Crohn's is different from Colitis!

Hello people,

It's been a couple of days since I have posted last. I have been busy working on my hockey forum that I just started up. If you are a hockey fan and looking to chat about your favourite team check out 24/7 Hockey talk at http://sharkos.forumotion.net/forum.htm. Anyways enough about that.

I wanted to help educate people who don't know the difference between Crohn's and Colitis. I had a former co-worker who had colitis and she thought it was the same thing as what I have which is Crohn's. Both are terrible and chronic illnesses that affect your everyday lifestyle but there is a difference. Colitis can be actually be put into permanent remission while crohn's cannot. If you have surgery when diagnosed with colitis, studies show that you it will not reoccur, while Crohn's is the opposite as discussed in my last blog. Here is some information on the differences between Crohn's and Colitis.

How is Crohn's disease different from ulcerative colitis?

While ulcerative colitis causes inflammation only in the colon (colitis) and/or the rectum (proctitis), Crohn's disease may cause inflammation in the colon, rectum, small intestine (jejunum and ileum), and, occasionally, even the stomach, mouth, and esophagus.
The patterns of inflammation in Crohn's disease are different from ulcerative colitis. Except in the most severe cases, the inflammation of ulcerative colitis tends to involve the superficial layers of the inner lining of the bowel. The inflammation also tends to be diffuse and uniform. (All of the lining in the affected segment of the intestine is inflamed.) Unlike ulcerative colitis, the inflammation of Crohn's disease is concentrated in some areas more than others and involves layers of the bowel that are deeper than the superficial inner layers. Therefore, the affected segment(s) of bowel in Crohn's disease often is studded with deeper ulcers with normal lining between these ulcers. (This information was provided by the Ottawa General Hospital)

So as you can see, Colitis affects one main area, the Large intestine, while Crohn's pretty much affects everything from the top to the bottom. Since I have been diagnosed I have arthritis, my eyes are affected, stomach, and of course my bowels. Today for example I woke up and would see nothing but a blur. Most people would say oh that's just because you just woke up and you need time to adjust. Ok well tell me that when I have been up for 8 hours and it's still there. When my eyes start to blur, it's like a warning sign for me saying stop doing what your doing and get some rest and eat properly. It's sort of nice to get a warning like this because when I get a full flare up, it's a nightmare, I have to take time off work and I don't want to be near anybody. Well unfortunately I am still not listening to my body cause it's 11:40pm and i'm still awake typing this blog so I think i'm gonna end it for now.

For anybody who has crohn's, you have to learn one thing. When your body is trying to call you, don't let the answering machine pick up.