Crohn's disease is a chronic disorder of the digestive system, which causes chronic inflammation of the lining of the intestines. Some of the symptoms that this disease can cause include intestinal irritation, bleeding, sensitivity to some foods, diarrhea and intestinal pain.
This disease has no cure, so its treatment is only to relieve symptoms. This is a silent disease that can take months or years to show the first symptoms, which makes it difficult to detect and diagnose.
Crohn's disease symptoms
Crohn's disease can cause several symptoms including pain in the intestine area, which gets worse especially after meals, diarrhea and sometimes bloody stools and urgent urge to evacuate. Tick the symptoms you have and see your chances of having this disease:
- 1. Periods of severe diarrhea with mucus or blood Yes No
- 2. Urgent desire to defecate, especially after eating Yes No
- 3. Frequent abdominal cramps Yes No
- 4. Nausea or vomiting Yes No
- 5. Loss of appetite and weight loss Yes No
- 6. Persistent low fever (between 37.5º and 38º) Yes No
- 7. Lesions in the anal area, such as hemorrhoids or fissures Yes No
- 8. Frequent tiredness or muscle pain Yes No
In addition to these symptoms, it is also common to have lesions in the anal area that can include hemorrhoids, fissures or fistulas in the anus region. See How to Identify Crohn's Syndrome for other symptoms that this disease can cause.
The symptoms of this disease can be aggravated by eating certain foods, such as dairy foods, spicy or difficult to digest, for example, and can get worse in times of great stress and worry.
Causes of Crohn's disease
Although the causes of Crohn's disease are not entirely known, it is likely to be related to a deficiency of the immune system, which causes an exaggerated response to certain infectious substances.
This disease can manifest itself at any stage of life, but it is more common to appear after periods of great stress or concern. Crohn's disease can affect both men and women, and its onset can also be related to the family history of the disease.
How the treatment is done
Crohn's disease has no cure and therefore its treatment serves to alleviate the symptoms experienced. Thus, as there is no defined treatment, in periods of crisis medications can be administered to relieve pain and to calm diarrhea.
In the most severe cases, surgical intervention may be indicated in order to remove portions of the intestine that may have been affected and damaged by the disease.
Since this disease can be made worse by eating certain foods, see what to eat in the following video:
