UC v. Crohn's questions

[afidz]

Like I already said in another thread, yesterday I had a Humira nurse come out to make sure I was doing my injections right. (I am)
She gave me a Humira journal to track my symptoms and the location of my last injection. Anyways, before she did though she asked if my symptoms felt more like UC or crohn's. I have never been asked or heard anyone else being asked this before. I have always been under the impression that the symptoms were the same. I asked her to clarify and she said that people with UC tend to get more D and something else that I can't think of atm. In the journal there is 2 seperate sections. One for Crohn's and one for UC. At first glance they look the same, I am going to go through it though to see if I can answer my own question. But has anyone ever heard of that before. I really have always been under the impression that they are pretty much the same thing, the only difference being the location and the presence of granulomas.

 

[afidz]

Ok, so looking at this journal that she gave me, its all prefilled out, all I have to do is check the box for which symptoms I have. There are 2 separate sections, once for UC, and one for Crohn's. I am willing to call bs on it.
First, I will list the check list for Crohn's
-Abdominal pain
-Cramping
-Soft or loose stools
-fever
-fatigue
-blood in stool
-reduced appetite
-weight loss
Then it says...
-How many "accidents" or "near accidents" did you have this month?
-How many meals did you skip or postpone to avoid symptoms?
-Did your condition affect what you ate and drank?
-How else has Crohn's affected you?

So now the UC section...

-Abdominal discomfort
-frequent stools
-fatigue
-fever
-weight loss
-reduced appetite
-rectal bleeding
And the questions...
-Do you wake up at night because of your symptoms?
-Did your condition affect what you ate and drank?
-How else has UC affected you?

I can, or have been able to, check every single one of those boxes. What about all of the new patients that receive this journal? I can see a lot of confusion. "My doctor says I have Crohn's, but I checked off a bunch of symptoms in the UC section, I think he misdiagnosed me". And that itself can lead to mistrust which can then snowball into a whole new set of problems.
I am really interested in other peoples thoughts, this is really starting to bother me

 

[krika]

Hmm, sounds strange.
My GI knew that I had crohns before he did colonoscopy, when he did, that only confirmed what he was already suspecting. I dont know how he knew, but probably from a set of symtoms, stool tests, blood work and so forth.
But since you already have the crohns diagnosis, this cant be changed from a set of questions, when this has been confirmed from a colonoscopy and so forth.
I dont know about your experience, but I have experienced that there are always someone trying to second guess and interfere with diagnosis and/or treatment plans.

I wish you luck and try not too be too bothered by this nurse, when she sounds like a typical ignorant person, that is too common unfortunately these days too run into.

 

[vonfunk]

I was in the hospital with my first flare up, and the doctors had said it was one or the other and that when the inflammation is in the colon they present the same. It wasn't until biopsy results came back that he confirmed UC. I guess the only difference in regards to bleeding with UC vs CD,is that with UC inflammation starts from the bottom up, as such the blood is far more blood like as opposed to be mixed with the stool. Before my disembowelling I don't recall ever having rectal bleeding, everything was outright colon.

 

[Lady Organic]

Hi,

usually, urgencies to the bathroom without stools, so with only blood, mucus and pus is associated with UC (my case). However sometimes crohn's can mimick UC. Some people have mixed symptoms and it can be hard to pin point exctly which diagnosis it is. The opinion about my case changed many times over the years. Up to 20% of cases are like that and it often happens that true diagnosis is found only during surgery when examining the digestive diseased part taken out. Now my new GI described me as ''UC-like Crohn's'', which means I am a crohn's with symptoms of UC, clinically, histology and endoscopically speaking. Granulomas are not found in every CD, but they do sign a CD diagnosis when found. have they found granulomas in your biopsies? We have discovered I once had lesions in the ileum, which is also more suggestive of a crohn's my GI says... With the treatments available at this moment, it this not really important to know which disease it really is since the treatment are the same for both diseases and we can remain indeterminate for a long time. Only when severe case comes and complete surgery of colon is been thinking that correct diagnosis has more importance. Complete surgery of colon can be curative in UC (end of disease), but not for crohn's. Surgeons are less hesitant to remove colon of UC patients than of CD patiens, bc in CD, the risk of relapse in rest of digestive system will be more present, a risk which is almost absent in UC case.