What do you think 'caused' your Crohn's?

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ChefShazzy

ChefShazzy

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Just a question out of general curiosity...

Obviously, we don't know what actually causes Crohn's (or UC), right? But some of us have incidents or reasons in our past that we feel may have contributed to us getting this disease.

For me, I ingested laundry detergent when I was about 13 or so (on a dare - don't ask, totally stupid)... it was only a small amount, but I got sooooo sick for the next three weeks, I was puking and pooping pink foam and I was too scared/embarrassed to tell anyone about it. Looking back at it now, maybe the soap cleaned out and killed the good bacteria and gut lining, leaving me open to this disease. Maybe far-fetched, but I'd like to hear what theories you guys have. It certainly could have also been other things - my diet, or being raised in a haze of second-hand smoke.

For example - An acquaintance of mine with Crohn's says she abused laxatives as a teenager and feels this may have been her 'cause'... and I've read from some of you that a course of antibiotics seemed to coincide with your appearance of symptoms/diagnosis. So, what do you think 'caused' your Crohn's?
 
I guess nobody knows. But in my case, I was starting a new job which required lots of travel to third world countries, so we were obliged to take a few vaccinations. 2 months later, while in Turkey, i got food poisining and my Crohn's reared it's ugly head. So maybe it was a combination of a stimulated immune system due to vaccinations, food poisoning and stress that brought things up??
 
I think for me it was picking up the smoking habit again. I had not smoked for quite some time and picked it up again around July/Aug. 06. Then in Oct. 06, landed in the hospital with stomach issues, then dx'd with Crohn's. Before I started smoking again, I had not had any problems.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at quitting, I finally succeeded at kicking the habit. I feel better already, but I'm not back to 100%. I may never be, but I know I will be better in the long run. Doctors always recommend you not smoke, but it took a "funky" stomach day, the nasty taste of the cig on that day, researching the link between smoking and Crohn's and thinking back to when I started smoking and when my symptoms started, to finally get me to throw out all that I had left.

It definitely makes you wonder?!
 
I also have asthma... and I think it's linked with Crohn's, through dairy. I loove cheese, that really creamy milk - called Gold Top here, and all things dairy.
Now, over the years I started getting hayfever which gradually got worse. Then I got Asthma, which gradually got worse and more brittle. Then after a dose of broad spectrum antibiotics (metronidazole) I got C.Diff. The AB's upset my tum, and it never recovered. I was diagnosed with Crohn's in January. We've been treating it by diet, part of which is that I've not been able to have any dairy foods for a while. When I did later have some cheese I started wheezing really quite badly. A week or so later I tried some other form of dairy, and there was my asthma again.

I've now gone dairy free for 2 months and my hayfever is soo much better it's unreal! Ditto asthma. And gradually my Crohn's seems to be getting better - wont know tho until a colonoscopy! - but I've also been very carefull not eating other foods that cause me trouble.
 
Dairy products have the MAP bacteria to get the ball rolling. I think there are more bacteria of different species that work with the MAP bacteria to create more problems.

It is my opinion that certain strains of E-Coli and H-Pylori can also be involved. I suspect all of these contributed to my symptoms.

Immune system disfunction for whatever reason. A normal person would not develop Crohn's without the immune dysfunction even with exposure to the same bacteria. I am quite sure there is a genetic predisposition to this disease, although all that are predisposed to it, will not develope the disease.

Dan
 
ive always had stomach problems for as long as i can remember i used to be a pepto feend i would always have a bottle with me i dont know if that may have done anything but i doubt it. other then that i was born with cleptosiac nemonia yea i cant spell it you get it by pooing in your mom and swallowing it (see even in the womb i had poo problems and ive been in and out of the hospital most of my life for different things.
 
I had a meningitis vaccine and then my symptoms started. I was also under a TON of stress and I was taking too many NSAIDS (could have been borderline abuse)
 
For myself I beleive that stress was my trigger (IBD runs in my family since my mom has UC) but I feel that a major stressful time that I went through for a yr just before I got sick and it may have also been the combination of in that emotionally stressful year I also had my wisdom teeth removed (was on antibiotics for that), smoked (still do) and had my first baby (changes in hormones...I got sick when my baby was a yr and 4 months old).

It's likely that it can take more than one trigger to set it off for many but I'm sure for others it could be even just one trigger, so much more still needs to be learned.

Genetics is only part of the puzzle, for those that are predisoposed to getting an IBD it still has to be triggered (which is the other part of the puzzle).

