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

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AmyWooden

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Jun 15, 2010
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This is strange, but I told my mother I'd post it. She is convinced she knows the reason I got CD. Apparently when I was an infant I would literally eat my wooden crib! She ended up wrapping ace bandages around the frame so I couldn't get to it. Now she is convinced that the splinters have lodged themselves in my intestines and that's how I got Crohn's. lol :ylol2:

I have another theory though. I've heard that it can lay dormant and that there may be enviornmental triggers. There was an old landfill down the street I grew up on that was turned into a park. As kids, we would all ride our bikes and hang out there, and sled down them in winter. I was diagnosed at age 10. This seems more probable to me.

What are your thoughts about triggers and why you got Crohn's?
 
I have read everything to the way we poop (the posture on a toilet) to well water to breast-feeding/not breast-feeding, eating toothpaste....

Honestly, my head spins as to the cause! I have no idea. I do believe that it is something environmental. I would be interested to know how many kids got Crohns where you use to play Amy. Are you in touch with any of them? Does anyone in your family have it that did not play there?
Splinters :) I'll add that to my list of causes...
 
I've posted this around here before somewhere, but at the time I was diagnosed I was finishing my senior year or high school, working part time, and highly involved in my high school color guard as a leader. Things were so stressful that year because of a couple issues we had in the color guard with a few girls and I was just constantly gone. I always had a headache and I was sorta 'depressed' and I took a lot of Aleve. Like everyday. I finally graduated and started worrying about moving to college and meeting new people. Then I had the meningitis vaccine. It's almost like right after that, I started with the big D and it never ended.

So for me stress+vaccine+Aleve= Crohn's
 
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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.
 
I had a throat virus, and was popping ibuprofen the 2 weeks before I first got symptoms. So either the virus triggered my immune system to go into overdrive, or the ibuprofen irritated my guts.
 
I don't think that there was anything that caused mine, besides genetics somewhere down the line...although no one in my family (that we know of) has it. I started having IBS in my senior year of college and I don't know what triggered that (maybe stress?). The flare that led to my diagnosis was triggered by a virus I caught.
 
My theory is that the trigger was a bacteria in some chinese food that I ate when I was 17. I got a really bad case of food poisoning and my stomach just hasn't been right since.
 
Mine was stress for sure. That and taking ibuprofen for the stress headaches induced by said stress. I have no doubt of it whatsoever.
 
Stress, ibuprofen, and maybe a virus/bacteria - plus possible genetic predisposition. My great-grandfather had UC, so I'm thinking his IBD genes got passed down to me. I had been kayaking a lot last summer and was taking a lot of ibuprofen for the muscle aches. Then in August of last year, my company did a bunch of layoffs and my department went from 10 people to 2, so I was very stressed and had a lot of "survivor's guilt" at not being laid off. Then in October I think I either ate something funky or got a nasty virus, and I got really ill and never recovered. It's like the stress and ibuprofen started steering my body towards illness, and the virus or whatever set all the dominoes in motion and my immune system never turned itself back off again once the virus was gone. That's my theory, anyway.
 
I also say stress. I think if I could lead a totally stress free life, maybe my Crohns would have stayed dorment.

My Crohns started soon after I gave blood for the 1st time back in college. I've always wondered, if that "stress" on the body let it come out. Who knows.

My stress has been highest the last 2-3 years and just look at my signature list. So everyone should take up meditation I suppose.
 
Stress could be involved for me as well- the last year work has been more stressful than normal and I have been ill a lot as a result. That's probably why I got so ill from the virus, which then led to the Crohn's.

Since going back to work I have made a conscious effort not to let it bother me- and if I forget and let myself stress the stomach pain soon reminds me to relax!
 
I sometimes wonder if my alcoholism caused it. Drinking 150 proof alcohol straight for breakfast cannot be good on your digestive system. Thank God I've been sober for 15 years now.
 
i'm really not sure if any of this is relevant, or if i'd have got Crohn's anyway but...

i was the youngest of 3 sisters, i had allergies as a kid, my eldest sister had asthma, both my parents suffered with 'sensitive stomachs', my dad had ulcers (peptic i think), someone way back in my mother's family died of a stomach condition - diagnosis unknown..

plus - i had a habit of not wanting to poo when i was little, and would hold onto it until it hurt. i had bad reactions to childhood immunisations, and my mum is convinced i started with tummy troubles after my measles jab.

i hit a patch of intense stress & depression around the age of 14 (moved towns & left all my friends behind), & that's when the symptoms really picked up and i began the whole eating/pain/not eating thing which led to anemia etc etc..

if i do have a theory at all, it's that i was probably born prone to Crohn's, as both my sisters probably were, but there was a catalyst (or more than one maybe) which caused it to progress into the condition.
 
