The digestive system includes all the parts of the body that process food and expel waste, from your mouth to the end of your digestive tract. Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract prevent your body from effectively using the food you eat. Learn more about digestive health from our experts.

Digestive Health

Meet the healthier YOU and get all your health in one place with the Sharecare app.

Download Sharecare

Live Well With Crohn's Disease

For Living With Crohn's Disease

Learn more about this inflammatory bowel disease.

Taking the Mystery Out of Crohn’s

What Is Crohn's Disease?

Decode your body&rsquo;s grunts and gurgles.

Listen to Your Body

Boost Your Gastrointestinal IQ

Many medications, including anti-inflammatories and immunosuppressants, may help patients achieve remissions. Other medications, such as anti-diarrheals and laxatives, as well as lifestyle changes, may help reduce symptoms. . . .

Excess stress drains your energy and leads to flare-ups.

Live Well!

Try the Stress-Less Solution!

JUMO ADMIN

Jumo Health

Crohn&rsquo;s disease is a condition where the body&#39;s immune system gets confused and attacks cells in the gut. This causes inflammation in the gut, which makes it sore, red and swollen. The swelling can happen anywhere between the mouth and the anus, but mainly affects the small and large bowels.

What is Crohn's disease?

Dr. Daniel R. Spogen, MD

Univ. of Nev. School of Medicine, Family Medicine

The more classic signs and symptoms of inflammatory Crohn&#39;s disease include the following:
<ul>
	<li>diarrhea</li>
	<li>abdominal pain</li>
	<li>bloating</li>
	<li>blood in the stool</li>
	<li>fatigue</li>
	<li>weight loss</li>
</ul>
Crohn&#39;s disease can also be associated with:

<ul>
	<li>fissures or abscesses around the anus</li>
	<li>arthritis</li>
	<li>malabsorption</li>
	<li>rash</li>
</ul>

What are the symptoms of inflammatory Crohn's disease? 

According to the World Gastroenterology Organization Practice Guidelines, the impact of diet on inflammatory activity in UC/CD is poorly understood. We do know that certain dietary changes may help reduce symptoms. It is recommended to decrease the amount of fiber during increased disease activity, continue dairy products unless they are not tolerated, and consider a low-residue diet to decrease the frequency of bowel movements. When obstructive symptoms occur, a liquid diet or predigested formula may help resolve any blockages.

Should I avoid certain foods with Crohn's disease?

GRD ADMN

MediGuard

The walls of the intestine thicken because of inflammation and scar tissue. Surgery can help some patients.&nbsp; The most important factor is that you find a specialist that you are comfortable with.&nbsp; Every case is different and every patient is different, so make sure you have a doctor that is a specialist and one that you are comfortable with.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

What does Crohn's disease result in?

If your child ever feels overwhelmed, worried or sad about having Crohn&#39;s disease, remind him or her to not be scared and to talk to you as parents, to the doctors and also teachers. Your child is not alone, and there is a team there to support all the family.

What can I do if my child feels overwhelmed by Crohn's disease?

When someone with Crohn&#39;s disease has a flare, it means that the immune system is attacking the gut. When the attack stops, it&rsquo;s called remission. During remission, the body starts to heal. Crohn&#39;s disease symptoms don&#39;t happen all the time. Flares can happen a few times or lots of times. They can be triggered by stopping medication, by smoking, or by feeling stressed. But sometimes they happen on their own without any triggers. It&rsquo;s different for everyone.

What does it mean when someone with Crohn's disease has a flare?

Symptoms of Crohn&#39;s disease include the following:

<ul>
	<li>Diarrhea. Diarrhea happens because the gut can&rsquo;t absorb water, so the water stays in poop (stool) and makes it runny. Diarrhea can cause cramps and make going to the toilet painful.</li>
	<li>Feeling sick and not wanting to eat.</li>
	<li>Feeling tired and losing weight. When the small bowel is damaged, it can&rsquo;t take in nutrients from food. This means the body doesn&rsquo;t get all the energy it needs, so people feel tired and might lose weight.</li>
</ul>

What are the symptoms of Crohn's disease?

Treatments for Crohn&#39;s disease are usually given as pills, liquids or injections. Medicines can help reduce the immune system attacks so the gut is less red, sore and swollen. Some medicines stop damage happening to the gut, and others reduce the number of flares. Because each medicine works differently, doctors will decide which one is best for each person with Crohn&#39;s disease. It&#39;s important to take the medicines exactly the way the doctor instructs.

Another form of treatment for Crohn&#39;s disease is called exclusive enteral nutrition, or EEN for short. EEN is a liquid that people take in place of normal food for six to eight weeks. While taking EEN, which gives all the nutrients the body needs, the gut has a chance to recover from flares.

Sometimes, if the bowel is too badly damaged, surgery is the best option. The piece of the gut that is swollen is cut out and the two healthier ends are attached together.