:)
 
for me it was stress at age 4 and then antibiotics 4 years later.
heres the long version:

my mom said that i complianed of my first tummyache the week i turned four (january '94). this was the week after my grandfather died. (this was the same grandfather who we think had crohns, but was never dx, weird huh?). she said that my entire being changed and i was just a different child and then had tummyaches ever since.
fast forward to october of 1998. i got sick with bronchitis, then ear infection, then bronchitis again- basically was on antibiotics for 2 straight months. landed up in the hospital after i started vomiting after every sip of water and was dx with c-diff. they put me on flagyl and recovered from c-diff, but my tummy never went back to the way it was. my tummy aches were even worse than they had been before the c-diff. saw a GI in jan '99, had a colonoscopy and was dx with crohns.

i dont quite know what to make of it. maybe the stress when i was 4 triggered the crohns, but it wasnt bad enough to do anything about it. then the antibiotics and c-diff were the final trigger that sent me into full flare? i dont even know.

my theory on crohns in general i like to show with geometry (heh lol)
"every square is a rhombus, but not every rhombus is a square."

every person with crohns has the genetic predisposition for the disease, but not every person with the genetic predisposition for the disease has crohns.
there must be a trigger to active the disease. but should the same trigger be inflicted upon someone who is not genetically predisposed, nothing will happen.
 
my son casuued my crohns!!!
i was fine until i fell pregnant with him then i go the shi*ts and havent stopped 11 years later.
sharon xx
 
I think genetics has a lot to do with it...it remains dormant until something in your immune system activates it.

I was only 6 or 7 when I first started with symptoms..I really wouldn't know what caused at that age???
 
I don't know and frankly don't care... Wondering and worrying about what caused it does not accomplish anything useful. I am instead focusing on keeping myself healthy and living a normalish life.

Dan
 
Well for me i belive it is genetics and anti biotics. When i was age like 1-7 i got SO many ear infections that i cant even count. So i was on anti-biotics for like half my life. And i think it is genetics because my second cousin has crones disase too.
 
I think it was that damn yeti i got in a fight with.... he infected me.... Or it could have been the Loch Ness Monster, i don't really know, they both tried to jump me... There always after me Lucky Charms.
 
I had ear infections, and pneumonia as a child also. Had tetracycline "stained my teeth" and who knows what else. Antibiotics are not very selective in what bacteria they kill. Maybe they kill off too much good bacteria. I am sure nobody ever used probiotics in those days.

Dan
 
other than genetics (autoimmune diseases run in both sides of my family), i'm not too sure what may have been triggers to the onset of my crohn's, maybe just poor eating habits/food choices and stress... then what made things worse was when i was taking a lot of anti-inflammatory medication to treat the joint pain prior to being diagnosed with crohn's.
 
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Probiotics are in yogurt and it's been around for a long time but I'm not sure how long probiotic supplements have been around. There are also prebiotics which are found in foods...Traditional dietary sources of prebiotics include soybeans, inulin sources (such as Jerusalem artichoke, jicama, and chicory root), raw oats (see also Raw foodism), unrefined wheat, unrefined barley and yacon. Some of the oligosaccharides that naturally occur in breast milk are believed to play an important role in the development of a healthy immune system in infants, but these are not considered prebiotics, as they do not act through the intestinal microflora.

Prebiotic oligosaccharides are increasingly added to foods for their health benefits. Some oligosaccharides that are used in this manner are fructooligosaccharides (FOS), xylooligosaccharides (XOS), polydextrose and galactooligosaccharides (GOS). Some monosaccharides such as tagatose are also used sometimes as prebiotics.





:)
 
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I had just got promoted at work and was going through my first Christmas as a retail manager. CRAZY! I was exhausted all the time, stressed, and a bit overwhelmed. Eventually my back and hips were hurting me. I began taking Aleve everyday for months to stop the pain. All of a sudden I felt even more worse and then my stomach started feeling sour all the time. I thought I had an ulcer. I tried to de-stress and took a vacation. I began loosing some serious weight and the symptoms just got worse until I had diarrhea that wouldn't quit. I eventually went to my doctor. By then I was so depressed I couldn't hardly function. He ran me through a bunch of tests and viola! They told me "I think you have Crohn's disease."
 
Mark33180 said:
I think it was that damn yeti i got in a fight with.... he infected me.... Or it could have been the Loch Ness Monster, i don't really know, they both tried to jump me... There always after me Lucky Charms.
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since when was the yeti female?
sharon xx
 
Add one to the strong antibiotics regime. At 11 I broke my leg and got osteomylitis (a bone infection) and had to be on IV antibiotics for two months. I had my first flare at 13.

However, I also strongly adhere to the genetics plus trigger theory...its the only thing that could explain all these different people with all these different "causes." Plus...a possible genetic cause gives me hope for an eventual cure, so I'll stick with that. :)

I've also found that major life changes for me (such as moving or starting a new job/school) can sometimes trigger problems...and it was the summer before I started high school (it was fun starting ninth grade about 20 pounds underweight and on Prednisone...)...so maybe I was nervous and didn't even know it. :)
 
Nope no girlfriend, guess he was mad that i was invading his turf.... but i tought him a thing or two he may have given me the crohns but i chopped off his pinky toe..... And nope no gf...
hehehe
some people may think i'm nuts just trying to bring some humor to the forums.. :)
 
Hmmmm, never really thought about it! I've read that several of you "ate" things. For some odd reason I used to eat coins when I was little. I guess I was trying to start my own savings account at a young age? Hmmmmmmmm
 
I truly have no idea...my grandfather always had a "bad stomach" nothing every diagnosed and he died before I was diagnosed.