STRESS and ANXIETY! My alopecia areata (auto-immune) started 6 months into my first corporate job. It was downhill from there. But my real 1st flare was also stress related. I was so tense and angry from a situation I was in........ 15 minutes later after the altercation I started with the severe cramps and diarrhea. One month later I was diagnosed.
 
It started out with genetics for me and my sister because our parents are both carriers and there are other distant family members on both sides who currently have it but one thing bothers me. My sister and I were diagnosed the same year. Knowing this, it would make sense that there was some sort of environmental factor in play. There were water quality issues where we lived among with growing up poor and not eating the best quality of foods plus we both had some sort of serious flu or virus right before I was diagnosed, I think I just got sick faster than she did which could be because of my age. I doubt it was stress as we were 9 and 11 at the time.
 
I think my trigger was the stress of being pregnant with twins combined with a bout of food poisoning. My sister was also diagnosed with CD a few years ago, so it's definitely a genetic thing too.
Interesting thread
 
I got deathly ill after eating a bad hamburger up at the ski hill resulting in a very bad food poisoning. + Stress. First year out of high school not knowing what to do with my life was a terrible burden on me. I'm still in that situation but at least I've got things under control now.
 
I went through a bad divorce and started drinking wine a few glasses a night and would take Ibuprofen so I wouldn't get a headache at night. I really think the ibuprofen had something to do with it as well as the combo of stress and wine :-(
 
Looking back I have had minor issues since I was little, gas, bathroom emergencies..ect. But I could always blame it on something. Until last July I definately think stress set it off and I was also taking a very strong nsaid for hip pain I was having. I swear the Mobic is what totally set it off with a vengence.
 
CrabbyRelish said:
I doubt it was stress as we were 9 and 11 at the time.
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I wonder about that Crabby as you are the artistic type. I asked EJ once before his dx if anything was bothering him(he was in the middle of his worst flare). I asked him this because I remember when I was a child, in the 70's, I worried constantly about the state of the world, nuclear annihilation that sort of thing. It was such a constant theme in the media then. EJ has always been the thoughtful type as well so I can definitely believe that stress could be a factor at such a young age.
 
I thought at first it was when I started taking birth control pills, but I realized I may have had symptoms several years earlier than that during my sophomore year in college, right after I went through a terrible break-up. I then went through another terrible "break-up" with my college best friend the year after. Then I had stress graduating and not being able to find a job and getting married and moving to another state!
 
Dexky said:
I wonder about that Crabby as you are the artistic type. I asked EJ once before his dx if anything was bothering him(he was in the middle of his worst flare). I asked him this because I remember when I was a child, in the 70's, I worried constantly about the state of the world, nuclear annihilation that sort of thing. It was such a constant theme in the media then. EJ has always been the thoughtful type as well so I can definitely believe that stress could be a factor at such a young age.
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Its possible but two kids in the same year? I kind of doubt it. We dealt with stress all our lives anyway since our parents were physically abusive. I guess its possible it was a combination of everything. There were 4 of us and 2 got crohns. That spells genetics to me for one but the same year and right after we both were very sick from some sort of virus would make that more likely than stress in my opinion.
 
I don't know with Roo. I can't dismiss the hereditary factor even though it is somewhat distant, just too much of a coincidence as far as I'm concerned. Stress? Doesn't really suit her extroverted, happy go lucky personality. So who knows.(((shrug)))

I agree with Dexky about age and stress. When I started out working I worked in a paediatric head injury unit and I guess being quite close in age to some of the patients I used to get a bit miffed at the attitude of some of the parents. Some of the the kids were worried about their physical appearance (talking small facial scars) and others about the usual child/teenage stuff. Many of the parents however would be dismissive or become angry about their children being worried about these things saying "what have they got to worry about, they don't have to pay the bills etc". My view always was and still is, just because you are a 12, or whatever age, doesn't make your fears or worries any less valid.

I think as we get older these earlier fears and worries are naturally replaced by the current stresses in our lives and on it goes to the point that we tend look back and, at times, laugh at what we could possibly have been worried about and all the while forgetting just how it really affected us at the time.
 
There's no doubt that children worry and deal with stress all the time just like we do but in my particular situation, there weren't any major factors that would cause such stress. I didn't start stressing about appearance and what people thought until I was diagnosed with crohns. If anything, crohns triggered my stress. :p My sister was very similar.
If it was stress at all, then it was from physical abuse/fear of my parents.
 
