Gastrointestinal diseases are the most common conditions today. From a simple stomach ache to acute gastroenteritis, through hemorrhoids and rectum conditions. Together, all diseases related to the digestive system are part of the daily life of a doctor’s office. However, as important as the doctor’s job is the patient’s responsibility to be informed and describe their symptoms in detail to facilitate diagnosis. This time around, we will examine the symptoms of one not very common disease and usually confused with other conditions of its kind: Crohn’s disease.
This illness is a chronic condition with alternates periods of flare-ups. This means that symptoms show up for a while and then the disease remains inactive (remission). These symptoms can range from mild to severe, and they occur gradually or suddenly. On the other hand, its symptoms can be divided in a general way or according to the distinct areas.
The most important symptoms are as follows:
1. Abdominal and colicky pain
They both describe a sensation of discomfort in the area between the chest and the groin. It occurs when the muscles of the digestive organs contract spasmodically. We can talk about colicky pain when abdominal pain increases in intensity, there is a climax in the sensation of pain, then gradually decreases, and they occur again after a while. Patients describe these abdominal pains “as if the wall of the abdomen was about to explode.” Even so, both its intensity and location vary depending on the area affected by the disease. If there is involvement of the ileum, the pain is in the right abdominal area at the appendix. In gastric involvement, pain is in the epigastric region or the pit of the stomach. Sometimes, the symptom of abdominal pain can be similar to an ulcer or acute gastritis pain. If the pain appears in the lower abdomen, it is most likely that there is involvement of the colon.