I went to a homeopath who I was quite impressed with. She feels i am suffering from other underlying conditions that are affecting my stomach and worsening the inflammation.
We had a discussion about Celiac disease I might ask my MD to test me. After I came home from her office, I read up on it online and I was shocked to find out that:
1. Celiac often mimics Crohns symptoms in terms of mal-absorption of nutrients, abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea, inflammation (especially in small bowel), even stricture and resection surgery etc.
2. Crohns patients have a MUCH HIGHER incidence of Celiac, and Celiacs seem to have a higher incidence of Crohns. One source suggested as many as 18% of Crohn's sufferers might be Celiacs. They say especially important to test for celiac if Crohns patients are on anti-imflammatory drugs and still suffer from diarrhea.
"...In light of these studies, we think that celiac disease should
be always investigated in Crohn’s disease as
soon as possible."
http://www.europeanreview.org/pdf/380.pdf
http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/news/20110126/celiac-crohns-disease-share-common-genetic-links
Here is an example of someone wrongly diagnosed:
http://www.healthpost.ca/forums/diseases-conditions/allergies/285-celiac-crohns-ibs-what-you-dont-know.html
Maybe you all know this stuff and I am the only one who was ignorant of the crossover between the two diseases, but I thought we should all be aware and perhaps get tested for Celiac if we seem to have those symptoms too. It won't cure Crohns if you have it, but it may reduce your symptoms significantly to go gluten free. (i am only 3 days gluten-free, and find it very, very helpful). And some readers here may actually not have Crohns at all, and just need to avoid gluten completely.
(I hope I am not breaking any forum rules by posting links?)
We had a discussion about Celiac disease I might ask my MD to test me. After I came home from her office, I read up on it online and I was shocked to find out that:
1. Celiac often mimics Crohns symptoms in terms of mal-absorption of nutrients, abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea, inflammation (especially in small bowel), even stricture and resection surgery etc.
2. Crohns patients have a MUCH HIGHER incidence of Celiac, and Celiacs seem to have a higher incidence of Crohns. One source suggested as many as 18% of Crohn's sufferers might be Celiacs. They say especially important to test for celiac if Crohns patients are on anti-imflammatory drugs and still suffer from diarrhea.
"...In light of these studies, we think that celiac disease should
be always investigated in Crohn’s disease as
soon as possible."
http://www.europeanreview.org/pdf/380.pdf
http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/news/20110126/celiac-crohns-disease-share-common-genetic-links
Here is an example of someone wrongly diagnosed:
http://www.healthpost.ca/forums/diseases-conditions/allergies/285-celiac-crohns-ibs-what-you-dont-know.html
Maybe you all know this stuff and I am the only one who was ignorant of the crossover between the two diseases, but I thought we should all be aware and perhaps get tested for Celiac if we seem to have those symptoms too. It won't cure Crohns if you have it, but it may reduce your symptoms significantly to go gluten free. (i am only 3 days gluten-free, and find it very, very helpful). And some readers here may actually not have Crohns at all, and just need to avoid gluten completely.
(I hope I am not breaking any forum rules by posting links?)
