Crohns Colitis vs Ulcerative Colitis

[Cpetty32]

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis in 2007. Since then i have had at least 2 flareups a year but they were easily treated and were better within two weeks until last year. I had a flare that lasted two months. The bleeding was horrible..the was clots and everything. I was scared to drink water for fear of going to the bathroom. I became dizzy and weak and landed in the hospital for treatment.. after i got home i noticed i was having quite a bit of trouble using the restroom unless i was flaring... It either i can go or i go all the time. Im so tired of prednisone and pills that dont work.. every three days or so i have to clean myself out or my left side tighten and even burns.. recently i have seen my second specialist and found out my muscles in my rectum arent pushing and my small and large intestine are moving slowly. When i looked at the papers in my chart they now have me diagnosed as Crohns Colitis... Can anyone tell me what the difference is because the doctors sure didnt bother to explain it or even tell me the diagnosis had changed.

 

[nogutsnoglory]

Id like to know as well. Some doctors say I have crohns and others say crohns colitis.

 

[Cpetty32]

Thanks...

 

[Keepingfaith]

Ulcerative Colitis & Crohn's are two VERY different conditions with A LOT of SIMMILAR symptoms.

UC only affects the colon and can be cured through having the entire colon removed. Crohn's Colitis is when the inflammation only affects the Colon but it is not curable. Even if you take out the colon, the disease will probably come back at the spot where the bowel was resectioned. The treatments are also different. If you had SEVERE inflammation affecting the entire colon and your GI was looking into taking out your bowel the GI needs to know if you have UC vs Crohn's Colitis. If you have UC, then your GI will probably make you a Jpouch. If it turns out you had Crohn's Colitis and not UC, and your GI did a Jpouch surgery to cure the UC(because that is what he/she thought you had) then you are in trouble. Your Jpouch could burst because of the inflammation caused by Crohn's and all your fecal contents will leak into your abdominal cavity and you will go into shock & most likely die. Not trying to be negative-just tell you the facts.

I have known many people to have gotten a Jpouch to cure there UC only to wake up back in the ER months/years later because it turned out they had Crohn's and their Jpouch burst. If you don't take medications for Crohn's even after removing parts of the intestines, it will come back and chances are you'll need ANOTHER surgery. If you have UC, then cure it by removing the colon, you don't need to be on any medications post-surgery to remove your colon and create a Jpouch.


@Notsogutsnglory: Crohn's & Crohn's Colitis are the same. Crohn's Colitis is just a description of where the inflammation is located. Colitis literally means inflammation of the colon so when your GI says "Crohn's colitis" they mean inflammation of your colon caused by Crohn's. There is also Crohn's Gastroduodentitis(inflammation of the stomach/duodenum), Crohn's ileitis(inflammation of the ileum), Crohn's juejuentitis(inflammation of the jeujenum)and Crohn's Ileocolitis(inflammation of the ileum and colon). You only here just plain Ulcerative Colitis because that is all UC is. Inflammation of the colon. Whereas Crohn's can cause inflammation ANYwhere in the GI tract. UC only causes inflammation of the colon.

Hope I helped!

 

[nogutsnoglory]

It's strange he wrote crohns colitis because both my colon and small intestine are inflamed abd both have had resections, Can you have crohns and crohns colitis?

 

[Cpetty32]

Thanks for the info..I'm on lialda, 5mg prednisone, b12, folic acid, vitamin d with calcium, vitamin c, vitamin e, omega 3, fish oil, nexium, nortryptaline, rowaza supossitories, hycosamine, myralax and zolfran

 

[DustyKat]

It's strange he wrote crohns colitis because both my colon and small intestine are inflamed abd both have had resections, Can you have crohns and crohns colitis?

When both the large and small bowel are affected what you have is the type of Crohn's known as ileocolitis.

The 5 types of Crohn's describe where in the bowel/GI tract your disease is located. So Crohn's Colitis means it is confined to the large bowel only, if it moves beyond that it is no longer Crohn's Colitis.

Dusty.

 

[Rossy]

Ulcerative Colitis & Crohn's are two VERY different conditions with A LOT of SIMMILAR symptoms.

UC only affects the colon and can be cured through having the entire colon removed. Crohn's Colitis is when the inflammation only affects the Colon but it is not curable. Even if you take out the colon, the disease will probably come back at the spot where the bowel was resectioned. The treatments are also different. If you had SEVERE inflammation affecting the entire colon and your GI was looking into taking out your bowel the GI needs to know if you have UC vs Crohn's Colitis. If you have UC, then your GI will probably make you a Jpouch. If it turns out you had Crohn's Colitis and not UC, and your GI did a Jpouch surgery to cure the UC(because that is what he/she thought you had) then you are in trouble. Your Jpouch could burst because of the inflammation caused by Crohn's and all your fecal contents will leak into your abdominal cavity and you will go into shock & most likely die. Not trying to be negative-just tell you the facts.

