I'm a smoker. I've had crohns symptoms since I was 6, so when a particular dr tried to tell me that I "gave" myself crohns because I smoke, I smugly informed her that, although my family is slightly white trash, I definitely was not smoking at 6. So there goes that theory.
My GI is on me all the time to quit smoking. Back in July I set a quit date for September first, and i was serious about it. Unfortunately, one of my medications is seriously increasing my cravings for cigarettes, and I'm smoking ALOT more than I used to. I get really stressed out and anxious if I don't smoke often. When I told my GI about this, he actually told me to push back my quit date, until I was on a much lower dose of pred. He didn't straight up tell me "keep smoking, it's the only thing keeping you sane right now" but he implied it.
Last time I was in the er, the GI there told me that quitting smoking would help me just as much, if not more, than starting remicade. I just rolled my eyes at her.
I do find, sometimes, that smoking bothers my stomach. When I first started I used to get really bad cramps right after a smoke. But I kept doing it anyways, and eventually it stopped. Smoking also used to give me diarrhea, but now I can't pin-point what gives me diarrhea, because it seems like everything does. I also have colitis, but I noticed that I rarely have left side pain. I still get it sometimes, but nowhere near as bad as my right side pain. I read that smoking can be somewhate beneficial for colitis, so maybe that's why I don't have as much pain from it.