As far back as we have looked in my family's history we haven't seen any one with even a possibilty of digestive problems.So for me not genetics thus far.Maybe environmental?I know I ended up in the hospital for food poisoning and thats when I had bloody stool.They think though it may have started when I was 8 because I ended up in the hospital with choking problems which they discovered a cobweb structure in my chest and then I had constant heartburn and cramping.Also my digestive system was discovered to be getting slowly eaten away by my body.They said something about the good bacteria was fighting against its self in my body because it didn't know what was good and bad anymore.I lost a lot of weight too when I was 9-10 and we told it was because I was an active child and then found out it was my fat deposits were what had been eaten away.I was told at one point it was because I didn't eat enough but my mom said that wasn't the case I ate all the time.
 
Mine was a combo of stress, ibuprofen, and Europe...

I was always under a lot of stress as a teen and was taking ibuprofen regularly for body aches and an inflamed false rib.

When I was 17, I had the privilege of spending about 5 weeks in Europe (2 weeks all over Poland, and 3 weeks taking a German study-abroad session in Salzburg, Austria.) This included walking on foot EVERYWHERE (my classroom was a lovely 45-minute walk from my host-home) and with little money, a consistent diet of sausages from cart vendors, french fries with mayonnaise, and FRESH dairy, milk, yogurt, cheese (something unfamiliar to my Yank body). Everyday. for 3 weeks. I lost about 75 pounds and was a great hot mess. Turns out I read an article that a bacteria/protein in milk can trigger Crohns. (The beer probably didn't help either.. :shifty-t:)
 
Mine was definately stress, stress and more stress. I have two daughters a year apart that hit their teen years at the same time and custody battles with their dad. Shew I didn't think I would survive it! I also took lots and lots of Ibuprofin. As for the hereditary thing I don't know if I believe it. There are too many people that have this that have absolute no family history. Although my family does have a long history of colon cancer..mom, gran and great gran. But my crohns is in my small bowel. So I don't think it is hereditary.
 
AMAZING!! Almost, if not everyone said stress, and many said I-buprofin...and some said other illnesses! In not surprised, sitting here taking an inventory of my life before and during flarres....stress is the main culprit!! I have a genetic predispostion along with environmental factors. I had an incredibly hard childhood and I always held it together....at some point in life that manifested stress is going to surface....it started for me when I was about 15 with bathroom issues...and then 18 had a severe attack and had appendix out, and so here I am 15 years later and just finally getting it all figured out! Crazy~ Great topic, very interesting!!
 
A strain of bacteria in the food chain or environment triggering an autoimmune response. I'm quite certain it isn't genetic in my case (although it might be for others).

Stress I think exacerbates the underlying condition, but is not a cause in itself.
 
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Thank you All for posting your theories here. Now hopefully I can convince my mother it had nothing to do with the crib incident! lol :D
 
i was fit and healthy until i fell preganant with my son. i have never been the same since. so i totally blame him!!!!
 
very interesting thread. I am the same as most, stress. I wouldn't say this caused my Crohns don't think we will know that for a long time, but I know that stress has caused my serious flares. After losing my mum at 17 I had to have surgery 2 months after, so to me it is all to do with stress and mine comes out in the form of Crohns. No one in my family has ever suffered with any kind of digestion problem.
 
OK this is how I got Crohn's. I'm sure of it.

I met this girl, fell in love, but it wasn't until it was too late that I found out she was part of an alien plot to take over earth.

The aliens abducted me one night. I remember it vividly. They stuck this strange probe right up my butthole and took all kinds of pictures. Then they tried to erase my memory. Somewhere in all of their abductions, they found my girlfriend.

They did a Vulcan mind meld with her, and programmed her to seek and find me because they left behind one of their anal probes. Now the race is on to see if they can retract whatever they left inside of me through one of their "implants" disguised as a gastroenterologist at the Cleveland Clinic. They put him there because they can gather more of the humans that they left their anal probes in.

See that probe is actually microscopic, and it transmits signals that create electromagnetic disturbances in certain individuals who later develop Crohn's Disease symptoms. But when a regular GI doctor gets too close to finding their probes, the aliens flip a switch and the Crohn's symptoms mysteriously go away.

Then the perplexed GI says "Oh well, it must be IBS".

Stesss? Ha ha ha. It played no part in my disease!

See? Those aliens are pret-ty clever, I'd say!
 
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LMFAO @ Joe!

