What's your theory on how you got Crohn's Disease?

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Genetics definitely contribute, but there is something going on in our environment. Our genes haven't changed from 100 years ago(unless you count epigenetics which is caused by enviroment) but the incidence of IBD has skyrocketed in recent years. Our environment has changed drastically with engineered food, pesticides, processed food and liberal use of antibiotics.
For me, I never had any bowel problems. Although my Mom and sister have IBS. I think mine was multi-factorial. Take underlying genetic predisposition, add extreme stress from a break up, horrible eating habit(everything processed) and altering my microbiome with long term antibiotics and blamo Crohn's. As soon as I went off the antibiotics I landed in the hospital. At first they thought C Diff but later confirmed Crohn's. I'll be getting my 23&me results back in a few weeks and am curious to find some of my genetics background.
 
Dodgy genes in my family, dad had Crohns, but I got IBD within a year of his death and I think it was triggered not so much by the stress of losing him but because I ate like a pig to cope with my distress. I put on two or three stones and I think my gut just couldn't cope with the overload of junk.
 
I agree with the gene factor although I am the first in my family to be diagnosed but many family members have experienced many undiagnosed gut issues and pain. My mom was convinced she had Crohns after I was diagnosed but she was cleared. Our enviroment, food and habits are definitely major factors as well and I think illnesses bring on the flare ups. For me I think being on many antibiotics as a kid being treated for Scarlet Fever ( like who has that these days) affected me for sure. Everyone has different triggers and everyone has to be treated individually. Hate this disease!!!!
 
smt said:
One reads this thread and is amazed. Many people are blaming it on perceived stress/a bug/the like, but we have not used a control. My guess is that if one picks 100 random healthy individuals, most will complain of stress/bug at some point in their life. In that sense, this group is not much different from controls. What is undeniable, though, is genetics. Since Crohn's is a rare condition, it is quite clear that genetics is the culprit. The most that can be said for stress is that it is a moderator.
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I agree and have the same reaction when I come back to this thread.

"How you got CD" might not be the best wording for the thread. People seem to be answering the question "what do you think triggered your CD". Then stress, poor eating, a GI bug, tobacco, drinking, a course of antibiotics, any and all of that stuff is known to change your gut microbiome. If one is susceptible (genetics) and has a triggering event like those mentioned in this thread, then maybe (only maybe) does that person develop disease. There is considerable acceptance of the idea that it takes something else besides genetic susceptibility and a triggering event. That something else is an unknown pathogen or set of pathogens; it doesn't stop at your human genetics, but also the genetics of the gut microbiome that your body has settled upon.
 
7vNH said:
I agree and have the same reaction when I come back to this thread.

"How you got CD" might not be the best wording for the thread. People seem to be answering the question "what do you think triggered your CD". Then stress, poor eating, a GI bug, tobacco, drinking, a course of antibiotics, any and all of that stuff is known to change your gut microbiome. If one is susceptible (genetics) and has a triggering event like those mentioned in this thread, then maybe (only maybe) does that person develop disease. There is considerable acceptance of the idea that it takes something else besides genetic susceptibility and a triggering event. That something else is an unknown pathogen or set of pathogens; it doesn't stop at your human genetics, but also the genetics of the gut microbiome that your body has settled upon.
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So true.
 
I agree that this thread should have been called what Triggered your IDB rather than Cause it.

I've always had a "weak" tummy and can't remember not having D regularly but the first 2 big flares I had were both triggered by holidays in Mexico and Thailand respectively. Both time I got very sick while there, the D didn't stop for months on end after I returned and I lost a lot of weight, and after the second trip I was diagnosed with UC.

I have no idea however what has triggered the last couple of flares, they came on slowly, kind of crept up on me and I don't have the pain or the weight loss I did all those years ago.

I grew up eating mostly healthy food, no soda's or many sweets etc. I did have more than my fair share of antibiotics when young due to recurring ear infections but I don't remember a direct correlation to any stomach issues.
 
This is a wonderful discussion that is on here.

However, some of you say that Crohn's prevalence has skyrocketed in the recent years, and also blame processed food. Seemingly there is a link between the two. But have you looked at the alternative explanation that diagnostics are much better now? In the same vain, some say that it is a rarer condition in countries like India. Can diagnostics account for that?

In a real experiment, one would have to control for diagnostics and processed food simultaneously. In a society where processed food is available diagnostics is available. In real life such experiments are difficult.

Maybe one day a cure would be found, maybe not. More probably it would be imperfect, like much of life is. But there is no denying that the excellent people on fora such as this would not give in, and strive to get a better life. Our genetics might have dealt a blow to us, but we are fighting it out.
 
Absolutely no known genetics in my family.I am the first to be dx'd with IBD,and then not until my mid fifties.I indicated that bad food poisoning MAY have been a trigger because it seems like the most obvious to me.
 
I was put on some medication to help control my rheumatoid arthritis and started having D almost right away. I lost about 10lb in 2 weeks so the Dr took me off it. Since then I have had stomach issues, I think the meds triggered my CD. There doesn't seem to be anyone in my family that has any autoimmune diseases other than myself and I have 2!
 
cdnrose said:
I was put on some medication to help control my rheumatoid arthritis and started having D almost right away. I lost about 10lb in 2 weeks so the Dr took me off it. Since then I have had stomach issues, I think the meds triggered my CD. There doesn't seem to be anyone in my family that has any autoimmune diseases other than myself and I have 2!
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I appreciate contrary viewpoints. However, genetics is not an entity that can be manifest necessarily within the last one or two generations. Probably, there are environmental triggers such as stress as I had mentioned, but genetics is the main variable influencing the disease. The two main ideas resonating in this thread are genetics and environment. If you subtract these two from controls, you are left with genetics. I agree that the interaction of genetics with environment is interesting and needs to be studied.
 
Hi I am pretty sure mine was caused by a genetic component (my maternal aunt had it), and stress. I used to be a real stress head, slightest things would have me ripping my hair out.
Since being diagnosed and suffering terribly till my surgery induced remission, I have done a complete turn round on the stress front. I have learned to not be stressed now, so much so I'm practically horizontal I'm that laid back about stuff, that used to send me round the bend.
I also think that environmental issues and processed foods may be connected.
My mantra is don't stress the big s**t, don't stress the small s**t, coz it's all just s**t... All will be good, it too will come to pass.. ☺
 
I dont know what triggerd my cd i just became very sick all of a sudden and i did not do anything different that i did in the past up untill now
 
I have a vague idea. I try to avoid dwelling on the how. But there's some correlations that are hard to ignore. I think genetic combined with environmental triggers. My mom's side has some pretty unruly guts, no diagnosis's but can't be diagnosed when refusing to go to the doctor sooo... who knows. Chronic headaches my entire life which I took ibuprofen for, daily, for a decade. There was a cluster of high-disease rates in children in my neighborhood. We lived between valleys covered in vineyards. Water, pesticide run off, who knows. Regardless - multiple crohnies, several cases of UC, four on my street with various types of cancer over the years including colon cancer. That said, while I struggled with health, inflammation, and joint issues earlier I did not start having Crohn's symptoms until stress really began to lead my life in high school.

My theory? Some kind of domino effect. What those domino's are? I can't say, probably a differing combination for each of us.
 
I believe I have a genetic component that made me susceptible to Crohn's. I have several family members- maternal grandfather, two maternal aunts and a maternal uncle had/have ankylosing spondylitis. I had a paternal aunt who was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
 
I was diagnosed with "indeterminate colitis" for about 8 years before a stricture caused a blockage and sent me to the ER. I had just started a new job 3 months before my hospital visit and was very stressed out, because I didn't feel that I was prepared for the job and they'd find out I was a fraud. I'm sure that stress didn't help matters and probably had something to do with it. However, I still have the same job now, and it's relatively stress free now that I've grown into it.
 
Dominos pizza.
At least that's what I jokingly tell myself. I've heard that infections/food poisoning/etc. can trigger your first flare. It was February 2015, I was in the process of moving and eating dominos regularly until one night I had the worst case of food poisoning of my life. It lasted until my diagnosis in July 2015.
It probably had a lot to do with stress from work and moving too, as I have no family history of any gut issues, but I still blame the pizza. #neveragain.
 
Archa004 said:
Dominos pizza.
At least that's what I jokingly tell myself. I've heard that infections/food poisoning/etc. can trigger your first flare. It was February 2015, I was in the process of moving and eating dominos regularly until one night I had the worst case of food poisoning of my life. It lasted until my diagnosis in July 2015.
It probably had a lot to do with stress from work and moving too, as I have no family history of any gut issues, but I still blame the pizza. #neveragain.
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There is a test that can tell if you have the genetic mutation. The main mutation has to be "triggered" by something else. So people in your family could have the genetic mutation, but never had anything trigger it, so no one would ever think yours was genetic.
 
Miss Underestimated said:
There is a test that can tell if you have the genetic mutation. The main mutation has to be "triggered" by something else. So people in your family could have the genetic mutation, but never had anything trigger it, so no one would ever think yours was genetic.
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I heard about that! I'm actually waiting to get the results back from a genetic test/IBD study so we'll see what they say. I'll be interesting to read the results either way.
 
No idea. Honestly, I've never given it much thought. I work in the medical feild and see people with horrible disease and accidents all the time, and most are of unknown cause, so I just accept and try to move forward.
 
I have a twin. He is fine, I won the Crohn's lotto. I have had the disease since my pre teens, roughly 30 years. It's interesting that we both were inseparable as kids. We ate the same, did everything together. Neither of us were anything close to what I would consider stressed. We ate very well, exercised and we're otherwise very healthy. I have wondered many nights as to causation. Hereditary inherited disease doesn't fit, I am the only family member to have it, in both trees three generations back. In the end, I believe the cause must be environmental or dietary and also incredibly innocuous. My 2c.
 
I haven't been diagnosed yet, but I am having a colonoscopy done 9 days from now. I've always had a sensitive tummy. I hate wearing anything tight around that area because it causes terrible discomfort. I was diagnosed with PTSD in 1999, which caused depression and anxiety, stemming from losing a friend in a car crash. I think this is the time that my Celiac disease began, as well. I've read that psychological trauma can cause brain and body chemical reactions. I had horrible symptoms - vomiting, nausea with hypersalivation, diarrhea (was often in unison with vomiting, which was horrible), and medical anorexia (I was hungry but couldn't keep anything down due to vomiting). My PCP in 1999 suspected problems with my gallbladder as I reported symptoms similar to it and pain in the abdomen. I recently had my gallbladder tested - by ultrasound and HIDA scan - and it was shown normal and working perfectly. I suspect that, if I have IBD, it's been going on for about 17 years now, but just started getting worse this year due to stress of a full-time job. I love my job, don't get me wrong, but it's the first time I've worked full-time in several years. I went full-time for school and part-time work, but it doesn't quite compare. It took quite a while to get used to the full-time schedule of M-F, 8:30-5.
 
It's beginning to feel strange to say that 2 of our kids have crohn's when one has been symptom and med free for over 10 years. We recently found out my husband's cousin has crohn's - was diagnosed as an adult over 40.

Our kids were diagnosed at 16 and 24.

We had some financial stress when our youngest was born and I often think it contributed to both of our kids getting sick. :(
 
I have not been diagnosed, but have been having gut issues on and off for the last 5 years. I do have other health issues too. My thought is that it is an immune system malfunction that causes these types of diseases. The gut is the hub of the immune system and if something happens to disrupt the delicate ecosystem( microbiome) of the gut, then that leaves a person vulnerable to many disease states. Lots of things can cause a disruption in the gut flora ( antibiotic usage, Viruses, mold, lifestyle, diet choices, stress, etc..).
 
My son had constant ear infections until his tonsils were removed at 3 years old. He was on antibiotics more times than I can count. A pediatric gastro at CHOP told me there could be a link to excessive antibiotic use in children and Crohns.
 
hauermich said:
My son had constant ear infections until his tonsils were removed at 3 years old. He was on antibiotics more times than I can count. A pediatric gastro at CHOP told me there could be a link to excessive antibiotic use in children and Crohns.
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That's interesting, never heard that before. I too had constant ear infections as a child and took loads of antibiotics over the years. Who knows, that might have been part of the cause too.
 
I blame bad diet as a child. Someone else mentioned reluctance to poo as i child and i had that too. I also had bad infections as a child and was on antibiotics. Stress is also a factor for sure. So many issues, but i think diet is the key factor.
 
cytwombly said:
I blame bad diet as a child. Someone else mentioned reluctance to poo as i child and i had that too. I also had bad infections as a child and was on antibiotics. Stress is also a factor for sure. So many issues, but i think diet is the key factor.
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I hear so many people mention diet and I have to say my son was not the typical kid. Sure he ate chicken nuggets and pizza but he also ate tons of fruit, veggies, salad, fish, etc. He tried everything and ate things most kids wouldn't touch, lots of healthy things and he has Crohn' s. My daughter who is almost 22 who never touches fruits or veggies exists on hot pockets, Totinos pizza rolls and Dunkin Donuts and she's fine.
 
Mary said:
I think mine was stress related. I have severe anxiety especially about my health, and was having panick attacks everyday. Lost my brother years ago that really affected me. I am 41 so how come so late in life. When I read alot about people getting younger.
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I lost my brother almost 15 years ago. I think the stress over these past years have brought on my Crohn's as well. I was only diagnosed yesterday Feb 7, 17. Thanks for sharing your story
 
dejavucandace said:
I have no single person in my family history with anything like this and I will for sure go along with the stress factor....I mean who doesn't have stress? But Im really leaning towards the NSAIDS. I had whiplash a few times and when those things came out as over the counter is what like heaven for me. That and I fully suspect I have an overgrowth of candida that I have not been able to get under control for more than 5 years now. My belly pain coincides with that time line. Since I am 50 it seems very odd to be showing up now as Crohns. Its plain to see though that we are killing ourselves in this day and age!
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The only pain reliever my doctor will a!low me is Tylenol. The others cause bleeding.
 
Mary said:
I think mine was stress related. I have severe anxiety especially about my health, and was having panick attacks everyday. Lost my brother years ago that really affected me. I am 41 so how come so late in life. When I read alot about people getting younger.
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I was diagnosed at 50. Although I've had digestive issues all throughout my life, the Crohn's stuff didn't manifest until a year and a half ago.
 
I have no idea what caused mine. I guess stress could be a factor as the last 5 years have been huge - my daughter was born with a rare skin condition which has been a huge learning curve. My mum has been battling stage 4 melanoma. My dad had a nervous breakdown. I have 3 children lol. I feel like I've dealt relatively well woth everything considering, but maybe it's taken a bigger toll on my body than I thought.
I stopped smoking for 4 years and stupidly started again 3 years ago. That probably plays a big role too, but I'm really struggling to stop.
 
I smoked and made poor food choices. Bachelors don't tend to eat very well.LOL! Plus I worked around a lot of chemicals in the auto body shop. I think Glyphosate in our GMO foods killed a lot of good gut flora too and gave me leaky gut syndrome. Plus as a kid I had a lot of antibiotics and back then we never knew about probiotics to help replace what was killed off. The only one we knew about was acidophilus. Those are some of the things that I think triggered my first serious bout. After I became more educated and started making better choices I sure noticed a big difference.
 
I had my first anal boil and steaks of blood in the toilet in my last year of high school at a private boarding school I was forced to attend for the last 3 years of school. I would only see my family once a month throughout the school year. This was back in the 1970's and the school was rough. Stress was very high and we had to share toilets which is where I believe I got Crohn's from. That and perhaps from sharing cigarettes and joints with others.
I was very stressed out as a teenager, and once I got out of that school and got on with my life the blood in the toilet occurred more often, followed by the nasty painful anal abscesses of the 1980's. The doctors didn't know what caused these and just stated that I would heal up since I was young. These did not and I ended up on a colostomy and took early retirement.
 
I had a lot of work related stress for a couple of years before I got sick. I've always cooked healthy food, no processed junk, so it wasn't my diet. I did like my Southern Comfort though. But if it was stress, how do little kids get Crohn's. Maybe the stress triggered whatever I already had. A virus, bacteria? I hope they find out, so that they can cure it, instead of bombarding us with all these chemicals.
 
Took a lot of Advil in high school for shin splints in basketball, along with a lot of stress due to starting uni and getting a job I did not like all within a year. Those things combined with genetic predisposition (uncle and cousin have it) are why I believe I have it.
 
I had never had any bowel or stomach issues until I was 26 and I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled. I was put under anesthesia for the procedure. Literally when I went home to recover, I've never been the same since. Thought it was the pain pills upsetting my stomach, thought it was C Diff from the penicillin I was given to prevent infection in my gums, it wasn't. A couple months later, the stomach pains and diarrhea wouldn't stop, I had a colonoscopy, and I was diagnosed with Crohns. I don't know if something went wrong in my body during or after the procedure, but I think it triggered my crohns. I wish I would have never gotten them removed, I always think, what if I never had them removed and I could be normal again.
 