I also apparently spent a couple of the first years of my life on antibiotics due to chronic ear infections, but why 16 years later does it finally show up?
 
Yep...I suspect it is genetic "pre-disposition" which is then triggered...

I got food poisoning in 1998, then got a c-dif infection from the result of anti-biotics which took some getting rid of !

....through 2000-2006 I was on weak dose antacid almost everyday for reflux....
....I then cured my reflux by wholesale changes to my diet (cut out meat / wheat / booze - don't ask how I enjoy myself now!)

unfortunately "something had changed", since Nov 07 I have had on/off lower abdominal aches, which got permanent in Nov 08.....then colonoscopy identified inflamed tissue in my terminal ileum......and here I am after 6 months of annoying pains......
 
another c-differ!!! woot woot!

should i make a c-differ club?!?


this is interesting though.
so many bacterial things goin on...
 
Bad food or water and antibiotics

I was on a camping trip and got really sick (fever, D). At the time I thought it was from eating bad meat or drinking water that wasn't purified. When I came back to town I got flagyl for 7 days, which only worked during the course of the antibiotics. Afterwards I took flagyl for 10 days, then Cipro for 10 days. These didn't work so I then ended up taking Flagyl for 30 days. My stomach never got better. The only bug they ever found was blastocysis hominis. I don't know what the cause was, but I think it was either some bacteria or other pathogen, or the extended use of antibiotics.
 
WAIT whattt?

when i posted that it was on the first page! im postive it was!!
this is so weird.........

well yayyyyyy i guess? lmao!
 
i dont know...i think ive always had it, when i was born i pooed in my mom before they got me out (she was in labor 72 hours tho) and had cleptoseic pnemonia but i was a pepto feen till i was diagnosed with cd and they told my i shouldnt drink that much of it...i loved that stuff too it used to be the only thing that helped!
 
do you think we have always had crohns but just needed something to "turn the switch on"?
sharon xx
 
Chicken Pox~ here too.

straightpipe said:
Chicken Pox - Was 25 when I got the Chicken Pox and was running a 105 fever. Crohn's symptoms started about 6 months later.
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I am the same way! I got chicken pocks when I was 22, was really sick for 2 weeks and then within 6 months I was having Crohn's symptoms. WTF!
 
merrywidow said:
do you think we have always had crohns but just needed something to "turn the switch on"?
sharon xx
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Yes, cuz according to research there is a genetic predisposition but it must be triggered for the disease to become active.


:)
 
im starting to wonder if theyver ever done studies like the one that we're doing, unoficially, in this thread.
fateful and striaghtpipe had the same diagnosis timeline type thing...there are so many people who went the c-diff route.....has anyone ever looked at crohnies side by side to see HOW and when they were diagnosed?
i feel like there are some real clues here.
 
oh, i guess ive participated in something like this.
at childrens hosp of philly they took a blood sample and family history for a study

it just did not seem as in depth as what we're doing here i guess.....
 
I dunno if this could be a cause or trigger or what but my doc said it is possible that I "gave myself Crohn's.

As a child but mostly as a young adult I've had a candy addiction (it's a real addiction, dagnabit! Look it up!). Eventually I started having bad stomach pains and violent bowel movements after ingesting high amounts of high fructose corn syrup.

So the way I figure it, it is hereditary and all the high fructose corn syrup pretty much triggered it. Just a thought.
 
JillianB82 said:
Hmmmm, never really thought about it! I've read that several of you "ate" things. For some odd reason I used to eat coins when I was little. I guess I was trying to start my own savings account at a young age? Hmmmmmmmm
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haha ... me too!!! I used to swallow pennies. I never planned to .. but I was an oral personand used to suck on stuff and ended up swallowing it.
 
My Immune System is to strong and attacks my body. I get sick with a cold or what ever and maybe 1 or 2 days later back to my normal self. I don't know what it feels like to have a fever, flu, or anything like that. I was sick as I child and remember that but from there not sure what happened but never been to sick. I do however get the cough every year almost that hangs around for about 3 weeks but feel fine with it. Usually have to go get some cough med. from the doctor to sleep.
 
I used to think my immune system was strong, because I never got very sick from Colds or Flu. Now, it is my belief that I never got very sick because my immune response was weak. It simply did not respond much to these viruses.

Since taking LDN my reaction to these illnesses has been much more pronounced, and I missed work today because of a virus that knocked me out. My reactions are now in line with what a normal person experiences.

It is a case where I was 100% wrong in my assumption, and I would not have known that except for the immune boosting properties of LDN and my experiences with Colds and Flu since taking LDN.

Dan
 
I think I'm in the genetically-inherited camp. My father has some form of IBS, my brother has mild IBS ...and well, I was lucky enough to land with good ol' Crohn's. :yrolleyes:
 
My mom told me tonight I wasn't finished baking (was a preemie) and that's what my problem is. So can I just say that's what caused my Crohn's too?!?! :)

jecoll... I'm with you there. My sister, mom, brother, and my moms dad (I think it was grandpa who had it) have IBS. I'm just the lucky one who ended up with Crohn's instead.
 
merrywidow said:
i got all the way through that website and was ready to enrol my son only to find it was for canadians only.
sharon
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LOL, sorry about that, hopefully they'll start the saemt ype of project in your area.

:)
 
misscris said:
My mom told me tonight I wasn't finished baking (was a preemie) and that's what my problem is. So can I just say that's what caused my Crohn's too?!?! :)

jecoll... I'm with you there. My sister, mom, brother, and my moms dad (I think it was grandpa who had it) have IBS. I'm just the lucky one who ended up with Crohn's instead.
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Hard to say for sure but I know there are tons of preemies out there that have not developed and IBD due to being preemies, though they still have to figure out all the possible triggers for IBD.

:)
 
misscris said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by JillianB82
Hmmmm, never really thought about it! I've read that several of you "ate" things. For some odd reason I used to eat coins when I was little. I guess I was trying to start my own savings account at a young age? Hmmmmmmmm

haha ... me too!!! I used to swallow pennies. I never planned to .. but I was an oral personand used to suck on stuff and ended up swallowing it.

haha ... me too!!! I used to swallow pennies. I never planned to .. but I was an oral personand used to suck on stuff and ended up swallowing it.
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I used to have a thing with sucking on paperclips, staples, nails, pencil lead, anything metallic, pretty much. Do either of you have iron-defficiency anemia?

My doctor said some children eat/suck on metallic objects as a subconscious response to iron defficiency. My anemic aunt did the same thing!

As far as what caused my crohn's I definitely believe genetics play a factor. I have:
2 aunts and 2 cousins with IBS
1 great uncle with ulcerative colitis
1 uncle and 1 great uncle with crohns
and now my mother and sister are going in to get their stomach problems checked on the advice of my GI.
2 of my friends AND their fathers have crohns.

And i definitely agree that it must be triggered. For me, symtoms started when I was about 6, and my mother was in an abusive relationship. Ever since, if I get extremely nervous I tend to throw up. But other than that my crohn's rarely makes me nauseous.

ALSO, I strongly believe that my diet has had a HUGE impact on my crohns. I was raised on processed foods. I think that is the number one reason my symptoms worsened.
Dairy is a problem for me too, I'm starting to realize, BUT I LOVE CHEESE!!:ymad:
That, and, you guessed it, anti biotics!! I went from bronchitis, to strep throat, to sinus infections, back to strep throat.... as long as i can remember pretty much i was on anti biotics. Plus, I was very bad at taking them, which I now know is the WORSE thing you can do with antibiotics.:ybatty:

stress is definitely the #1 factor though... if i even think about THINKING about something that might make me stressed i feel my stomach tense up
 
In my case I believe it's genetic (Grandfather had UC and Mum and Aunty have autoimmune diseases).

For years I was pushing my body (burning the candle at both ends) with work and finally I was so exhausted but wasn't making the necessary choices to slow down. Had a chest infection for a week, but still ignored my body, so it landed me in hospital with Crohn's.

I now have a much more balanced life and listen to my body when it tells me I need to rest.

So, in summary: Genes and stress
 
I can remember having stomach aches as a teen and "colon cramps" as a young adult but the day that I was hospitalized with a very bad MRSA infection was the day that I first began experiencing joint pain and it got worse from there.

In fact, I was convinced that I was suffering from some ill effects of the antibiotic they had given me to get rid of the infection.
 
It may just be a coincidence, but in high school i had swimming class and one time i swallowed a big gulp of pool water by accident. this was 9th grade and i was fifteen. that summer, right around my sixteenth birthday was when i started having symptoms.
 
I'm pretty settled on Crohns NOT being genetic. I'm the only one in my family who has it. My brother, and sister are perfectly healthy. Mom and Dad are perfectly healthy, dad has some cholesterol problems but nothing other than that. None of my grandparents have ever had stomach problems. NONE of my aunt's and uncles have it. I feel saying the disease is genetic is such a cop out. There's a reason Crohns is unheard of in underdeveloped countries. Or practically unheard of in Asian countries. Or was practically nonexistant 100 years ago. I believe this is a disease completely caused by outside, environmental factors. What those factors are I'm not sure. Most likely has something to do with our lack of exposure to different forms of bacteria, combined with our extremely unhealthy eating habits, chemicals and preservatives put in our food, and overreliance on carbs and dairy. Could also be due to the numerous vaccinations we take as children which alter our immune systems.
 
I was on the pill and decided to stop taking it.
A week later I had diarrhea and did not stop til I was diagnosed with Crohn's, I think it was a hormone imbalance that started it.
 