Defo, without a shadow of a doubt - Ibuprofen!
I hammered it since I was 15 for painful periods and even after a hysterectomy, for an old neck injury and various aches and pains!
I can't believe how many peeps have said the same thing!
How many of you have never took Ibuprofen??
But... another weird theory that I investigated during my dissertation on Autism, did I catch it off one of the kids in my school? I've worked there for nearly 15 years! During my research I found the Andrew Wakefield MMR/Autism/Crohns link. Of course my gastro has pooh poohed the idea as ludicrous!
 
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I think you might be on to something there, Joseph!! lol

Hmmm....I do see a lot of NSAID users here, but I never really used them until I was older for my periods and such. To this day I only use them sparingly and they don't seem to bother my gut at all.

I was diagnosed at 10. I suppose since it's autoimmune that leaves the door wide open for a variety of triggers and/or causes.

When I was being see at CHOP, the doctors were convivced that the 90's would be the "decade of the cure." Wishful thinking. Now I just hope they may find it before I croak! lol
 
Hmmm very interesting about the Ibuprofen, I never took it as a child/teenager, could never sallow tablets now I have no chance as have about 15 a day !!! Wish they would hurry up and find out why!
 
Well, I first had problems at 14 but nothing was diagnosed until 2001.

I was a poorly baby but not that sickly a kid, but I had a vicious Gastric 'flu at 11.

Didn't often take Ibuprofen but was on the pill from 14, was also given the BCG injection around then.

It came around the time of starting my exam studies, so could well have been stress - stress certainly makes it worse - but so does yeast, caffeine and toothpaste and anyway, there's a family hisotry of gastric 'fun' - from IBD to Coeliac.

I blame genetics ;) but who knows?
Could even be an allergic reaciton that triggered it.
x x x
 
too many environmental factors to list (grew up on industrial part of gulf coast)
too many stresses to list
throw in about a decade of substance abuse.....
i knew i would end up with some kinda something. crohns i can deal with, at least it isn't terminal and there is possibility of remission.
deep thoughts....hmm.....:)

re family history - my brother and i both have bad, bad guts. but neither our parents nor anyone else in our fam.....weird.
 
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Definitely genetics + stress. Given my mom and sisters have Crohn's, I might have had a predisposition to Crohn's and during an extremely stressful time of my life, it reared it's not-so-pretty-head.

I lost my baby sister quite unexpectedly when she was 19, and two of my close friends, all within six months. Having done some soul-searching after these deaths, I decided it was time to end my 7-year relationship that had outlived itself by about three years. My ex-partner also became quite hostile and gave me a lot of grief as we tried to figure out a fair way to sell our house, etc. At the same time, I was working 65 hours a week at two fairly high stress jobs.

So...the convergence of all these events created an ideal atmosphere for the Crohn's critters to jump aboard and claim a space...
 
Quitting smoking triggered all my flares when I had UC. I made New Year's Resolutions to quit four or five times and by October or November each year - major flare.

I quit smoking for good 3 years ago and BOOM! Nine months after that.... big flare and my rediagnosis with Crohn's.

Lesser of two evils? I don't know. Sometimes I really wonder if should have just continued smoking. I was only smoking 2 or 3 cigs a day at that point...
 
ameslouise said:
Quitting smoking triggered all my flares when I had UC. I made New Year's Resolutions to quit four or five times and by October or November each year - major flare.

I quit smoking for good 3 years ago and BOOM! Nine months after that.... big flare and my rediagnosis with Crohn's.

Lesser of two evils? I don't know. Sometimes I really wonder if should have just continued smoking. I was only smoking 2 or 3 cigs a day at that point...
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I read an article once that said smoking did help UC, but don't recall if it mentioned Crohn's. Interesting...
 
I know i have only just been diagnosed but im sure mine is stress , i went through an extemly stressfull situation about 2 years ago (which had gone on for 2 years) and that was when i started to be unwell although i also think another big factor is all the medication i have been on for other things (mainly NSAIDS's) but yes i would put my last penny on the stress i endured a couple of years back
 
Mine was the flu, for sure... In February 2001 I had major bad flu.. I was fainting left right and centre, every time I stood up.. one time, I had to go to the bathroom, got to the top of the stairs and realised I was going to faint.... so went down on my butt, stood up and WHAM. Next thing I remember is coming round to hear my family around me, then when my vision cleared my dad was holding me and bleeuuurgh. Puked all over the floor.....

Anyway.. lost my voice, had a temperature of 105, had to sleep on the sofa for a week and couldn't eat but could only drink hot milk.....

