Can it be Crohn's disease?

[Gergo27]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for letting me join this group.

I am new here and I would like to ask your opinion if you think my issue could be Crohn's disease. (Sorry for my English, I am not native.)

I try to be short: last September (13 months ago) I had to take Dalacin antibiotics for some days and I immediately got diarrhea 3-4 times a day. After stopping antibiotics the diarrhea did not stop. I was tested for Clostridium but it came back negative. The diarrhea than gradually became a bit better with a lot of stomach gurgling those times, but during the last 12 months I had the following main symptoms:

• changing bowel movements, from liquid to pellet like stools, 2-3 times a day, different every day.
• stomach pain in the lower right part of my abdomen. A bit above my hip bone, it comes for days and goes for other ones, it is sometimes very mild, sometimes a bit more burning sensation.
• mild joint pain in my large joints, especially in my knees, but it is again a "come and go" situation, I can always walk with it, but e.g. running is sometimes a bit painful.
• slightly flu-like symptoms - fatigue and tiredness, it was significant in May, now it is not so bad
• I also had once a mouth ulcer and angular cheilitis.
• I had ani fissure last fall.

Doctors made several tests, all of them are negative:

• blood test (incl. CRP, iron, albumin, blood work)
• stomach ultrasound, than full stomach CT (not enterography)
• calprotectin tests twice (results: 9.2 ; 15.4)
• colonoscopy with last 30 cm of the terminal ileum without any biopsies.
• blood in stool never detected, incl. test for microblood in stool negative

With all these tests (especially low calprotectin twice and nothing found on colonoscopy) do you think it can be Crohn's disease?
I now some people only had diagnosis after capsule endoscopy or MR enterography, but I never heard if they had high or low calprotectin. All replies are kindly appreciated. Thank you for your attention.

 

[Pangolin]

It sounds like some kind of intestinal issue to me, but probably not Crohn's. Perhaps something along the lines of diverticulosis?

 

[my little penguin]

So fatigue mouth ulcers joint pain and flu like symptoms can be part of auto inflammatory disease …
Especially Sweets syndrome -(acute neutrophil febrile dermatosis )
There are other neutrophilic dermatosis diseases like bechets which can come and go as well
bechets takes years to dx since not all of the symptoms show up together at first .

if you have rashes or continue mouth ulcers see a dermatologist
As well as a rheumatologist

good luck

 

[thike1966]

A low CP, means no liver enzyme showing swelling. Crohn's can happen anywhere from the mouth to the anus. Do you get Cold Sores often? An Endoscopy might be in your future, it looks at the small intestines. I had both and Endoscopy and colonoscopy at the same time. All clear in the colon, I had them check my prostrate while they were up there. The Endoscopy showed what the CT scan missed or could not see as clearly.

 

[Gergo27]

Thank you for the replies, all of them are really helpful. My top three symptoms are lower right abdominal pain, unexplainable mild joint pain and the bowel movements' consistency is changing. Other symptoms happened once during the year for about a month, but not always present. So I will try to look for further tests. If I get a clear answer in the end, I will write it here.

 

[Aituk7]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for letting me join this group.

I am new here and I would like to ask your opinion if you think my issue could be Crohn's disease. (Sorry for my English, I am not native.)

I try to be short: last September (13 months ago) I had to take Dalacin antibiotics for some days and I immediately got diarrhea 3-4 times a day. After stopping antibiotics the diarrhea did not stop. I was tested for Clostridium but it came back negative. The diarrhea than gradually became a bit better with a lot of stomach gurgling those times, but during the last 12 months I had the following main symptoms:

• changing bowel movements, from liquid to pellet like stools, 2-3 times a day, different every day.
• stomach pain in the lower right part of my abdomen. A bit above my hip bone, it comes for days and goes for other ones, it is sometimes very mild, sometimes a bit more burning sensation.
• mild joint pain in my large joints, especially in my knees, but it is again a "come and go" situation, I can always walk with it, but e.g. running is sometimes a bit painful.
• slightly flu-like symptoms - fatigue and tiredness, it was significant in May, now it is not so bad
• I also had once a mouth ulcer and angular cheilitis.
• I had ani fissure last fall.

Doctors made several tests, all of them are negative:

• blood test (incl. CRP, iron, albumin, blood work)
• stomach ultrasound, than full stomach CT (not enterography)
• calprotectin tests twice (results: 9.2 ; 15.4)
• colonoscopy with last 30 cm of the terminal ileum without any biopsies.
• blood in stool never detected, incl. test for microblood in stool negative

With all these tests (especially low calprotectin twice and nothing found on colonoscopy) do you think it can be Crohn's disease?
I now some people only had diagnosis after capsule endoscopy or MR enterography, but I never heard if they had high or low calprotectin. All replies are kindly appreciated. Thank you for your attention.

Sounds very similar to SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth)