Crohn’s Disease

Our Approach

At Franciscan Health, our gastroenterologists (digestive health specialists) can help reduce your Crohn's disease symptoms and improve function. Your treatment plan may include lifestyle changes, medications or surgery.

Treatment for Crohn's

Medications

• Antibiotics
• Anti-inflammatory drugs
• Antidiarrheal medicine
• Corticosteroids
• Immunosuppressants
• Pain relievers
• Supplements with iron, vitamins B12 and D, and calcium

Surgery

People living with Crohn's disease may need surgery. Your doctor may recommend surgery if lifestyle changes and medications don't effectively manage your symptoms.

Surgery can remove damaged portions of your digestive tract and reconnect healthy tissues. Strictureplasty is an option that widens part of the intestine that the disease narrowed.

Surgery is often temporarily effective. But medication can help reduce recurrence (return) of the disease near the healed tissue.

Crohn's diagnosis

Crohn's disease can be difficult to diagnose because symptoms are also signs for other conditions. To make a diagnosis, your gastroenterologist usually must rule out other diseases and use a combination of tests, including:

• Stool samples
• Blood tests
• Biopsy (tissue sample) of the intestines
• Colonoscopy
• Endoscopy
• Sigmoidoscopy (inspects the last section of the colon with a flexible, lighted tube)

You may also undergo imaging scans such as:

• X-rays
• MRI scans (magnetic resonance imaging)
• CT scans (computed tomography)

What is Crohn's disease?

Crohn's disease is a condition that causes inflammation in several layers of bowel tissue. It most often occurs between the ages of 15 and 30, but it can develop at any time.

Not everyone experiences Crohn's in the same way. It can cause inflammation in different parts of the digestive system for different people. Some people may have mild symptoms while others may have moderate or severe symptoms.

What causes Crohn's disease?

While doctors don't yet know what causes Crohn's disease, it could be an abnormal response by the immune system. Risk factors include:

• Eating a high-fat diet
• Eastern European and Ashkenazi Jewish descent
• Family history of IBD
• Living in a northern climate
• Smoking

Symptoms of Crohn's disease

Symptoms of Crohn's disease include:

• Abdominal pain and tenderness
• Anal bleeding
• Blood in stool
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Intestinal cramping
• A mass in the lower abdomen
• Mouth sores
• Weight loss