Crohn's disease: Difference between revisions

Crohn's Disease is a disease that causes swelling in the digestive tract. It is most often found in the smallest intestine, the Ileum. The swelling goes down the digestive tract starting from a twisting tube from the mouth all the way down to the anus. The swelling causes excrutiating pain and makes the intestine empty bowels more than usual. The swelling leads to a scar tissue building up inside the intestine and creates a narrow passageway that slows the movement of food and causes cramps. The cramping and swelling often tends to make the patient have frequent diarrhea. Crohn's Disease can be hard to diagnose because there are so many other diseases like it. It is often diagnosed incorrectly and treated for another disease. There are many different tests to see if one has Crohn's Disease. A doctor can perform a blood test to see if the patient has anemia, a case of a high amount of white blood cells in the body. A stoole test can be performed to see if there is any bleeding in the intestine. Crohn's Disease can also be diagnosed by a colonoscopy, a stict diet is instructed and sometimes a laxative is given to the patient. A flexible tube with a camera is inserted into the anus to check for inflammation. There are many other scans that can be given to someone with Crohn's Disease to check if they have it.<ref> [http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/ Crohn's Disease] ''National Digestive Diseases