could i have crohn's disease??? - Crohn's Disease / Ulcerative Colitis Message Board

joe24 · 05-25-2005, 08:45 AM

I had an endoscopy about 11 months ago to confirm the presence of a hiatal hernia. Since that time, i've developed other symptoms that my doctor thinks may be caused by crohn's disease. My question is: how fast can crohn's disease develop? Could it have developed during the time since i had my endoscopy? And if not, wouldn't the endoscopy have detected the disease ... because i know a major sign of the disease is ulcers and i would have thought that the endoscopy would have detected any ulcers.

please respond if you have any info. to offer. The doctor has scheduled me for blood work and an upper gi series but i am having some serious panic attacks worrying about this and i can't wait for the tests.

thank you in advance.

actudan · 05-25-2005, 06:44 PM

I dont think endoscopy is the standard check for crohn's. I believe bloodwork, upper GI series and colonoscopies are the standard tests. The most common problem of crohn's is intestinal blockage and an endoscopy wouldn't show that. A coworker of mine that has crohns was diagnosed via upper gi. The barium reached a point where it stopped flowing and the doc pushed on the area and the barium squirted through. A colonoscopy was performed and the affected area was where the small attached to thelarge intestine (I was told this was the common site). He had to have 6 ft of his small intestine removed and some of his large which requires him to take meds to keep his stool formed for life. Good luck and keep searching for answers!

joe24 · 05-26-2005, 10:56 AM

Thanks for your reply.

Here are the symptoms i'm having:

nausea off and on throughout the day for the last 3 months

i have rarely had diarrea, but my bowel movements tend to be soft and small. And i have 1 or 2 bowel movements a day.

I've lost 14 pounds in the last year. However, this was due (i think) to a decrease in weight lifting, as well as a decrease in food intake over the last 3 months (because of the nausea).

I have had a sore throat sometimes, and some mouth ulcers (which i know can be caused by cronh's. However, i have been getting mouth ulcers all my life, especially during stressfull times like right now)

I have not had any cramping or abdominal pain really. And i understand this is a major sign of crohn's.

What do you guys think? Does this sound like crohn's or no?

actudan · 05-27-2005, 04:48 PM

Ok, I think the lack of eating has more to do with losing weight than slacking off on the weightlifiting. I lift and jog 6 days a week and if I quit for a week or more, my weight will go up not down. As for mouth ulcers,I too have been getting them all mylife and I find that I get them most often during stressful times.

I really can only tell you the symptoms my friend had before he was diagnosed. As I said earlier, intestinal blockage is a common symptom and that is what he had. He would eat normally but he would not have good stools and he would cramp constantly. Basically the Crohn's kills the intestine and you can't get the normal stool flow thorugh your system. As for all the other symptoms you have mentioned, I am not sure how Crohn's causes them.

It also sounds like you are worrying a lot about this which can't be helping your situation. Relax and have your tests done and only worry if something is found but don't think negative that something will be found. Take care!

joe24 · 05-28-2005, 08:51 AM

Thanks actudan.

Yeah i'm probably worrying more than is healthy ... i tend to do that but i'm just really scared.

Thanks for the advice and info.