My 9 year old is in the process of being diagnosed - my theory is the swimming pool where she was taking swimming lesson was infected with a bacteria that she probably ingested. 4 weeks into swimming lessons, she got sick. :(
 
I have UC, diagnosed last month. my theory is that my symptoms started following a stomach virus/food poisoning where I was very ill for three days.. I also had recently been eating loads of very hot curries, something I never did before, so i think the two combined triggered the flare and now I've got pretty bad UC that shows no sign of going into remission :(... probably lied dormant in me for years as I've always had a dodgy stomach and been funny with milk all my life... so that's my theory x
 
I am sure I got it from medicines.i was having low grade fever an year back and few doctors would brush it off saying nothing and few would say yes I have fever. So was taking medicines for fever. I went under series of test it showed nothing I was admitted to hospital for 3 days. I was prescribed a full course of malaria , doxy for 2 months, augmentine for one month. Since I had never taken medicines before I never knew that if after taking medicines I am having I have to report it to doctor. So went on taking them. After 1 month I started to have nausea, could not eat full meal. I am now diagnosed with IBD.
I wish I was warned for the side effects of medicines. I would have never taken it. I struggling to bring my gut to same level it was before. I am loosing hope now.
 
Newhope123 said:
I am sure I got it from medicines.i was having low grade fever an year back and few doctors would brush it off saying nothing and few would say yes I have fever. So was taking medicines for fever. I went under series of test it showed nothing I was admitted to hospital for 3 days. I was prescribed a full course of malaria , doxy for 2 months, augmentine for one month. Since I had never taken medicines before I never knew that if after taking medicines I am having I have to report it to doctor. So went on taking them. After 1 month I started to have nausea, could not eat full meal. I am now diagnosed with IBD.
I wish I was warned for the side effects of medicines. I would have never taken it. I struggling to bring my gut to same level it was before. I am loosing hope now.
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Don't lose hope. You have a lot of support here.
 
AliGilbreath said:
I had never had any bowel or stomach issues until I was 26 and I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled. I was put under anesthesia for the procedure. Literally when I went home to recover, I've never been the same since. Thought it was the pain pills upsetting my stomach, thought it was C Diff from the penicillin I was given to prevent infection in my gums, it wasn't. A couple months later, the stomach pains and diarrhea wouldn't stop, I had a colonoscopy, and I was diagnosed with Crohns. I don't know if something went wrong in my body during or after the procedure, but I think it triggered my crohns. I wish I would have never gotten them removed, I always think, what if I never had them removed and I could be normal again.
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This exact situation happened to me. But I did get C Diff. Took 2 months to correct and my b.m. was never the same. I became very unpredictability sensitive to random foods.

7 Years later I am now waiting for my colonoscopy date in 2 weeks bc I've spent the last 3 months with severe abdominal pain, gas, cramping and mucus in the stool. I regret that surgery too...
 
I think a) genetic predisposition b) Naproxin for a bad back & C) stress loss of parents/ children leaving/ redundancy.
 
Recent research seem to suggest that a bacterial infection is associated with Crohn's in some cases. Specifically the mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP).

- MAP also cause a similar diesase (Johne's disease) in cattle
- If has been established that a NOD2 (crohn's gene) variance cause problems handling mycobacterium-infections
- some patients respond very well to a specific anti-MAP antibiotic regime
- using recently developed diagnostics methods MAP is found 8 times more frequently in the blood of Crohn's patients than in controls

MAP is consistently found by researchers in milk products and cow's meat (the bacteria is widespread in dairy farms across the globe). If a cow gets sich with MAP it keeps delivering milk until it is so weak (weight loss, diarrhea) that it is no longer profitable. Then it is "culled" which means it is slaughtered, and the infected meat (including infected lymph notes) is sold as beef, minced meat etc.

I recommend this lecture held by the canadian microbiologist prof. Marcel Behr from McGill university (independent research institute which is public funded) who presents some very interesting research that warrent the idea of Crohn's as an immunedefect and possible MAP infection. Search YouTube for "Crohn's autoimmune or infectious disease?"

Stomach ulcers is another disease that was considered to be caused by stress, and later found to be caused by bacteria.
 
Went to get acupuncture for Crohns last week. The doc told me in Chinese medicine, it is caused by a higher than normal blood temperature, usually (not always) brought on by underlying ANXIETY and STRESS!!!! He gave me Chinese herbs to calm anxiety and cool the blood. I have been feeling amazing since.
 
I had a lot of asprin when I was younger took years for the doctors to realise I was allergic to penicillin even though my mum kept asking them if it was the penicillin but no they was right!! my brother and sister never they are fine only one in my family with ibd ! You can't give asprin to under 12s now so?? That's where I think mine stemed from that and healthy eating!! Stupid salad 😝
 
I think having my amalgam fillings removed was the cause of mine. I had never had any type of issue. In November of 2015, I began seeing a dentist bi-weekly and having each quadrant of my mouth "updated" with white resin fillings. I had amalgam in each of my molars. I believe I ingested some of this as it was being removed because January 2016 I ended up in the hospital having 4-5 ft of bowel removed and being diagnosed with Crohn's. I have been back to the dentist but have left the top right portion of my fillings as amalgam because I'm afraid to have them removed at this point.

