Many Crohn’s disease patients suffer the symptoms of the condition years before they receive their diagnosis and they can begin treatment.
Find out more about the tools used to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease.
In this WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore video, the segment of the show The Woman’s Hour is dedicated to Crohn’s disease. Dr. Matilda Hagan explains that Crohn’s disease is difficult to diagnose because its common symptoms–diarrhea and stomach pains–are present in so many other diseases. To reach a diagnosis, patients must undergo a colonoscopy and an endoscopy.
The doctor also stresses that although there is no cure there are effective treatments and that patients will need to tailor their diet to avoid foods which may trigger flares.
Read our seven tips to help you manage your Crohn’s flares better.
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Believe me, even with a colonoscopy and biopsies taken it is still often misdiagnosed. In my case it has been called UC for years now, but my doctor said my symptoms don’t make sense for UC. Now I am having absorption issues and you don’t get that with UC. I am low on B12, D, potassium and Protein. I am losing weight. I dropped 25 pounds in a two month period. So unfortunately CD isn’t easy to diagnose. Many have their colon removed with UC, only to find out the disease is now in their small bowel and that is CD. We need an accurate test to diagnose CD and I feel that a colonoscopy done in someone with active disease is dangerous and should be avoided due to the increased likelihood of bowel perforation. Not to mention I got CDIFF from a colonoscopy, so be careful with those tests. I may never have another one as a result of two bad ones and I have had 4 of them so I am batting 50% on poor procedures. They are really painful when one has IBD, but my doctor said it shouldn’t be because there are no nerves in the bowel, no but there are outside of it so one will feel when they blow the colon up with air. So opt to be put out totally and save yourself the pain I had to endure.