Diagnosis change--UC to Crohn's Colitis??

Hello,

I was diagnosed with UC 4 years ago and in the last year my doctor has mentioned that I may have "Crohn's" not UC, as I have been having Perianal issues. I think he calls it "perianal disease". about a year ago I had an abscess in the perianal area that had to be cut open (soooo painful!). I attributed the abscess to having used neosporin which may have clogged a pore and caused the problem. My GI doc said that's possible but seemed to be leaning toward Crohn's. At a recent appointment I noticed that he marked my diagnosis as "Crohn's" on paperwork. Today I received a letter from him and in it stated that my perianal issues indicate most likely Crohn's Colitis. I guess seeing it in writing has made it more real for me--which is bringing up some questions...   I'm curious as to how this new diagnosis changes things? Does this mean I could start having problems in other areas of the gi tract than my colon? Is it common to have Crohn's Colitis or do most have one or the other? Do I have "Crohn's" or "Crohn's Colitis" or are they ultimately the same thing? Should I be moving over to the Crohn's board now? ;)

Any feedback or info would be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Hi Paiges,

I have crohn's colitis, and yes, it's crohn's disease affecting the colon which is why they term it as crohn's colitis, yes you now have an increased risk of CD affecting any part of your GI tract and it can even affect more than one area at a time, it's not super common but it can and does happen to many of us...when I first got sick it was affecting my anus (perianal crohn's skin tags), rectom, colon and terminal ileum (lower part of the small intestine,where it closely connects to the large)...it did heal in my TI, comes and goes in my rectom (proctitis) but has stayed constant for me in my colon and anus (don't let that freak you out too much though, I'm an oddball, allergic or non-responsive to tradtional oral RX and had some issues with my anal tags that long story short, have made it even more difficult for my colon).

Many crohn's colitis patients go into full and long remissions so rest assured that it's not completely the end of the world...the same meds used to treat crohn's colitis are used to treat UC, so nothing new there for ya.

You can certainly share at the crohns forum (I do at both because my CD is located in my colon so there are some similarities there)...the majority of CDers have CD affecting their small intestines over any other part of their digestive tract, so it's a little more rare to have crohn's colitis but there are plenty of us around, infact, many people get mis-DX with having UC when they infact have crohn's colitis (just as in your case, so you're not alone there either).

Remicade is suppose to be very helpful with your type of anal issues (abcesses, fistulas) so it's good that you're on it.

Biggest differences between UC and CD are, the pattern of inflammation with CD has patches (or skipped patterns of inflammation that have healthy tissue in between) with UC the entire are will be inflamed, UC is limited to the colon/rectom and often starts in the rectom and moves up...CD often starts in the small intestines and usually stays there but can certainly appear in any other part of the GI tract from mouth to anus (BTW, my CD started on the anus with my perianal crohn's skin tags, so it goes to show just about nothing is written in stone when it comes to IBD, except the pattern of inflammation and the fact the UC is still limited to the colon and rectom).

It's a bit of a change for you, just stay as calm as possible about it though, try not to stress out over the change of DX, you still can go into remission, and all that.

Here is an excellent link that describes the 5 subtypes of crohn's disease....

 

http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/crohnsdisease/CD_types.html

 

Copy and paste if link doesn't work, well worth the read.

 

:)