Additionally, I had a mass growing in my intestines that I think was scar tissue. I had visited ER after a 60+ lb dog jumped onto my stomach. I was asleep on the couch and my children let him out of his crate. He pounced me and at the time, ER treated me as if I was wasting time and never properly checked me. I had a lump in that area from that day forward and it continued to get larger for six years. They found it in Jan 2016 when I was diagnosed with Crohns and had the bowel resection.

I guess this is why I'm kind of in denial. I don't believe I have Crohn's. I think I have short bowel--just not 100% convinced I have Crohn's.
 
katiesue230 said:
I think having my amalgam fillings removed was the cause of mine. I had never had any type of issue. In November of 2015, I began seeing a dentist bi-weekly and having each quadrant of my mouth "updated" with white resin fillings. I had amalgam in each of my molars. I believe I ingested some of this as it was being removed because January 2016 I ended up in the hospital having 4-5 ft of bowel removed and being diagnosed with Crohn's. I have been back to the dentist but have left the top right portion of my fillings as amalgam because I'm afraid to have them removed at this point.

Additionally, I had a mass growing in my intestines that I think was scar tissue. I had visited ER after a 60+ lb dog jumped onto my stomach. I was asleep on the couch and my children let him out of his crate. He pounced me and at the time, ER treated me as if I was wasting time and never properly checked me. I had a lump in that area from that day forward and it continued to get larger for six years. They found it in Jan 2016 when I was diagnosed with Crohns and had the bowel resection.

I guess this is why I'm kind of in denial. I don't believe I have Crohn's. I think I have short bowel--just not 100% convinced I have Crohn's.
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Keep at your doctor until you are satisfied
 
I know my story will look so weird but I believe it is true.

I was afraid to death of getting an STD after my condom broke.
So I went to a doctor and prescribed me two antibiotics and since then I started having symptoms.... nausea, cramps, then belly pain and a lot of things which led to a lot of stress and fear that led me to Crohn's.... I still can't forgive my self for the way I reacted to the situation and I'm only 22 and I'm only hating myself right now.
 
I was on antibiotics for two years for my acne when I was 13/14 and then BOOM. Suffered with mild IBS and conspipation then it blew up 5 years later into full scale inflammation and a 6 day hospital stay. Now I have Crohn's, I'm 19.
 
alicegrace said:
I was on antibiotics for two years for my acne when I was 13/14 and then BOOM. Suffered with mild IBS and conspipation then it blew up 5 years later into full scale inflammation and a 6 day hospital stay. Now I have Crohn's, I'm 19.
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I have a similar story. I had been on low grade antibiotics for rosacea for 2 years, and a few months after weaning off, all crohns symptoms started. My diet was extremely healthy, but dud include grains at the time.
 
HolisticHealing said:
Went to get acupuncture for Crohns last week. The doc told me in Chinese medicine, it is caused by a higher than normal blood temperature, usually (not always) brought on by underlying ANXIETY and STRESS!!!! He gave me Chinese herbs to calm anxiety and cool the blood. I have been feeling amazing since.
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I believe my Crohn's was brought on by anxiety and antibiotic use. I often feel I get heated easily. Would you mind sharing the names of the herbs? I take some adaptigenic herbs like ashwaghanda, but I'd really like to research the Chinese ones. Thank you!!!
 
Aren't there pretty advanced theories about Crohn's being caused by our fatty Western diet? That it doesn't appear nearly as often in the East?

I've also been researching the MAP virus theory here and other places. It suggests that cows milk has some kind of virus that causes Crohn's. Asked my youngish GI about it and he didn't recognize it at all.
 
Basicaly i dont think anyone knows what really causes it...genetics, diet,enviroment etc have all been thrown in the mix of possible cause. It may one of them or all of them. I had a maternal aunt with crohns, so it could be genetic for me but i dont know if it is, or just bloody unlucky. What ever causes it is still a bummer of a disease. We have to live with it, till a cure if possible comes along.
Meanwhile gotta keep on trucking i guess. 💞
 
JackG said:
Aren't there pretty advanced theories about Crohn's being caused by our fatty Western diet? That it doesn't appear nearly as often in the East?