I have known many people to have gotten a Jpouch to cure there UC only to wake up back in the ER months/years later because it turned out they had Crohn's and their Jpouch burst. If you don't take medications for Crohn's even after removing parts of the intestines, it will come back and chances are you'll need ANOTHER surgery. If you have UC, then cure it by removing the colon, you don't need to be on any medications post-surgery to remove your colon and create a Jpouch.


@Notsogutsnglory: Crohn's & Crohn's Colitis are the same. Crohn's Colitis is just a description of where the inflammation is located. Colitis literally means inflammation of the colon so when your GI says "Crohn's colitis" they mean inflammation of your colon caused by Crohn's. There is also Crohn's Gastroduodentitis(inflammation of the stomach/duodenum), Crohn's ileitis(inflammation of the ileum), Crohn's juejuentitis(inflammation of the jeujenum)and Crohn's Ileocolitis(inflammation of the ileum and colon). You only here just plain Ulcerative Colitis because that is all UC is. Inflammation of the colon. Whereas Crohn's can cause inflammation ANYwhere in the GI tract. UC only causes inflammation of the colon.

Hope I helped!

There are different types and classification of UC, and i'm not really sure of the "cure" as you put it, its a life changing operation that can have the potential for future complications.
You may be righg that crohns can cause inflammation anywhere in GI tract however this is not usually the case hence crohns colitis, is just plain old crohns in the colon:ysmile: just because it can doesn"t mean it will.

I would also say that the treatments are in indeed very similar, they share many drug therapies.

 

[Keepingfaith]

I never said it wasn't life changing & an extremely difficult decision to make nor was I downplaying UC. I simply stated facts. It is curable through removal of the colon. Yes UC can cause extra intestinal manifestations but it isn't the UC causing inflammation in let's say your mouth. It's not continuous and thus is an EIM. They share some treatments like Remixade/Steroids but not all. Cimzia is not approved for UC & neither is Entocort although they can be used off label. There are things like pancolitis etc to classify but that was not what the OP asked and I'm not going to overwhelm someone with info they did not ask for.

 

[Jackie Aba]

I have been reading that fecal transplants are shown to be effective in treating cdiff. Has
anyone heard of fecal transplants being used to successfully treat either UC or Crohns? A Canadian researcher developed a "pill" using fecal material for the successful treatment of cdiff. It sounds like a very promising way to approach the illness, but drug companies
would not be too enthusiastic.

 

[Kev]

In my initial outbreak with IBD years ago... I was originally classed as indeterminate or atypical. My colon was that inflamed that going beyond into the small intestine via scope wasn't possible. However, it turned out I had a mix of both UC and CC (whether Crohns extended beyond the colon was never determined... however, problems with my pancreas lead me to believe there may be more than my colon involved.. but I'll cross that bridge if/when I have to)... My initial bout came with lots of bleeding... turns out that my IBD was predominantly UC... which at the time turned out to be beneficial. I had both UC and CC, but they competed with each other, and since UC spreads faster by nature it took up most of the available space in my colon... limiting the damage that CC could do to me. I posted photos of the scar tissue that the CC left behind. Would have been more extensive if not for the UC. And, as a result, more scarring and more permanent pain. When my IBD responded to LDN, all the area affected by UC healed (LDN promotes healing) which left only pockets of scar tissue (as in the photos posted.. warning, they are gruesome). I was in remission for 6 1/2 years. Then this May, like someone flipped a switch, it all came back. However, this time, unlike last time, I've had no bleeding at all. And my last foot or so of colon isn't affected... (with the 1st time, it was all affected, top to bottom).. so my concern was that this time it was the CC that came back... and if I had surgery the chances were I'd go through the operation only to swap CC for CD. So I wanted one of the number of doctors I've seen to test to determine which type I had this time for sure. They said (again) that in my case, they couldn't determine (what's up with that?) which version I had. However, the surgeons here tell me that... if it is UC, their success rate is 100% cure... if it is CC... then there is only (according to them) 5% or less chance it will come back. I don't know if it is just 'surgeons are so cocky', or if they are really that good here... or if it is just 'let's b/s the patient so he doesn't worry about it'. I don't know.
And, the thing is... it really doesn't matter. Whatever will be will be. If it comes back, I'll have to deal with it... if it doesn't, then why worry. And neither option affects the future.

 

[2thFairy]

I have been reading that fecal transplants are shown to be effective in treating cdiff. Has
anyone heard of fecal transplants being used to successfully treat either UC or Crohns? A Canadian researcher developed a "pill" using fecal material for the successful treatment of cdiff. It sounds like a very promising way to approach the illness, but drug companies
would not be too enthusiastic.

Some people have had success with fecal transplants for UC. I don't know how long the effects lasted, however. I was never brave enough to try it myself.

 

[Kev]

I don't trust my memory, but I thought there was a doctor is Australia who claimed that IBD could be treated with fecal transplants. A fellow here in NS successfully treated c-diff himself with them (the hospital refused to try it, said there weren't enough guidelines).