Naps22 said:
I'm pretty settled on Crohns NOT being genetic. I'm the only one in my family who has it. My brother, and sister are perfectly healthy. Mom and Dad are perfectly healthy, dad has some cholesterol problems but nothing other than that. None of my grandparents have ever had stomach problems. NONE of my aunt's and uncles have it. I feel saying the disease is genetic is such a cop out. There's a reason Crohns is unheard of in underdeveloped countries. Or practically unheard of in Asian countries. Or was practically nonexistant 100 years ago. I believe this is a disease completely caused by outside, environmental factors. What those factors are I'm not sure. Most likely has something to do with our lack of exposure to different forms of bacteria, combined with our extremely unhealthy eating habits, chemicals and preservatives put in our food, and overreliance on carbs and dairy. Could also be due to the numerous vaccinations we take as children which alter our immune systems.
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I pretty much have came to the same conclusion. Now, personally I do think that Crohn's might be genetic in some cases, but for the most part I strongly believe it's enviromental. Granted, I have yet to be diagnosed, but around the time I started experiencing symptoms I was off and on antibiotics and in the back of my head I can't help but think it contributed to a "bacterial imbalance" of the sorts. The first time I went to the ER for pain I was put BACK on antibiotics and was reluctant, but took them anyway. I read something interesting the other day and wonder if it's been brought up (I'll see if I can find the article), but they were saying that there might be a link between mercury fillings and IBD.
 
For what it's worth, I caught a cold in October 08 and then I turned 40. I have not felt human since early Oct. I was very healthy up until then and Crohn's does not run in my family.

Chelli
 
Last September I got 'adult' mono, just means it hits you harder, they had me take a tetanus shot, suffered through November, lots of stress through February, mid-March I began to get symptoms. I'm not diagnosed either, but I definitely think the mono wore down my immune system, the tetanus shot immunization didn't help and the stress kicked it all into high gear.
 
Well being a mix of eastern european/jewish and irish. Who for some reason have a greater chance of developing it. Seems by definition i was destined to have it.

Also my father had a bad birth defect as a baby he was born without a rectum they had to make him one (this was back in the 50's).

I always thought that family history played a big part. However what actually "triggered" it I don't know. I had many ear infections growing up as well as lung and throat infections. Then when I was 8-9 I was hit hard in the stomach with an aluminum baseball bat. I really think the trauma kicked it into over drive. I remember when i was younger when I was 5-6 when I ran for soccer I'd get a real bad pain in the sweet spot you guys know what I mean.

As for the "trigger" if i had to lay my money down on a table and guess. I would say stress triggers it.
 
i actually had/have no other family members that have any forms of ibd, besides my grandma having a slight cause of collitis and my grandfather on the other side having colon cancer.

i was diagnosed with lyme's disease 3 years before which maybe could've affected my immune system pretty bad? it didn't help that i was 14 at the time and ate garbage every day (like literally garbage! free pizza from the garbage cans at school, and dumpster diving at dunkin donuts). then when i was 17 i did spring track at the high school and really pushed my body. this is when i started noticing some symptoms, i had a few perianal abscesses but since i was young and didn't really know what was going on and i brushed them off as hemorrhoids. later that summer a ridiculously sized one led me to a serious lancing and a colonoscopy follow up.
 
I went to Glastonbury festival in 1995, the day I came back I was sat in a pub with my mates when I suddenly needed to run to the toilet, on sitting down my guts let go and exploded in what looked like a gallon of D. Although I quickly recovered the following months got slowly worse until I was hospitalised at Christmas and diagnosed then.

I can't help but think that living on a field for 4 days that is normally kept for dairy cows and not being able to wash properly plus sharing a toilet with 80,000 other dirty people might have played a part in me picking up e-coli or some other nasty that acted as a trigger.

Or the fact my mother put me on cow’s milk too early? Either way my doc says it's genetic with an environmental factor that kicks it off.
 
Cows are where the Mycobacterium Avium subspecies Paratuberculosis pathogen comes from. The main suspect bacterium in Crohn's disease.

Dan
 
D Bergy said:
Cows are where the Mycobacterium Avium subspecies Paratuberculosis pathogen comes from. The main suspect bacterium in Crohn's disease.

Dan
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Yup. ParaTB is where it's at. Somewhere along the line we all had a bad carton of milk, and now we're here on the internet comparing stories about how rapidly our bowels evacuate.
 
Probably an accumulation of poor dietary habits growing up in the 90s as a pre-teen, environmental pollution/ second hand smoke, the amount of tap water I'd freely consume after recess in elementary school (fluoride and other nasties displacing iodine), and not enough quality vegetables.

Oh, and my aunt actually has Crohn's disease; a genetic inheritance? Perhaps had some influence.
 
I think first and foremost genetics then as u get older there are triggers if u like that set the disease of and it's usually stress and dietary intake put all 3 together and it tends to be a good platform for an attack
 
Nobody in my family has IBD. So in my case, I doubt it's genetic (but it still could be).

