughter was diagnosed 18 years ago at the age of 12. I still believe my doctors that it wasn't Crohn's. At the age of 47 I had to have an emergency resection because I had totally closed up from scar tissue.

Moral of the: Even mild disease will take a toll if not treated.
Posted 3/19/2011 7:38 PM (GMT 0)
The road to finding out what is really going on can be a long one for us, because Crohn's isn't always the most easy thing to diagnose. I was sick for over 10 years before I finally got diagnosed with Crohn's. During those 10 years I really didn't have much bleeding. about 6 years in I developed a nasty fistula and fissure that I had surgery for. That didn't even clue the doctors in. All my tests were coming back normal. Finally in 2006 I had an ulcer in my TI GUSH blood. I had to lose over half of all my blood in my body for them to FINALLY go in and say "Oh yeah it's Crohn's!" Frustrating!

Over all those years I was told I had IBS. By many many doctors. I don't like the diagnosis of IBS. I think it's a scape goat for "We really have no idea". I won't even accept it now if they tried to tell me it's not my Crohn's and it's IBS. Sorry but unless they can be 100% sure that there isn't SOME inflammation in that LONG digestive tract of mine, I'm not believing IBS. A colonoscopy only sees a part of where Crohn's can be hiding, and they tend to depend just on the results of that too much from what I've seen.

My best advice is to be your own advocate. Seek second opinions if your not happy with what a doctor has told you, or you aren't feeling any better. And have patients, because it can be a long road for some. I hope it isn't for you though, good luck!
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