Diagnosed With Crohn's But Wondering About Celiac

[Strineski]

Hi everyone! Following four months of diarrhea,extreme weight loss, fatigue, night sweats, and low-grade fevers, I was finally diagnosed last week with Crohn's Disease. At first the GI considered Celiac, but he did a colonoscopy, endoscopy, and biopsies and those all came back negative for Celiac or anything else; so then he ordered a small bowel x-ray series, and the radiologist took one look at the terminal ileum in my small intestine and said I have Crohn's. The GI doctor said my most recent round of blood tests also confirmed Crohn's. I am now on Prednisone and Pentasa (only 5 days and I feel no different). However, I'm wondering...does anyone know if Celiac could cause the same visible problems in the terminal ileum as Crohn's? I did go off gluten for two weeks prior to the colonscopy/endoscopy; the doctor said that any allergy still should have shown up in the biopsy even though I'd been off wheat for quite a while. (I did start eating wheat like CRAZY four about five days before those biopsies to try to build it up in my system again). But I guess I'm hoping against hope that maybe I do have celiac and that is what's causing the symptoms and inflammation/stricturing in my ileum. In addition, when I eat offensive foods, it doesn't become diarrhea until many hours after eating--seven to twelve hours, usually. Would wheat ingestion take that long? Thanks for any help!!!

[Desiree49]

I just found out last week that I don't have Crohn's disease and instead have celiac disease. He told me that they look different, especially on the upper GI scan.

[sb2178]

It's possible to have both, but I'm pretty sure that fever and strictures are Crohn's symptoms. Celiac, not so much. I have a couple of friends who have Crohn's and they absolutely have to avoid whole grains, so if you tended to eat whole wheat that would definitely exasperate Crohn's while refined grains less so.

You may also have some food intolerance(s) thrown in there. I'm in the process of an elimination diet, and while it is boring as heck, useful information will be obtained very easily and cheaply. If you have not a consult with a knowledge GI about diet, get a referral to an RD who deals with both food prob and Crohn's to figure out how to deal with food/nutrition issues.

Hi everyone! Following four months of diarrhea,extreme weight loss, fatigue, night sweats, and low-grade fevers, I was finally diagnosed last week with Crohn's Disease. At first the GI considered Celiac, but he did a colonoscopy, endoscopy, and biopsies and those all came back negative for Celiac or anything else; so then he ordered a small bowel x-ray series, and the radiologist took one look at the terminal ileum in my small intestine and said I have Crohn's. The GI doctor said my most recent round of blood tests also confirmed Crohn's. I am now on Prednisone and Pentasa (only 5 days and I feel no different). However, I'm wondering...does anyone know if Celiac could cause the same visible problems in the terminal ileum as Crohn's? I did go off gluten for two weeks prior to the colonscopy/endoscopy; the doctor said that any allergy still should have shown up in the biopsy even though I'd been off wheat for quite a while. (I did start eating wheat like CRAZY four about five days before those biopsies to try to build it up in my system again). But I guess I'm hoping against hope that maybe I do have celiac and that is what's causing the symptoms and inflammation/stricturing in my ileum. In addition, when I eat offensive foods, it doesn't become diarrhea until many hours after eating--seven to twelve hours, usually. Would wheat ingestion take that long? Thanks for any help!!!