What exactly is IBD?

About IBD

  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease is a (chronic) condition that causes inflammation of tissues in your digestive tract.

  • The exact causes of IBD is unknown, although doctors believe that it could be related to an immune system malfunction. When your immune system is trying to fight off bacteria or a virus, a malfunction happens in your cells which causes the immune system to attack the healthy cells as well.

    IBD has been found to be possibly have Heredity traits. IBD is more common in families that have this disease, although many people who have IBD, don't have this.

  • Symptoms of IBD include:

    Constant diarrhea

    Weight loss, struggle to lose weight, or a struggle to gain weight

    Fatigue

    Abdominal pain and cramping

    Blood or mucus in your stool

    Reduced appetite

    Anemia

    Malnutrition

    Urgencies to have bowel movements

    Having a bowel movement more than 3 times a day

  • There is no known cure for IBD (CD), (UC) yet. There are medications you can take that limit the symptoms of IBD, but it will not fully get rid of them.

Other Complications

-Toxic Megacolon

-A hole in your colon

Can occur in both CD and UC

“Silent Symptoms” refer to symptoms that aren’t talked about as much, or aren’t as widely known

-Liver Disease

-Arthritis

-Osteoporosis

-Kidney Stones

-Skin Conditions

-Mouth sores

-Eye Problems (such as uveitis)

-Joint pain

-Fevers

-Delayed Growth or Sexual Development, in children

-Intentional Blockage

-Cancer of the colon or small bowel

Most common in Ulcerative Colitis, but can occur in Crohn’s Disease as well

Most common in Crohn’s Disease, but can occur in Ulcerative Colitis as well.

-Bowel obstruction

-Malnutrition

-Fistulas

-Anal Fissure

“Silent Symptoms” refer to symptoms that aren’t talked about as much, or aren’t as widely known

-Skin tags

-Hair loss

-Reduced appetite

-Struggling to lose/gain weight

Most common for Crohn’s Disease, but can occur for Ulcerative Colitis as well

Not all Angels have wings, some cure diseases

Why is it that more women have IBD than men? Well there is no absolute answer to this but many people believe that it is due to genetics and their environment. Family history may be a factor in this, but IBD is not yet proven to be genetic. The other possible answer is the hormones that women have. Estrogen and progesterone are the primary female hormones, and they are produced in a cyclical pattern by the ovaries. Whereas mens hormones are can be produced in the adrenal glands, testes, or peripheral tissues. 

What’s the difference between men and women with IBD?

 FAQs

  • Your child knows their body better than you do. Not believing them is the worst mistake you can make as a parent with a sick child. You want your child to trust you and come to you when they have issues. Don’t excuse their pain/feelings because it is invisible to you. If you were to tell your child that you didn’t feel good, you would want sympathy— and for them to care for you. Children shouldn’t be treated any differently just because they are younger. It never hurts to get them checked out.

  • From experience, they are VERY different. A stomach ache is a dull pain that doesn’t last as long as a flare-up. Things such as heating pads, medication, rest, etc. Can fix a stomach ache. Whereas a IBD falre-up can take hours to days to go away. Taking medication will not do anything for your stomach, and applied heat can give limited help. If your child doesn’t feel better after taking medication, don’t stress. This is very normal for a flare up.

  • Sometimes things happen. You never want your child to miss school, but sometimes it’s necessary. When you were younger, I’m sure you wanted your parents to believe you when you told them you didn’t feel good. Remember how it felt when they didn’t believe you, and you had to go to school anyway. Don’t punish your child because of something they can’t control, and don’t make them feel the same pain you did, back then.

  • If your child’s symptoms aren’t IBD, they could be a variety of things. They could still have IBS, too which should be checked out accordingly. IBS is just one possibility. There could be a multitude of reasons why your child’s stomach hurts unfortunately. Just know that eve if the answer isn’t IBD, it will still be found, and be treated accordingly.

Meet the Author

Hello:) My name is Angelika Cafaro and my love for Gastroenterology sparked When i was diagnosed with crohn’s disease in 2023. Lets back track a little though… before all of this happened I was in middle school. I loved learning and the environment of a classroom. All of this was sadly changed for me when i started having terrible stomach aches. I couldn’t focus on my school work, i lost multiple friends, and i didn’t want to go anywhere; because my pain was too much for me. My parents tried diets, working out, cleanses, and multiple medicines to try and cure what was wrong with my body. Nothing help though. I went through some of the darkest days because I couldn’t leave my bed. I was constantly absent from school because my stomach didn’t allow me to focus on my school work. I lost all my motivation because i just wanted to be normal again. Finally, during my sophomore year of high school, I decided to look deeper than my parents were. I went to a gastroenterologist for the first time, because i was too defeated. Upon doing a colonoscopy and a endoscopy, my GI found out that I had Crohn’s Disease. Not only did I have this Disease though, i also had inflammation levels of 68.

During all of this, everybody thought it was just my anxiety that was causing all of my pain. Nobody wanted to look deeper because all of my symptoms were invisible to the human eye. Just because you can’t see anything physically wrong with your pain, doesn’t mean you’re okay.