I see three potential causes:

1- I've taken loads of antibiotics through the years. I was never seriously ill (until my UC) but was often a little sick (the flu, tonsillitis, otitis, etc) + I had acne problems when I was a teenager. Back then, doctors seemed to prescribe antibiotics as if they were candy. So it might have messed up my gut bacterias.

2- I used to eat a LOT of carbohydrates. All through my childhood and my adult life. And I didn't eat much veggies, even though I liked them. I was too carbohydrate-obsessed! I'd say about 80% of my food intake was carbs. I think this also might have messed up my gut bacterias.

3- I've always suffered from anxiety. It has gotten way worse since I've been stuck with UC but even before, I didn't handle stress well. Things that seemed normal for most people were very scary or uncomfortable to me. I think it may have worn me out in the long run and my body just couldn't take it anymore. I don't believe that could be the main explanation but I do think it may have had a part.

Most likely, those three factors came into play and voilà... UC made an apparition.

I'll never really have the answer. But I'm still trying to improve my gut flora because you never know, right?
 
I got Crohn's Disease due to IBS.
Before I was diagnosed with Crohn's, I was suffering with IBS for an year. It got worse & by the time we finally went to Hospital, IBS had upgraded itself to Crohn's.

Infact, I read in some places that if IBS is untreated, it gets severe & goes into directions: Ulcerative Colitis (Infects only large intestine) or Crohn's (infects anywhere from throat to end of Large intestine). In my case, unfortunately it was the big Daddy Crohn's. :(
 
I blame my moms side of the family. My grandma has severe IBS and celiac disorder. My mom has IBS. Her brother got colon cancer and died due to complications caused by it.

But I also think environment is equally an important factor. Childhood and prenatal stressors no doubt have an impact on autoimmune diseases.
 
Studies show risk factors for developing crohn's include:

Vitamin d deficiency
Antibiotics
low fiber diet
high sugar diet
high meat diet

and possibly sacharrin, sucralose, and emulsifiers like polysorbate 80, carageenan.
 
I personally think the IBS diagnosis is just what doctors call it when they see a GI disorder, but they can't determine what it really is. I was diagnosed with IBS for years before an ER Doc said it is crohns disease.
 
DougUte said:
I personally think the IBS diagnosis is just what doctors call it when they see a GI disorder, but they can't determine what it really is. I was diagnosed with IBS for years before an ER Doc said it is crohns disease.
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I think so too. I've not heard of IBS being a risk factor for Crohn's, they're described as unrelated in the official advice I've seen (e.g. NHS web pages), but it seems an awful lot of people get misdiagnosed with IBS before further tests reveal Crohn's later on. If someone has IBS and later gets Crohn's, my guess would be that it's actually been Crohn's all along, and Crohn's would have been diagnosed earlier if enough testing had been done. I think that happens with other diseases too. I've heard more than once of someone being misdiagnosed with IBS which later turned out to be colon cancer.
 
As a kid I had a lot of ear and throat infections and was put on anti biotics often.

I also ate toothpaste while playing 'doctor' with my cousin.

I used to get heartburn at a young age from wheat-based sweets like donuts.

It triggered in highschool though, one day I was perfectly fine eating french onion dip, had my first flare mid meal and never got better.

I was doing well on remicade until they put me on acutane, I cant prove causation but I got much worse after acutane and biologics stopped working, I got new symptoms and developed food intolerances which previously didn't exist as long as I was on remicade.

My symptoms got worse after both high sugar and exclusive no-carb dieting because I didn't understand the importance of complex carbs on the micorbiome.
 
I had a urinary tract infection as a infant, and the doctor put me on antibiotics for over a year. My parents didn't know any better to realize that was not appropriate length of time to be on antibiotics. I believe the doctor or my parents were not paying attention. At that point a probiotic milk formula maybe would have been beneficial to offset the damage done by the antibiotics. Although back in the 90's I'm sure that didn't exist.

In addition, dietary habits as a kid and stress/environmental factors helped trigger my first flare at the age of 12. I believe I had minor symptoms leading up to that point. I have no family history of IBD.
 
I've always had a "sensitive" stomach with lots of D along the way but what set me off were longish trips to Mexico the first time and Thailand the second. Both times I returned with a bad case of D which went on for months. The first time it resolved itself but the second came with the diagnosis of UC.

No one in my family is affected and I didn't grow up on junk food. I did have may ear infections as a child and heaps of antibiotics for that and also lived in a dairy village for a few years where I played in fields with cow pats etc.
 
