Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Ulcerative Crohns Colitis

Question:
This is going to sound dumb...and I have been around for awhile now. But I wonder if a person can have Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's both....verified by lab work? Or is that an impossibility? �Just a thought I had.

Answer:
Not a dumb question at all! I was told by my daughter's GI that you cannot have both and that one cannot develop into the other. He said that many times it just takes a while for the disease to reveal itself. In my daughter�s case, she has been diagnosed with indeterminate ulcerative colitis because her biopsy showed a granuloma, which is more indicative of Crohn's. However, she has absolutely no other indication of Crohn's. Not a dumb question at all. I am not a doctor.. In spite of the tests to determine a diagnosis, often the best a doctor can come up with is 'indeterminate colitis.' Meaning that there is inflammation in the colon, but the tests results are not clear whether it is caused by CD or UC. This came from a well respected head of pediatrics at a university medical center here in Tucson. CD which happens to only affect the colon, can mimic UC. There have been several  who have been diagnosed with UC; who eventually had their colon removed, who have found the inflammation has moved to their small intestine. Hence they find out that they actually have CD. To be fair there have also been several with UC who have had their colons removed, who have been cured of this damn disease. I was told first I had uc...then I had crohns...then I had crohns colitis. I don�t get the fistulas of crohns...but it spreads around in patches like crohns...so I guess I have a combination...I hope that helps answer at least part of this question... No, you have to have one or the other. �Sometimes you may receive a diagnosis of Crohn's-colitis, which is CD of the colon. �Sometimes you can have indeterminate IBD, which means they can't determine the cause. �In a certain percentage of patients it can be very difficult to distinguish the difference if the disease is limited to the colon. Fistulas are not required for a Crohn's diagnosis. Two-thirds of Crohn's patients don't have fistulas. There is no combination. Having Crohn's in your colon, also called Crohn's colitis, is just one of the many form of Crohn's.