VERY bad flu....

But the rest of that year I lost energy, couldn't walk up the stairs without feeling out of breath, and September 2001 my haemoglobin count was 3.5 and I was taken into hospital... I was on the point of collapse when diagnosed, followed by another MASSIVE bout of fever...

Definitely the flu, missed 8 weeks of college.
 
beginning:

Mom got breast cancer when I was 15. I went through depression. Got Crohns when i was 16.

last year:

got my first REAL flare right after finals (20 yrs old) . found out my mom got cancer again last year too.

last month:

another STRONG flare. right after finals again. stressed out + have a job now + moms in the hospital :(


no doubt in my mind... Crohnies have a weakness either through an environmental/bacterial/gene factor, and then a combination of stress/depression pulls the trigger.
 
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My uncle had UC. Both parents have many autoimmune conditions, same with grandparents. I think I am geneticially predisposed to it. My first trigger was a bout of real bad food poisioning that led the a flare and a DX of chrons a year later. My latest flare was due to vomitting most days for 3 months with high stress. My appendix came out when I was 13. I got asthma when I was 10 and I remember having a UTI for a year when I was 11. I remember I was a sickly kid.
 
I became ill following a bad dental infection accompanied by lots of strong painkillers and several course of antibiotics. That may or may not have been the cause there is no way to tell, but before the incident I was fine.
 
I know my Crohns is genetic, but symptoms started a few years after having worms... ew.. then stress as a young adult, and my big one was during a custody battle and divorce, and I know he is happy as a pig in shi8t that I got so ill. True! He wished it on me. :ymad:.
 
After today, I'm buying into the stress and diet routine, at least during a flare. I tried a more solid food last week and ended up with excessive pain and bleeding. Back off to liquids and soft foods again and felt better today until I started getting really stressed out. Twice today I was in uncomfortably situations and each time found myself almost doubled over. Pain pills took off the edge but was still very uncomfortable. Once I got home and calmed down, pains are gone. I know I'm thick headed and stubborn, but I think I might finally be learning about this disease that I am apparently stuck with forever. Going into a 5 year remission shortly after initial dx made me think I was cured. With this flare, I'm just now starting to comprehend how serious this really is. Dr told me yesterday it's too early for testing to see how it's progressing, but the last test showed major inflamation that will take time to heal. I'm getting very frustrated and it seems to be taking forever. I've been on mostly liquid diet with some soft food occassionally for almost 3 months now. I'm trying to keep my spirits up, but I'm having one of my moments. It's been a rough day. I know I'm off topic, but thanks for letting me share. I'll post a new thread in the next day or two when I'm in a better mood.
 
My Mam smoked all through her pregnancy which makes me consider that as an aspect (though i would never say it to her) and i ate processed food everyday growing up.
 
For me I think it was stress, I had also had Glandular Fever in my teens too which won't have helped my immune system...
 
i have uc, and i believe i got it from a c-diff infection, and stress. Before the c-diff, i did have slight stomach issues, but dr said nervous stomach. I also had no issues with d, even when i had flu's the issue was nausea not d. I don't understand this disease, if somethings could trigger it then how come somthing can't trigger it off.
 
My Crohns became aparent because of stress I reckon but I reckon its genetics. My nan has it and so do other members of my family. I think its most likely genetics, but seen as no one really knows about it, they cant clarify for certain.
 
CrabbyRelish said:
. Knowing this, it would make sense that there was not eating the best quality of foods plus we both had some sort of serious flu or virus right before I was diagnosed.
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I had a sort of flu virus also, drank two ibuprofin tablets at like 4 in the morning and it burned my tummy so badly, this was 3years ago. Afterwards, i got tonsilitis every second week for almost a year and i think thats where my crohns originated.
:crab:
 
Mine followed after 2 rounds of antibiotics (literally about a week later). Until now I hadn't thought about a stress connection,but I definitely was at the time, a single mom. I also think that I have a genetic predisposition on my mother's side. She has several relatives with the same thing.
 
My son had his first Crohn's symptoms at six weeks of age, and by six months of age it was chronic... despite being fully breast fed, and otherwise healthy. I've always been suspicious of the fact that he was born via emergency cesarean - apparently this makes the baby's intestinal bacteria develop differently. Also I had an infection and underwent further surgery, with full anesthetic, and several courses of antibiotics, in those first few weeks - whilst breast feeding. Again this would have hammered his intestinal flora. And then, at six weeks, he was given his first vaccinations, including meningitis. This triggered the immune system and it was all downhill from there...
 