Well I've always been notorious for getting sick. When I was a child, I constantly had ear infections & the flu. In high school I got strep throat constantly (so yep been on a lot of antibiotics and meds like aspirin). I also had mono 5 times in my life, one time I had mono & the H1N1 virus at the same time (it was pure HELL). But I really think the reason why I ended up with Crohn's disease is due to my family on my mother's side suffering from IBS / IBD and also both sides of my family have been affected by Colon cancer. I was also trailed on over 30 different psychiatric medications (I'm 24). So yeah I believe that's basically why I'm suffering the way I am now. I always ate decently healthy, rarely ate sweets mostly just veg and low fat meats like chicken and fish. Blah
 
My husband's GI said its genetic and some factor could have triggered it (In his case, it could be moving from India to USA, the environment change could have been the trigger) but we can never confirm it. Sometimes I think he could have remained healthy had we remained in India :(

-----------------
Hubby dx with Crohn's in Feb 2015
2 anal fistulas (setons placed)
Taking INH for Latent TB since we're from India
Meds - Cipro, Apriso, Bentyl, Tramadol, Vit B6, B12 and Vit D

:ybatty:
 
My daughter was diagnosed with Crohns at age 12. 15 years ago, My nephew was also diagnosed with Crohns at the same age. They both have Crohns Colitis/Ulcerative Colitis.

What caused her IBD:Genetics and bacteria, not digesting food well and possibly thyroid issues.
 
Last edited:
OK, so some think it was genetic, some think it's was a weakened immune system. For others it had to do with vaccines and/or antibiotics and some say stress/trauma played a role.

Maybe the cause is a bit of everything. When I look back at when it started in my case, all these things were the case.
Constipation and stomach aches seemed to run a bit in the family on father's and mother's side.
I had been ill with a bad persistent cough a year long and had antibiotics and lots of codeine (which causes constipation in many people). So my immune system wasn't too good. I went to Indonesia on holiday and needed a lot of vaccines and when I came back we found out that my dad had an affair and things went to pieces.
It all started from then on.
I don't think there is one cause, I think it's a combination of factors. That's why I believe in a more holistic approach to find the solution.
 
I agree with you. I don't think there is any single original cause for the disease.

Something, and that can mean a pathogen, antibiotic, chemical exposure, maybe even genetics play a role, alters the immune system/response.

Then exposure to one or more pathogens result in the symptoms of the disease.

I am leaning toward a pathogen in my particular case being the original cause, but I have been exposed to so much in my lifetime I certainly cannot be sure of that.

So I treat the causes of the symptoms the best way I can hope I am right enough to stay in remission.

Time will be the judge.

Dan
 
Just been reading an interesting article on Greenmedinfo that might go well with the topic of this thread.

Here is just a part of it.

No one would accuse Yehuda Shoenfeld of being a quack. The Israeli clinician has spent more than three decades studying the human immune system and is at the pinnacle of his profession. You might say he is more foundation than fringe in his specialty; he wrote the textbooks. The Mosaic of Autoimmunity, Autoantibodies, Diagnostic Criteria in Autoimmune Diseases, Infection and Autoimmunity, Cancer and Autoimmunity – the list is 25 titles long and some of them are cornerstones of clinical practice. Hardly surprising that Shoenfeld has been called the "Godfather of Autoimmunology" – the study of the immune system turned on itself in a wide array of diseases from type 1 diabetes to ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis.

But something strange is happening in the world of immunology lately and a small evidence of it is that the Godfather of Autoimmunology is pointing to vaccines – specifically, some of their ingredients including the toxic metal aluminum – as a significant contributor to the growing global epidemic of autoimmune diseases. The bigger evidence is a huge body of research that's poured in in the past 15 years, and particularly in the past five years. Take for example, a recent article published in the journal Pharmacological Research in which Shoenfeld and colleagues issue unprecedented guidelines naming four categories of people who are most at risk for vaccine-induced autoimmunity.

"On one hand," vaccines prevent infections which can trigger autoimmunity, say the paper's authors, Alessandra Soriano, of the Department of Clinical Medicine and Rheumatology at the Campus Bio-Medico University in Rome, Gideon Nesher, of the Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem and Shoenfeld, founder and head of the Zabludowicz Center of Autoimmune Diseases in the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. He is also editor of three medical journals and author of more than 1,500 research papers across the spectrum of medical journalism and founder of the International Congress on Autoimmunology. "On the other hand, many reports that describe post-vaccination autoimmunity strongly suggest that vaccines can indeed trigger autoimmunity. Defined autoimmune diseases that may occur following vaccinations include arthritis, lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE) diabetes mellitus, thrombocytopenia, vasculitis, dermatomyosiositis, Guillain-Barre syndrome and demyelinating disorders. Almost all types of vaccines have been reported to be associated with the onset of ASIA."