How is Crohn's disease treated?

NWYRK ADMN

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Surgery should be looked at as a therapeutic option rather than as a failure of therapy. Indeed, the goal of surgery is to improve quality of life and help patients lead healthier, more active lifestyles.&nbsp;For example, if only a short segment of your small intestine is affected by Crohn&#39;s disease, you may benefit from surgery without the exposure to potentially harmful side effects of medications. Although the use of medications such as biologics or immunomodulators can be indispensable for many patients, their prolonged use in the setting of a poor response may delay surgery, and as a result, may increase the risk for complications.

As a general rule, most surgeons aim to preserve as much of the bowel as possible (using bowel sparing surgery) when surgery is needed. Typically, for isolated disease that affects only a small area of the intestine, the initial operation used is called a resection. The surgeon will cut above and below the diseased area, remove a section of the intestine and reconnect the two areas. This allows for the relief of symptoms such as bloating, nausea, pain and vomiting.

Short areas of stricturing can be treated with a procedure called a strictureplasty. A strictureplasty does not remove the diseased segment of the bowel, but opens the narrowing in a way that restores flow of intestinal contents and allows nutrients to be absorbed. Sometimes, it is necessary to undergo multiple strictureplasties in a single operation if several areas of the small intestine are diseased.

When stricturing is more extensive (over a greater area) and patients have threatened short bowel syndrome, a side-to-side isoperistaltic strictureplasty may be needed. This technique was developed by Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi, the surgeon-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, and alleviates symptoms while preserving as much intestine as possible.

Will I need surgery for Crohn's disease?

Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often confused with ulcerative colitis, is a chronic health condition that can affect any part of the digestive tract, including the mouth, oesophagus and intestines.

Crohn's Disease

English

Crohn's disease can be a particularly difficult illness to deal with because it has to do with eating and we have to do that several times a day. People with Crohn's disease often have severe abdominal pain, they have frequent diarrhea, sometimes they find that even before they get to the bathroom, they might be soiling themselves, it makes travel very difficult and they may not know where the bathroom always is. 

They may have to take extra clothes with them and even though these might be part of solutions, people often find that depression and anxiety results, because they don't feel like a sense of stability in their life, they don't feel like a sense of control, perhaps they have a world view of themselves as being sick or perhaps dependent, and we know that at times of stress, people's immune system particularly in the gut can be lowered, they can be more inflammation, so stress can also cause layer-ups of Crohn's disease. 

So it is very important to again recruit the support systems, the family networks, and for some people, a small sub-set, they may find the flare ups, too challenging and for this people perhaps psychotherapy or if there is independent depression or anxiety, coping with that, talking to a therapist and perhaps antidepressants that population might be helpful.

Living with Crohn's disease is difficult because patients don't feel like they have control over symptoms; the constant issues can cause depression. Watch psychiatrist Sudeepta Varma, MD, discuss the emotional issues that Crohn's patients deal with.

What Are Some of the Emotional Aspects of Living with Crohn's Disease?

Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's disease are both auto immune diseases, that together form what we call inflammatory bowel diseases. But Ulcerative Colitis is limited to the colon, whereas Crohn's can affect any part of the digestive tract, from the mouth all the way down to the anus, and Crohn's frequently affects the small intestine where Ulcerative Colitis doesn't. 

The other big difference is that Ulcerative Colitis is limited to the lining of the colon, the mucosa, whereas Crohn's disease affects the full thickness of the bowel wall.

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are both autoimmune, inflammatory bowel diseases; but ulcerative colitis is limited to the colon. Watch integrative gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan, MD, explain the main differences in these two conditions.

What Is the Difference Between Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease?

An active lifestyle and high-fiber diet will help you manage Crohn's disease, says Roger Hsiung, MD, a colorectal surgeon at Southern Hills Hospital. In this video, he advises that patients avoid caustic food groups as well.

How Can I Manage Crohn's Disease?

Anti-inflammatory medications are used to treat Crohn's disease, says Roger Hsiung, MD, a colorectal surgeon at Southern Hills Hospital. In this video, he explains that high-dose steroids also help modify the immune system when treating the disease.

What Medications Help Crohn's Disease?

Surgery is only a last-resort treatment of Crohn's disease, says Roger Hsiung, MD, a colorectal surgeon at Southern Hills Hospital. In this video, he discusses other ways of managing Crohn's disease.

What Surgical Options Are There to Treat Crohn's Disease?

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease, says Roger Hsiung, MD, a colorectal surgeon at Southern Hills Hospital. In this video, he compares it to diabetes in that there is no cure, but it can be controlled.

Crohn's Disease

What Is Crohn's Disease?

Taking the Mystery Out of Crohn’s

Live Well With Crohn's Disease

Download Sharecare

Crohn's Disease Q&As

Related Topics