MapleLeafGirl said:
My theory is that the trigger was a bacteria in some chinese food that I ate when I was 17. I got a really bad case of food poisoning and my stomach just hasn't been right since.
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That's exactly what happened to me. When I was diagnosed at age 22, I had a very poor diet. I should have had a burger named after me at McDonalds.
 
I think my Crohn's started in my early teens as I had some minor signs such as bloating and reduced tolerance to milk and fatty foods. As for the initial cause, I am not too sure whether that was from standard antibiotics (cehpalexin, minocycline etc) or perhaps just autoimmune related as I had a range of chemical/food insensitivities which mostly disappeared during puberty.

However, I do think that my CD may have been triggered in to activity by a combination of antibiotics (mainly Flagyl), large doses of NSAIDs, and perhaps the stress combined from doing my final year of school and falling chronically ill with something else just before exams.

Unfortunately my health is a bit too complicated to guess at etiology, but it does however turn out that for a large number of people with the [primary] chronic illness I have (SAPHO Syndrome), IBD is considered a standard 'complication', which makes sense being both autoimmune/autoinflammatory. This may suggest the initial cause for me was not antibiotic related, though I still think it may have helped trigger it in to activity.
 
I have no idea, honestly. With the ME it followed a very traumatic bereavement and was textbook onset.

With the IBD, I was finished with College of three years, got the results I wanted, lots of free time and getting job interviews. It just came out of nowhere :(
 
For me, my CD was dx from my emergency appendectomy. My appendix had burst, my belly was full of infection. If I had endured it much longer, I would have died of sepsis for sure. My docs aren't sure which came first. Kind of the chicken and the egg syndrome. Did the infected appendix cause the intestines to become inflammed, or did the inflammation of the intestines cause the appendix to become infected. Personally, I think the CD came first, as I was having intestinal sx for years prior to my appendix bursting.
 
rottengut91 said:
For me, my CD was dx from my emergency appendectomy. My appendix had burst, my belly was full of infection. If I had endured it much longer, I would have died of sepsis for sure. My docs aren't sure which came first. Kind of the chicken and the egg syndrome. Did the infected appendix cause the intestines to become inflammed, or did the inflammation of the intestines cause the appendix to become infected. Personally, I think the CD came first, as I was having intestinal sx for years prior to my appendix bursting.
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That is interesting; After Meg's emergency appendicetomy, the surgeon said it was close to bursting and they had to wash a lot of pus away at the time. It was enlarged, infected and inflamed. A few weeks later Crohn's was confirmed.
 
Dallies said:
That is interesting; After Meg's emergency appendicetomy, the surgeon said it was close to bursting and they had to wash a lot of pus away at the time. It was enlarged, infected and inflamed. A few weeks later Crohn's was confirmed.
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They took biopsies during my appendectomy and confirmed CD while I was still in the hospital for that. I had my first resection about 6 weeks following my appendectomy. I had developed an abscess after the surgery. There was just so much infection in there, they couldn't get it all cleaned out. My mom tried to tell my docs that something wasn't right after I got home from hospital, they just told her it was normal for me to have a fever and to just give Tylenol to help with fever and pain. I ended up with an ileostomy after that resection. It was a very difficult year for me.
 
I have multiple risk factors.

-Switched directly to cows milk at 7 months old.
-Had a sickly childhood with lots of antibiotics.
-Lived with heavy smokers.
-Started smoking at age 12
-Popped advil like crazy for my periods starting at age 13
-had a stressful childhood.
-ate lots of processed food and drank lots of pop
Got dxd at 18, but have had minor crohns symptoms most of my life.

My mom remembers me getting shots when I was 4 or 5. I had a terrible GI infection for a couple weeks afterward. My mother was assured they were not related.

It wasnt one thing, but a perfect storm of many things.

Needless to say, I will not be repeating the same mistakes with my own children.
 
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how i got crohn's

mine was definitely a bad gastro bug I got while working at a resort - was in bed for a week with it coming out both ends :) and that was definitely the trigger...
 
I'm not really sure. I was diagnosed around the same age as my brother (10/11) and he didn't have a noticeable trigger, either. It has to be genetic, though. My mother and several other relatives on her side of the family had/have it.
 
in 2008 i got hit with a major viris that they never could tell me what it was had me in the hosipital for 5 days with high fever, vomiting, major d, major headaches. at first they taught it was appendicitis but neg, then they taught c dif since i have been on several rounds of antiboditics for colds that came neg, then they taught food posinuins but no. i finally got to where i could eat and keep stuff down but since then i have not been the same problems off and on every since then. now the gi tells me the vriuis probally damage my stomach nerve causing serve gastropersis which doesnt help what ever else i got. i was sick as a child with lots of ear infections so was always on some type of meds also my dad has spatsic colon and had his gallbladder out which looks like i will be following in time. i have been under a whole lot of stress for the last 2 years since moving back to my wifes homeplace in virginia.
 
