Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) is a group of diseases that includes Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. It is not known why it started, but it does not leave the person for life. So how does IBD start? Our body perceives some cells of our intestines as foreign and tries to destroy it. We don’t know why yet, but some of the assumptions are that the cause of a viral or bacterial infection may be similar to our intestinal cells, and our body’s defense cells damage their own tissue due to this similarity. However, there may be a disease in someone who has never had IBD in their family, and the risk is always higher in those with a family history. So the disease has a genetic aspect.
Although Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis are sister diseases in the same group, they have many different aspects. What are these?
Crohn’s affects all layers of the intestine, so it can narrow and stick in the intestine, as well as spread the disease to other organs and even to the skin. It creates paths that we call fistula. In these ways, stool or inflammation can spread to the skin, bladder, and genitals through the neighborhood.
However, Ulcerative Colitis only affects the inner layer of the intestine. It causes widespread inflammation, ulceration and bleeding in this area, but it does not harm our other organs. That is, it is limited to the intestine.
Crohn’s disease causes more abdominal pain due to stenosis and adhesion. It may or may not have diarrhea. The most important symptom is abdominal pain.
In ulcerative colitis, bloody, slimy diarrhea, which is more than 5-6 times a day, sometimes 20-30 times a day, is in the foreground. The feeling of still having a stool even though it is done is the typical finding of a small amount of stool that is only pus or blood with straining on the toilet.
Intestinal involvement in Crohn’s disease is intermittent. There is also healthy intestinal tissue among the diseased areas. It mostly involves the last part of the small intestine. But it can involve the entire digestive system, from the mouth to the anus.
As a rule, ulcerative colitis starts from the intestinal tissue adjacent to the anus and progresses upwards. It is incessantly involved. There is a clear gap between the healthy tissue and the diseased tissue. It only holds the large intestine.
So what do these diseases have in common? Both treatments are lifelong. The drugs used are common. They watch with attacks. They become active with stress, what we eat, cold weather (activated in autumn and winter).
Stay healthy.
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) is a group of diseases that includes Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. It is not known why it started, but it does not leave the person for life. So how does IBD start? Our body perceives some cells of our intestines as foreign and tries to destroy it. We don’t know why yet, but some of the assumptions are that the cause of a viral or bacterial infection may be similar to our intestinal cells, and our body’s defense cells damage their own tissue due to this similarity. However, there may be a disease in someone who has never had IBD in their family, and the risk is always higher in those with a family history. So the disease has a genetic aspect.
Although Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis are sister diseases in the same group, they have many different aspects. What are these?
Crohn’s affects all layers of the intestine, so it can narrow and stick in the intestine, as well as spread the disease to other organs and even to the skin. It creates paths that we call fistula. In these ways, stool or inflammation can spread to the skin, bladder, and genitals through the neighborhood.
However, Ulcerative Colitis only affects the inner layer of the intestine. It causes widespread inflammation, ulceration and bleeding in this area, but it does not harm our other organs. That is, it is limited to the intestine.
Crohn’s disease causes more abdominal pain due to stenosis and adhesion. It may or may not have diarrhea. The most important symptom is abdominal pain.
In ulcerative colitis, bloody, slimy diarrhea, which is more than 5-6 times a day, sometimes 20-30 times a day, is in the foreground. The feeling of still having a stool even though it is done is the typical finding of a small amount of stool that is only pus or blood with straining on the toilet.
Intestinal involvement in Crohn’s disease is intermittent. There is also healthy intestinal tissue among the diseased areas. It mostly involves the last part of the small intestine. But it can involve the entire digestive system, from the mouth to the anus.
As a rule, ulcerative colitis starts from the intestinal tissue adjacent to the anus and progresses upwards. It is incessantly involved. There is a clear gap between the healthy tissue and the diseased tissue. It only holds the large intestine.
So what do these diseases have in common? Both treatments are lifelong. The drugs used are common. They watch with attacks. They become active with stress, what we eat, cold weather (activated in autumn and winter).
Stay healthy.
