Posted 9/23/2011 5:46 PM (GMT 0)
Hey sodbuster,
I have crohn's colitis (for the last 20 yrs now) it's basically CD affecting the colon where UC typically hangs out. Crohn's is generally patchy inflammation with some healthy tissues where as with UC the entire area will be inflammed. Crohn's can also go deeper through the intestinal lining and UC is limited to the surface of the lining only which is why Fistulas are more common with CD than with UC.
Crohn's colitis does not necessarily involve the rectum they way it does with UC (which is often where the UC starts and then spreads to the colon) BUT, it can still affect the rectum (comming and going----proctitis, when it does affect your rectum you simply need rectal meds just as the UCers use.
Often the same meds (asacol, pentasa, etc) are used to treat crohn's colitis like with UC. so nothing really changes in that respect. However since Crohn's can affect any part of the GI tract and UC is imited to the colon/rectum, you can have CD affecting more than one area at a time, like the colon, rectum and small intestines.
With Crohn's colitis there is a bit of a higher risk of having perianal issues as well, like fistulas (but it's not written in stone with the fistulas as I thankfully have never had one) and perianal crohn's skin tags (which I have had from the very beginning) they can often be misDX as hemmies but they are nothing like hemmies (believe me, I learned this the hard way).
Hope this helps, and try to relax (I know it's hard) but hopefully you really won't feel much different than when you thought you had UC.