colitis, crohnes, or UC?

I heard that colitis only effects the outer most layer (mucosa) of the inside of your large intenstine. I think Chrons can effect deeper layers and more than just the large intenstine.

I think colitis is inflammation. ulcerative colitis is inflammation with ulcers. I am not sure which I have to be honest.

Surgery can eliminate UC. If you have Chrons and have surgery, the inflammation can come back in a different area.

"Colitis" refers to inflammation ("-itis") that is present in the colon ("col-") and could be from things completely unrelated to IBD- eg an allergic reaction to a drug or some temporary bacterial infection for example. ("IBS" by contrast is intestinal symptoms and irritation that do not show any signs of inflammation.) "Ulcerative colitis" is a specific type of IBD inflammation in the colon.  Crohn's tends to be a deeper and patchier form of inflammation than "ulcerative colitis" but in many cases including mine it is not that easy to distinguish the two. Crohn's disease can occur anywhere or everywhere between the mouth and the anus, but if it is present only in the colon it is called "Crohn's colitis"- Crohn's only in the colon, NOT Crohn's and ulcerative colitis at the same time.  Although both Crohn's disease and Ulcerative colitis are associated with some extra-intestinal symptoms and complications, the actual condition in UC occurs solely in the colon and rectum. In summary the word "colitis" leads to lots of needless confusion.

Lizard99 said...
Thank you! Does each disease produce mucous? I ask because I have only been diagnoised with IBD, but lately I've been seeing sooooo much mucuous, i just wonder if there are uclers responsible for it.

Either Cd or UC can create excess mucus, but so can IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) which has nothing to do with inflammation.

CD can affect the many layers of the mucosal lining, UC remains on the surface of the lining only...CD can affect any part of the GI tract (and more than one area at a time) UC is limited to the colon/rectom...CD has skipped patterns of inflammation (healthy tissue in between inflamed), UC will have an entire area of inflammation with no skipped patterns...colitis can be ulcerative or crohn's and as Probiotic explained crohn's colitis simply means CD affecting the colon, not having both UC and CD.

Then there is antibiotic induced colitis (C-Diff) which is a little different from IBD cuz if treated correctly it can be completey controlled/cured...it also only affects the colon.

:)

Some symptoms are a sore mouth with marked swelling of the upper lip (penecilin wouldn not clear that up), the hard and soft palat can be swollen and erythematous, showing cobblestone appearance with areas of superficial ulcerations, pred would clear it up. Not your typical mouth sores when CD is affecting your mouth but the mouth sores can happen with CD as well as UC however the above description would not happen with UC.

:)