Crohn's disease surely counts among the most uncomfortable, inconvenient, and potentially debilitating digestive problems you can face. This inflammatory issue can cause numerous annoying symptoms and even impair your overall health by reducing your ability to absorb nutrients.

Fortunately, Crohn's disease can respond well to timely diagnosis and treatment by an experienced gastroenterologist. The more clearly you understand the condition's symptoms, causes, and available treatments, the more effectively you can seek such care. Check out the answers to these four key questions about Crohn's disease.

1. How Do Doctors Define Crohn's Disease?

The medical community defines Crohn's disease as an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). You may also hear it referred to as ileitis or regional enteritis, after two areas of the bowel commonly affected by the disorder. However, any part of the large or small intestine may develop Crohn's disease.

2. What Symptoms Can Crohn's Disease Cause?

Crohn's disease typically causes ulcers to form either continuously throughout a section of bowel tissue or in isolated areas along the bowel. These ulcers may cause abdominal cramping or pain, along with chronic diarrhea which may contain pus or blood. You may also lose your appetite, losing weight as a result.

Despite its classification as a bowel problem, Crohn's disease can create symptoms in other areas of the body as well. Your symptoms may include mouth sores, painful anal fissures, impaired liver or bile duct function, and kidney stones. You may even blood clots or skin inflammation.

3. Why Do People Get Crohn's Disease?

An estimated 26 to 199 people out of every 100,000 suffer from it, the majority of them aged 15 to 40. However, researchers still don't have a clear idea of precisely why these individuals develop the disorder. External factors such as diet and stress may make the condition worse, but they don't actually cause it.

The two most likely factors behind the development of Crohn's disease include heredity and immune system dysfunction. A family history of the disease increases your risk of developing it. An abnormal immune system response to an invading germmay cause a reaction that attacks healthy bowel tissue by mistake.

4. How Do Gastroenterologists Diagnose and Treat Crohn's Disease?

Symptoms of Crohn's disease can resemble those of other digestive disorders such as ulcerative colitis. A gastroenterologist can confirm a diagnosis of Crohn's disease by examining blood tests, stool sample tests, and internal imaging. Imaging techniques may include colonoscopy, endoscopy, and CT scanning.

Treatment for your Crohn's disease will depend on the severity of your symptoms, how long you've had those symptoms, and how much of your intestinal tract appears affected. Available options range from lifestyle changes and medications to surgery.

If you suffer from chronic diarrhea, you may benefit from a combination of fluid replacement therapy and anti-diarrhea drugs. To control bowel inflammation, your gastroenterologist may prescribe drugs such as corticosteroids, as well as biologics or immunomodulators, which can tame an overactive immune system.

Crohn's disease ulcers can often heal if you give your intestines a vacation from their everyday work. If your gastroenterologist has prescribed several days of fasting, you may need to get your nutrients from a medically supervised liquid diet or intravenous feeding during this period.

Surgery remains an option if conservative techniques can't get your Crohn's disease under control, especially if the condition has led to intestinal blockages, holes, infections, or bleeding. In many cases, the surgeon can simply remove the irritated part of the bowel, connecting the remaining segments.

In more severe cases, the surgeon can remove the entire colon, leaving a small hole in the abdominal wall called a stoma. Stools proceed through the stoma to an attached bag. Once you learn how to manage this arrangement, you can live a normal, productive life.

Kentuckiana Gastroenterology & Paramount Surgery Center can diagnose your digestive problem and administer the right mix of treatments to help you improve your health, wellness, and comfort. Contact our clinic today.