Pincushion said:
For me I think it was stress, I had also had Glandular Fever in my teens too which won't have helped my immune system...
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I had glandular fever (mono here) after my eyes started to flare. I've been trying to blame my issues on that ever since. Especially since before i had a crohn's diagnoses, my doc did an eye biopsy to check for a form of lymphoma. I realize this is backwards but doesn't stop me.

I also occasionally say the nodules in my scleritis are alien eggs. it makes me happy.

I do think my ankylosing spondylitis is some how related to damage to my ribs and back from scoliosis braces and surgery. though i have yet to find any one else with both.

I defiantly got all the bad genes in my family: Crohn's, scoliosis, dyslexia, and I am extra short.

I love fun theories!
 
i blame accutane for mine. it came right after a 6 month treatment with the maximum dosage and several scientific studies call it a trigger/cause. even the original manufacturer roche doesn't make it anymore and are facing extensive litigation for withholding information that linked the drug to crohn's.
 
My son had samonella as a 2 year old and was hospitalized for 16 days. He had lymph nodes reacting to a horrid ear infection that wasn't getting better due to the samonella they couldn't diagnose because of massive doses of antibiotics. He had the lymph node removed during two surgeries to figure out what was wrong with him. Then the news broke the story that our local grocery chain had tainted milk products which I was giving him. Then at 13 he again had a reactive lymph node and it was decided to remove that one as well. No known cause as to why he was reacting or what he was reacting to. He went on to have several other surgeries, pilinidol cyst and ACL surgery on his knee in his teen years. He also took Accutane for six months at the same time. We have many things we can blame! He seemed to have an immune system that over reacted to things from a young age. And I don't think it ever was normal. He was dx with Crohn's a month ago at the age of 27. Symptoms were going on for about a year before hand. Although he now tells us that he didn't have normal BM's for years and never thought much of it!
 
Maybe that isnt why i have crohns, but i started flaring probably because of crazy amount of anxiety, depression, really bad eating habits, smoking and drinking, all combined.

Now when i got rid of all those, beside smoking, i feel much better :)
 
but you'd think people got a lot more stressed years ago... my nanny had 7 children so that must have being very stressful...yet its only in the last 20 years or so crohns has really being on the increase... it must be somthing else aswell...
 
I think its a combination of genetic predisposition & our wonderful environment. After speaking to researchers and reading up on it...It is interesting how the underdeveloped countries don't have the crohns cases we do. And as they become more industrialized or developed there is an increase in those countries. I think we are out of luck here...I hate to be a doomsayer but, I don't know or believe they will ever pinpoint one specific causation..Does that make sense? Sue
 
ID say smoking with a lot of espressos , everyday id have a pack of smokes and drank easily 4-5 cups of black espresso .
 
heres an example at this very moment as im typing this i havent smoked a cigrette for 2 days i felt better im smoking a cigrette for th first time right now in those 2 days i havent smoked and as im typing this and i here rumbling in my intestines ! i guess i found the answer
 
Yeh, stress. When I was diagnosed I had just had three babies in a row and we had moved in with my inlaws, my husband was trying to find a job and really I had lived under stressful conditions all my life which I never had any outlet for. I just kept it all inside. That is the only thing for me and maybe genetics. I have a cousin with Lupus and my daughter is now being tested for CD also. My Dad has always had digestive problems but never diagnosed. Funny thing though, I was eating very healthy when I first flared. Vegetarian, no dairy except occasional cheese, only whole grain bread, very rarely took any kind of pain relievers... thought I was in great health then WHAM!
 
This has been an iteresting read! I believe my CD was brought on by high stress levels, combines with taking Ibuprofen for a slipped disc in my back.
 
Well, I thought that getting the Chicken Pox at 22 caused the Crohn's, but now I am not so sure. I can remember having quite a few bouts of food poisioning between the age of 11 and 20, one of which was especially bad. I wanted to die, was vomiting and having D all at the sametime. At the time my parents thought I had the stomach flu; now I am not so sure. I think genetics definately played a part. I am the only one with Crohn's in my familyhad to have been a factor too. My parents divorced when I was 11, they both had substance abuse issues, among other things. After the divorce, we were so poor that I got made fun of all though middle school for my ragged clothing. Not a good situation for a young teen girl.