I've also been researching the MAP virus theory here and other places. It suggests that cows milk has some kind of virus that causes Crohn's. Asked my youngish GI about it and he didn't recognize it at all.
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Maybe. However, before getting Crohn's, I was vegetraian, then vegan for 23 years. I make my own food, juice, ate lots of raw, ferment my own jun tea, etc. I had not consumed dairy or fast food in at least 10 years when my Crohn's symptoms started. I personally believe antibiotics, environmental pollutants, vaccines, and stress were what did it for me.
 
Jjoworries said:
Maybe. However, before getting Crohn's, I was vegetraian, then vegan for 23 years. I make my own food, juice, ate lots of raw, ferment my own jun tea, etc. I had not consumed dairy or fast food in at least 10 years when my Crohn's symptoms started. I personally believe antibiotics, environmental pollutants, vaccines, and stress were what did it for me.
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Both observations do not exclude the hypothesis that this is caused by a mycobacteria infection (MAP). The increased prevalence in western countries would be explained by an increased presence of mycobacteria in our environment (soil, water, food) due to intense farming.
Omnipresent sources of infection would also explain why a vegan can catch it. It happens when you are susceptible and ingest the bacteria -
same as with peptic ulcers, where H.pylori is the bacteria involved.

May I suggest a read through the Consensus from the Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP) Conference 2017

The consensus was written by researchers and clinicians who are experts in the field, after a conference on the MAP in 2017 in Philadelphia. They say:

Using a standard definition of consensus, which is the majority opinion, the conference participants reached consensus on several issues relating to MAP. A majority of the conferees (78%) at the Temple University MAP conference concluded that the accumulating information now strongly supports the theory that MAP is a zoonotic bacterium [causing disease in humans, OEJ's comment] while 22% were uncertain whether MAP causes human disease. A majority of the conferees (72%) noted that MAP present in dairy products and meat causes disease in some humans and thus poses a public health threat while 28% were uncertain whether MAP is a public health risk

Here the experts say that MAP causes disease in humans. We know that MAP causes a condition similar to Crohn's Disease in catte (Johnes disease). Putting these two together, we can conclude there is strong evidence that MAP causes Crohn's disease in humans, as the experts say in this part of the consensus:

A majority of the conferees concluded that current evidence strongly supports the theory that MAP causes CD in some genetically susceptible human hosts. While it is impossible and inappropriate to feed MAP to healthy human infants to test whether genetically predisposed individuals develop CD, such exposure to viable MAP in infant formula and milk occurs daily. The best proof of causation is still Koch’s and later Relman’s postulates, which have now been satisfied for MAP in CD (51, 52).
 
I've got two theories: I chalk my diagnosis up to too much stress all at once (busy time at work + too much Advil for a winter cold + the wrong diet changes after a gallbladder removal). Although I also had digestive issues when I was a teen (I'm 30 now), we'll never know if that was CD or just hormones.

But I also read in a biology textbook that some people think that allergies and autoimmune diseases may be caused by not enough exposure to germs as a kid. I was born prematurely and spent the first few months of my life in an incubator, so maybe I missed out on training my immune system? Just my two cents.
 
My father has Ulcerative Colitis, and I have Crohns. All our doctors are very clear that it is probably hereditary in my case. But I was not having problems until I was 39, which I understand is very late. In my case, I think the trigger was stress. Possibly combined with an extremely tough exercise routine. I do not think it was food related, because I was living in Korea at the time. And as long as I lived there, my symptoms were under control and I had very little discomfort. But when I moved back home... I got worse immediately. Maybe the western diet is related.
 
Father had "intestinal issues". His father died of "intestinal issues". TNF-14 (?) gene is "bad" in me.

Also: I had very, VERY bad eczema on my feet until my early 20's. It went away and the Crohn's got way worse.

Go figure?
 
Had a first bout of GI issues after eating some sushi, initially chalked it up to food poisoning. Problems continued off and on for a couple of years (eventually started to think I had a "low grade" giardia from the bad sushi) at which point normal stress at work went off the charts and coincidentally started taking Aleve 2x/day for a bad shoulder. Went on vacation and during 3 weeks in Europe only had 2 episodes (and those were likely due to really good ice cream and a cream sauce).

...and then I went back to reality. 3 weeks after my return I scheduled a colonoscopy (family history of colon cancer and diverticulitis) which was perfectly timed to the new problem of bloody stools from the soon to be discovered lesion in my sigmoid colon.

So, food poisoning + stress + Aleve...absolutely no doubt in my mind.
 
