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crohns/ulcerative colitis

Thu, August 07, 2008 7:09 PM

I was diagnosed with uc 5 years ago. Today my dr did blood work on me because he thinks I might have crohns. Does anyone know the difference between the two? I think crohns is worse, but I'm not sure. If anyone has any idea, let me know.

Thx, Anita

papanena99
Joined Jun 9, 2008

Sun, October 05, 2008 12:00 AM

Reply posted for mommy2twinz.

You cannot sometimes get UC in the upper digestive tract, UC is limited to the colon/rectom only, CD can affect the entire GI tract from mouth to anus, many UCers get mouth sores as well, it's considered an extraintestinal manifestation from having IBD (either CD or UC).

With CD the disease can affect the many layers of the mucosal lining which can lead to fistulas (this does not happen in UC as it only affects the surface of the intestinal lining)...with UC the entire area will be inflammed, with CD there are skipped patterns of inflammation with healthy tissue in between inflammed areas.

When a crohnie is being affected in the colon with their crohn's it's referred to as crohn's colitis, this is not the same as having both UC and CD together, that is rather rare, aprox 2% of the IBD population actually have both UC and CD, it's just that many CD patients get confused when they here their doc say the word colitis, the patient thinks their DX has changed from crohn's to ulcerative colitis when infact it has not, colitis is simply a term used to describe inflammation in the colon----col=colon, itis=inflammation...the problem is that too many docs don't specify to their crohnie patients that they are referring to crohn's colitis.

:)

pb4
Joined Apr 8, 2008

Sat, August 09, 2008 12:00 AM

Reply posted for papanena99.

UC is different than Crohn's cause it usually only effects the large intestine and is does not skip areas, wheras Crohn's will skip areas and usually affects the small intestine and any part of the digestive tract, you can even get sores in your mouth with crohns... they thought I had Crohn's and they go back and forth, sometimes you can get UC up in the rest of your digstive tract but it is pretty rare, at least this is what the doctors have told me.

mommy2twinz
Joined Jul 24, 2008

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