It is so interesting to hear everybody's ideas on this topic!
 
My daughter and myself had similar events before each getting UC/Crohns at nearly the same age. Me: Was put on some sort of antibiotic (not sure if it was Accutane) for acne, nonstop for one year. Went to Mexico three times and had dysentery badly each time. Within two years got UC. Daughter: On and off antibiotics for months each over a two or three year period for folliculitis and then MRSA. Foreign travel with dysentery. I believe it is a virus or bacteria, although I've read all UC/Crohn's patients have parasites. Years ago I read that dolphins in a water park had UC and one died. Father had ulcers, which we now know is from the H pylori bacteria. No GI disorders in any of the extended family. On no meds.
 
Family genetics I think

My sister has diabetes, my mom has serious osteoarthritis and connective tissue disease (a type of lupis), my dad had a history of colon problems...
It just seems we all have some sort of auto immune disorder.
 
This topic has been really interesting to read!!! I know about 15 years ago I started to take Ibuprofen fairly regularly for hormonal-related headaches. And in the past yr my GP told me that at some time in the past I've had glandular fever (not sure how long ago and wasn't diagnosed at the time) based on some blood test or another. Also, I've had a lot of anti-biotics in my time, for various reasons.

For me, any time I'm feeling poorly and have a particularly bad case of D, I know I'm coming down with something. My guts seem to get crook first, and the rest of my body follows suit...

So I would probably put it down to one of these things...but which one??? Or a combo of all? I wish researchers would figure it out already - maybe they should read our posts??!!
 
It's hard to know except to try things. Non-dangerous, of course.
I ate with my mom at one of those all-you-can-eat buffets yesterday. I ate modestly, but was NOT feeling well after a couple of hours.
I drank a glass of that raw milk and it settled my stomach.
I am not saying it will be good for everyone.
Just reporting my own observations.
I've also added the coconut oil. I put it in my oatmeal. It's very good.
I also take drops of Vitamin B-12 and Juice Plus capsules every day.

I like the idea of just trying some natural foods that seem to inhibit bacteria in general.
The bad bacteria. That's why I like the whole milk idea. It adds the good bacteria.
The dairy I buy milk from also makes butter and yogurt. Going to try them next time I go there.
 
It's difficult for me to pinpoint what may have caused my disease. I do not have any family with it and I was diagnosed when I was 13. I don't recall having much stress at that time, so I don't think that's it. I think it may have been an adverse reaction to all the processed food I was ingesting? I'm not sure. It's kind of frustrating not to know!
 
I'm not sure what 'caused' my CD, I've always been a really healthy eater, but I believe what triggered it was high stress levels in elementary school. I went to a private religious school which tabooed dying hair, piercings, tattoos (not like anyone had them at that age) or any type of body altering. I dyed my hair for a few years regardless, and as such was picked on by administration. I also grew my hair out past my shoulders, like a biker kinda, and while this whole thing was going on, they passed out letters to all students/families stating that all boys had to cut their hair, and all girls had to have it tied back. So I thought this was kind of sexist, so I tied my hair back too, and they still gave me a hard time for it. It was clearly a personal attack. This was not a large school, and everybody knew everybody's issues. I was also accused of sexually molesting a staff member, at 12 years old, by a group of 3 friends (girls), and the administration acted on the accusation and would call me to the office several times a day for 'a talk'. They'd often grab me by the arm resulting in bruises. I never got an apology, and after missing several months of school due to being sick at this point (3 weeks of D, missed about 2-3 months of school and lost all my friends), all I got was a graduating grade.. Anyways, that was the supposed 'trigger' for me.. but after all these years I feel I've come away with a lot more than I've lost, so I have no regrets and hold no grudges as I feel it's made me a stronger person
 
I think stress gets us all. I also have gone through very high levels of stress the last 10 years.

What's the connection with ibuprofen?
I used to take it a lot to help me sleep.
 
i have never had problems with my bowels, always normal. i thought that i had a real bad case of food poison and knew something wasnt right after lingering on for over 3months. i had to go to the hospital 10/29/10 with severe cramping in my stomach and passing nothing but blood. scared me to death. they ran all kinds of tests , stool samples, 2 colonoscopys, ct scan. it came back crohns. its very devastating but i am learning to deal with it. i just really dont understand how i ended up like this, unless it is from stress. ive been reading that can cause it to flare up.
 

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