HalkiGirl said:
Had a first bout of GI issues after eating some sushi, initially chalked it up to food poisoning. Problems continued off and on for a couple of years (eventually started to think I had a "low grade" giardia from the bad sushi) at which point normal stress at work went off the charts and coincidentally started taking Aleve 2x/day for a bad shoulder. Went on vacation and during 3 weeks in Europe only had 2 episodes (and those were likely due to really good ice cream and a cream sauce).

...and then I went back to reality. 3 weeks after my return I scheduled a colonoscopy (family history of colon cancer and diverticulitis) which was perfectly timed to the new problem of bloody stools from the soon to be discovered lesion in my sigmoid colon.

So, food poisoning + stress + Aleve...absolutely no doubt in my mind.
Click to expand...

Yep, food poisoning triggered mine too. How I wish I hadn't been so eager to eat Mexican food that day!
 
My issues started occurring about 2 weeks after I'd moved in with my boyfriend. The idea was to just try living together for a month and see how it goes, so I don't think stress at the time was a factor, and I think things were going pretty well. I definitely started eating more food than my normal amount, but nothing drastically different.

I have a cousin on my father's side with UC, and a cousin on my mother's side with Crohns, so I lean towards there being a genetic factor in my case, other than that I can't think of anything else to go on.

Edit: Meant to add this is a really interesting thread!
 
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autoimmune diseases run in the family on my mom's side. her father had scleroderma, and my cousin has psoriasis. my Crohn's developed while in high school, around 15 yrs old - could have been around longer though but that's when I started having the pain
 
No diagnosis yet but I'm convinced it's CD. Presumably it's just been dormant until recent years. Can only account for 50% of my genetics. If it IS, suddenly the childhood jokes about my wind don't seem so funny. And maybe it's connected to this skin condition.
 
JoeyJava said:
No diagnosis yet but I'm convinced it's CD. Presumably it's just been dormant until recent years. Can only account for 50% of my genetics. If it IS, suddenly the childhood jokes about my wind don't seem so funny. And maybe it's connected to this skin condition.
Click to expand...

Many people who have Crohns also have skin conditions. I have to see a dermatologist once a year.
 
I'm new here, but I've had Crohn's for almost 2 years (or at least that's when I was diagnosed). I believe mine was brought on through a "perfect storm" of gastroenteritis, antibiotics, genetics, and NSAIDS that I took for headaches and back pain. My mom and grandparents had IBS, but I was the first to be diagnosed with Crohn's (at age 42). Since then my brother was also diagnosed with Crohn's.
 
ilgirl said:
I'm new here, but I've had Crohn's for almost 2 years (or at least that's when I was diagnosed). I believe mine was brought on through a "perfect storm" of gastroenteritis, antibiotics, genetics, and NSAIDS that I took for headaches and back pain. My mom and grandparents had IBS, but I was the first to be diagnosed with Crohn's (at age 42). Since then my brother was also diagnosed with Crohn's.
Click to expand...

Welcome!
 
Stress and lots of anti inflamatory from a Achilles tendinitis. Then my small intestine went BOOM and I had an emergency surgery.

But I had lots of other symptons for years... anemy, lactose intolerant... stomach pain, etc.
 
I was completely healthy until I was 12 then I had an infection (My lung was inflammed) I took antibiotics for a week or two. As soon as the flu-like disease ceased right after i felt my stomach getting imflammed and since then it did not stopped.

I felt like that i am in remission in the previous years (I am 28 now) until last year i drinked must (pre-wine liquid) right after my stomach got inflammed pretty badly. I think it was already started to get spoiled, but for sure it was not fresh. The symptoms started to escalate and i had to get back to Medrol again.

My grandfather also had stomach/duodenum ulcers and inflammation for his whole life until he had received a long and very strong antibiotics treatment for pneunomia. His stomach pain were dissapeared after taking the antibiotics. But he was never diagnosed with Crohns (Well he was born in 1923) so I am not sure if it was just Helicobacter...

So in my case I am pretty sure its genetics and bacteria and/or antibiotics.
 
How I got my Crohn's Disease

Mine had a very clear start. Growing up, I always brought a packed lunch to school and my mom did a lot of home cooking that was apparently very good for my digestive system. Then as soon as I went to college and started eating the cafeteria food (pizza, chicken tenders, fries, Chinese food, preservative laden crap!), and also started drinking a lot of cheap vodka. I immediately started to suffer symptoms, but wasn't diagnosed until 5 years later. However, looking back it's like DUH!!! Of course that's what triggered it, I do believe that I was probably genetically predispositioned for it and the horrible nutrition at college brought it out.

Ren
 

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