These comments are very interesting, I had not heard of a connection between Crohn's and MS till I started doing some research on it yesterday.
My problems all started in July 2009, when I had a fall and gave myself a nasty concussion - or mild traumatic brain injury - from which I have never recovered and constantly suffer from chronic fatigue and all its associated problems.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's about 18 months after the fall. That was two years ago. Both conditions cause fatigue and there is, therefore, some cross-over of symptoms. So much so that it can be difficult to know which condition is causing the problems at any given time.
Lately, things have taken a turn for the worse and I started to wonder if, unbelievably, I had MS. I had a vague recollection of reading somewhere that there was new evidence to suggest MS could be caused by falls.
So I read up on MS - and, yes, apparently doctors have long suspected MS could be caused by traumatic brain injuries (through falls, whip lash, car accidents, sports injuries etc). At the least, it is thought a traumatic brain injury can trigger a major flare up.
But what really interested me was discovering it was an auto-immune disease, just as Crohn's is, but it attacks the brain rather than the bowel.
Help...my body is eating itself up!!!!
Ok, so then I wanted to know if there was a connection between Crohn's and MS. Well, yes, there could be apparently.
But it gets worse! According to one article I read, (see link below), people with Crohn's not only have a higher risk of getting MS than the general population, the "powerful new drugs" we take to control the symptoms of IBDs are suspected of causing MS.
So this all brings me to my next question...can a traumatic brain injury cause Crohn's? Or, more accurately, can it cause your immune system to go haywire and start attacking various parts of your body.
Anyone have any thoughts on this that they would like to share?
Below is the link to the article:
http://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/news/20050901/ibd-linked-to-risk-of-multiple-sclerosis
I just want to add that I am being hit pretty hard by the fatigue thing at the moment so I have not been able to concentrate long enough to thoroughly research these issues at this stage. I am sure there are many loopholes in my theory, I'm really just putting out some feelers to see if any relevant info emerges. I have a totally open mind on the subject.
At the moment, I think that I think the following is the more likely scenario:
I have probably had mild Crohn's for many years, as it was recently discovered I have a 15 cm stricture on ileum valve. An MRI confirmed the stricture was scar tissue. That is a huge stricture and cannot possibly have developed in just two years.
I have also had asthma since I was an infant. As asthma is also linked with MS and Crohn's - along with psoarisis (which my sister has) and arthritis (which my brother has) - I think I have inherited a defective gene that leaves me susceptible to auto-immune diseases.
I think maybe the fall, in which I took a king hit to my whole body, gave this susceptibility to auto-immune diseases a massive turbo blast.
Will look forward to your thoughts!