Crohn's Info
The Crohn's Disease website is a community for all sufferers of Crohn's Disease and similar ailments. Contrary to what you may find or read on the Internet, Crohn's Disease is a disease that CAN be controlled. For some it may be as simple as a change in diet, while for others it may require surgery. Nevertheless, expanding your understanding of this disease is the first step in over coming it.
What is Crohn's Disease
Crohn's disease is a condition that causes inflammation of the wall of the gut. Any part of the gut can be affected. This can lead to various symptoms (detailed below). Crohn's disease is named after Dr Crohn, the person who first described the disease in the 1930s.
Understanding The Gut
The gut (gastrointestinal tract) is the long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus. When we eat, food passes down the esophagus (gullet), into the stomach, and then into the small intestine.
The small intestine has three sections - the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. The small intestine is where food is digested and absorbed into the bloodstream. The structure of the gut then changes to become the large intestine (colon and rectum, sometimes called the large bowel).
The colon absorbs water, and contains food that has not been digested, such as fiber. This is passed into the last part of the large intestine, where it is stored as feces. Feces (motions or stools) are then passed out of the anus into the toilet
Who gets Crohn's disease?
Crohn's disease affects about 1 in 10,000 people. If you have a family member with Crohn's disease you are more likely to develop the condition yourself. It is also more common in people who have had their appendix removed, for the first five years after the operation.
Which part of the gut is affected in Crohn's disease?
In Crohn's disease, one or more patches of inflammation develop in parts of the gut. Any part of the gut can be affected. However, the most common site for the disease first to start is the last part of the small intestine (the ileum). The ileum is affected in about half of cases. Other parts of the small intestine and the colon are also commonly affected. The mouth, gullet and stomach are affected much less commonly.
A patch of inflammation may be small, or spread quite a distance along part of the gut. Several patches of inflammation may develop along the gut, with normal sections of gut in between. In about 3 in 10 cases, the inflammation occurs just in the small intestine. In about 2 in 10 cases the inflammation occurs just in the colon. In a number of cases, the inflammation occurs in different places in the gut.
Other symptoms
Other parts of the body are affected in some people in addition to the gut. These include: inflammation and pain of some joints (arthritis); skin rashes; inflammation of the eye (uveitis); liver inflammation. These problems can cause various symptoms.
It is not clear why these other problems occur. The immune system may trigger inflammation in other parts of the body when there is inflammation in the gut. These other problems tend to go when the gut symptoms settle, but not always.
How does Crohn's disease progress?
Crohn's disease is a chronic, relapsing condition. Chronic means that it is ongoing. Relapsing means that there are times when symptoms flare up (relapse), and times when there are few or no symptoms (remission). The severity of symptoms, and how frequently they occur, varies from person to person. The first episode (flare-up) of symptoms is often the worst.
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