Crohns Complications

    The major Crohn’s disease symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, and weight loss.  Virtually every person with Crohn’s has these symptoms and usually many more lesser ones.  Diarrhea can lead to malabsorption of necessary nutrients which can weaken the patient and make him more vulnerable to more Crohns complications. 

 
    Abdominal pain can be difficult to predict as it can be a low intensity type or erupt into an increasing spike of searing pain – or anything in between.  Weight loss occurs due to constant diarrhea, pain during or after eating which inhibits the desire for food, and the body’s inability to absorb the necessary nutrients and calories.

 

    Other “minor” (not to the patient) Crohns symptoms include, but are not limited to, an ulcerating skin condition normally found around the ankles, eye conditions causing vision problems, arthritis with its pain, swelling, and joint stiffness, and inflammation of the sine and lower back which can result in pain and stiffness. 

 
    Hepatitis, defined as inflammation of the liver, has its own set of problems.  Inflammation of the bile ducts, sclerosing cholangitis, can lead to an obstruction of the ducts which drain the liver which can eventually cause jaundice, bacterial infections that come and go, and even liver failure due to cirrhosis.  Sclerosing cholangitis with liver failure may necessitate transplant surgery for a new liver.  Many patients experience problems in the anal region such as ulcers, fistulas, and bleeding.

 

    Obviously, these are only several of the many Crohns complications or Crohns symptoms sufferers of Crohn’s disease may have to battle during their fight with this difficult disease.  This is why the patient must be ever vigilant in observing the changes in their body and reporting them to their physician.    Of course, once the myriad of medications enter the picture, the side effects are difficult to determine cause:  is it the disease or the drugs.

 

Learn to Recognize Crohns Symptoms