Crohn's Disease

What is Crohn’s Disease?

Crohn’s disease is one of a group of conditions known as inflammatory bowel disorders. It causes chronic problems in your digestive system, particularly in the colon and small intestine. There’s no cure for Crohn’s disease, but with the help of the team at Colon and Rectal Surgeons of Greater Hartford, you can manage your condition successfully.

Symptoms of Crohn’s disease include:

• Chronic diarrhea
• Abdominal pain
• Feeling of fullness
• Weight loss
• Rectal bleeding
• Fevers

Diarrhea and stools might contain mucus or pus, as well as blood.

These symptoms are often severe, but you can have long periods of remission where you’re free of symptoms.

Crohn’s disease is a type of autoimmune disorder, but its exact cause isn’t clear. There’s probably a genetic link because if other members of your family have Crohn’s disease, your risk of getting it is higher.

Is Crohn’s disease serious?

Crohn’s disease isn’t life-threatening in itself. It can cause a wide range of complications, though, some of which are more serious.

You might get abscesses in your intestines and on your anus. Tears in your anus called fissures and holes in the walls of your intestines called fistulae can also occur when you have Crohn’s disease.

Your digestion can suffer, so you don’t properly absorb nutrients. That can lead to malnutrition. When there’s an imbalance of bacteria in your gut, it can cause small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). The intestines can also narrow and thicken to form strictures.

Several diseases are more likely to affect you when you have Crohn’s disease, including:

• Peripheral or axial arthritis
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Osteoporosis
• Kidney stones
• Hydronephrosis
• Fatty liver disease
• Gallstones
• Hepatitis
• Pancreatitis
• Colorectal cancer

Skin and eye problems are also common when you have Crohn’s disease. Erythema nodosum causes red, tender skin nodules, while pyoderma gangrenosum causes pus-filled sores. Mouth ulcers or canker sores can appear, and you could get uveitis (eye inflammation) and scleritis (eye pain).

How is Crohn's disease treated?

Medications can help reduce the effects of Crohn’s disease. Your provider at Colon and Rectal Surgeons of Greater Hartford can prepare a personalized treatment plan for you and monitor your response to the medications that can include:

• Anti-inflammatories
• Corticosteroids
• Antibiotics
• Anti-diarrhea medication
• TNF (tumor necrosis factor) inhibitors

TNF inhibitors are biologic medicines that reduce your body’s inflammatory responses. As Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory condition, TNF inhibitors can be highly effective.

If you have any symptoms of Crohn’s disease, call Colon and Rectal Surgeons of Greater Hartford today to schedule a consultation or book an appointment online.