Everyone experiences a stomachache from time to time, especially as a reaction to certain foods. Imagine, however, that such aches and discomforts were a part of everyday life? What if digesting food became a painful process? Those who suffer from Crohn's disease must endure such pain in addition to diarrhea, weight loss, fever, and rectal bleeding so severe that it may even lead to anemia.

 

No one really knows for sure what causes Crohn's disease (also called ileitis or enteritis). The most popular theory is that the body's immune system senses a virus or bacteria and reacts to it or them through inflammation of the small intestine. Unlike other digestive and intestinal complications, such as irritable bowel syndrome, the development of Crohn's disease is not related to stress. However, stress can aggravate existing symptoms. Heredity may also play a role as most people with Crohn's also suffer from some type of inflammatory bowel disease.

Crohn's disease is considered part of the family of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), diseases that cause inflammation in the intestinal tract. Crohn's disease symptoms are quite similar to other intestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome and ulcerative colitis, so a diagnosis requires a thorough physical examination and a series of tests such as blood tests, an upper gastrointestinal (GI) exam, colonoscopy, and follow-up x-rays.

Crohn's, like other inflammatory bowel diseases, is not contagious.

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