ASIA – or Autoimmune/inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants (also known as Shoenfeld's syndrome) -- first appeared in the Journal of Autoimmunology four years ago. It is an umbrella term for a collection of similar symptoms, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, that result after exposure to an adjuvant – an environmental agent including common vaccine ingredients that stimulate the immune system. Since then an enormous body of research, using ASIA as a paradigm, has begun to unravel the mystery of how environmental toxins, particularly the metal aluminum used in vaccines, can trigger an immune system chain reaction in susceptible individuals and may lead to overt autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune disease results when the body's system meant to attack foreign invaders turns instead to attack part of the body it belongs to (auto is Greek for self). If the immune system is like a national defence system, antibodies are like drones programmed to recognize a certain type of invader (a bacteria say) and to destroy them or mark them for destruction by other special forces. Autoantibodies are like drones that are misidentifying a component of the human body and have launched a sustained attack on it. If they mistakenly target a component of the conductive sheath around neurons, for example, nerve impulses stop conducting properly, muscles go into spasm and coordination fails; multiple sclerosis results. If autoantibodies erroneously focus on joint tissue; rheumatoid arthritis results. If they target the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, Type 1 diabetes, and so on.

Look it up if you want to read the full article.
 
Very interesting. I can tell you that all my health issues started after getting a flu vaccine back in 2003. So yes, I agree that any type of vaccine can trigger an immune response that can be catastrophic for some. I just read about a girl who got the Gardasil vaccine and she developed ALS. It is definitely very scary.













Petra said:
Just been reading an interesting article on Greenmedinfo that might go well with the topic of this thread.

Here is just a part of it.

No one would accuse Yehuda Shoenfeld of being a quack. The Israeli clinician has spent more than three decades studying the human immune system and is at the pinnacle of his profession. You might say he is more foundation than fringe in his specialty; he wrote the textbooks. The Mosaic of Autoimmunity, Autoantibodies, Diagnostic Criteria in Autoimmune Diseases, Infection and Autoimmunity, Cancer and Autoimmunity – the list is 25 titles long and some of them are cornerstones of clinical practice. Hardly surprising that Shoenfeld has been called the "Godfather of Autoimmunology" – the study of the immune system turned on itself in a wide array of diseases from type 1 diabetes to ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis.

But something strange is happening in the world of immunology lately and a small evidence of it is that the Godfather of Autoimmunology is pointing to vaccines – specifically, some of their ingredients including the toxic metal aluminum – as a significant contributor to the growing global epidemic of autoimmune diseases. The bigger evidence is a huge body of research that's poured in in the past 15 years, and particularly in the past five years. Take for example, a recent article published in the journal Pharmacological Research in which Shoenfeld and colleagues issue unprecedented guidelines naming four categories of people who are most at risk for vaccine-induced autoimmunity.

"On one hand," vaccines prevent infections which can trigger autoimmunity, say the paper's authors, Alessandra Soriano, of the Department of Clinical Medicine and Rheumatology at the Campus Bio-Medico University in Rome, Gideon Nesher, of the Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem and Shoenfeld, founder and head of the Zabludowicz Center of Autoimmune Diseases in the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. He is also editor of three medical journals and author of more than 1,500 research papers across the spectrum of medical journalism and founder of the International Congress on Autoimmunology. "On the other hand, many reports that describe post-vaccination autoimmunity strongly suggest that vaccines can indeed trigger autoimmunity. Defined autoimmune diseases that may occur following vaccinations include arthritis, lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE) diabetes mellitus, thrombocytopenia, vasculitis, dermatomyosiositis, Guillain-Barre syndrome and demyelinating disorders. Almost all types of vaccines have been reported to be associated with the onset of ASIA."

ASIA – or Autoimmune/inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants (also known as Shoenfeld's syndrome) -- first appeared in the Journal of Autoimmunology four years ago. It is an umbrella term for a collection of similar symptoms, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, that result after exposure to an adjuvant – an environmental agent including common vaccine ingredients that stimulate the immune system. Since then an enormous body of research, using ASIA as a paradigm, has begun to unravel the mystery of how environmental toxins, particularly the metal aluminum used in vaccines, can trigger an immune system chain reaction in susceptible individuals and may lead to overt autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune disease results when the body's system meant to attack foreign invaders turns instead to attack part of the body it belongs to (auto is Greek for self). If the immune system is like a national defence system, antibodies are like drones programmed to recognize a certain type of invader (a bacteria say) and to destroy them or mark them for destruction by other special forces. Autoantibodies are like drones that are misidentifying a component of the human body and have launched a sustained attack on it. If they mistakenly target a component of the conductive sheath around neurons, for example, nerve impulses stop conducting properly, muscles go into spasm and coordination fails; multiple sclerosis results. If autoantibodies erroneously focus on joint tissue; rheumatoid arthritis results. If they target the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, Type 1 diabetes, and so on.

Look it up if you want to read the full article.
Click to expand...
 
I'd never had anything wrong with me until the Crohn's symptoms started. No exposure to antibiotics, and I was so rarely ill that I had a phobia of throwing up (one plus to the Crohn's I guess, getting rid of that). I've read a little about MAP and contaminated dairy products, but I've had a real thing against milk since I was around 5 and refused to go near it.

My symptoms started late last year and honestly, I have no clue. My mother was diagnosed with Crohn's roughly three years ago.
 

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