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What's The Main Difference Of Crohns And Celiac

faithforlife

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faithforlife Apprentice
faithforlife
Posted

I know celiac usually improves on a gluten-free diet. Is Crohns related to celiac? Im reading that the intestinal damage looks similar. Just wondering if Crohns is something we should be tested for. I had my endoscopy late in the game 6 months after the gluten-free diet and the doc could see scalloping in duodenum. Will that heal in time? Makes me worry also that I'm accidentally buying cross contaminated groceries. Or could it be gluten-free oats? FYI I don't have celiac symptoms but was positive for antibodies and genetics. And still waiting on biopsy results.

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Bubba's Mom Enthusiast
Bubba's Mom
Posted

My sister has Crohn's and her main symptom is D. It's considered auto-immune too.

I guess they can tell by the biopsy if it's Crohn's or Celiac? They're both inflamatory but under the microscope they have different cells visable? There's some speculation that those with Crohn's would be wise to try gluten-free? My sister's Dr. told her diet didn't matter with Crohn's when she asked.

If I had to choose between one or the other, I'd choose Celiac. The treatment for it no gluten and that is much easier than having a disease with no known cause? My sister has to have IV treatmnts to knock out her immune system, and that's all they can do for her.

frieze Community Regular
frieze
Posted

....different ends of the digestive tract.

GFinDC Veteran
GFinDC
Posted

I think they can test for Crohn's by looking for antibodies to yeast. Some people do have both celiac and Crohn's. I guess that's different kind of CC. Some people with Crohn's follow the gluten-free diet also.

Gemini Experienced
Gemini
Posted

My sister has Crohn's and her main symptom is D. It's considered auto-immune too.

I guess they can tell by the biopsy if it's Crohn's or Celiac? They're both inflamatory but under the microscope they have different cells visable? There's some speculation that those with Crohn's would be wise to try gluten-free? My sister's Dr. told her diet didn't matter with Crohn's when she asked.

If I had to choose between one or the other, I'd choose Celiac. The treatment for it no gluten and that is much easier than having a disease with no known cause? My sister has to have IV treatmnts to knock out her immune system, and that's all they can do for her.

As Frieze already mentioned, Crohn's is an inflammatory disease of the large intestine, while Celiac is the small intestine. Similar symptoms but each affects a different part of the bowel.

Crohn's has genetic components to it and that's why you see it run in families...like Celiac. However, you cannot knock it into remission by diet alone.

I think it much worse because many people with Crohn's have to have sections of the large intestine removed due to damage from poorly controlled inflammation. I have heard of Crohn's patients who follow the gluten-free diet and they claim it does help them a lot but I wonder if the 2 diseases are common together? I would bet they are.

The AMA has no real treatment for most autoimmune problems except to suppress the immune system but that can be dangerous to do for long periods of time.

I feel lucky as all hell to have Celiac and not something else that cannot be controlled by diet. I don't believe that diet is irrelevant with Crohn's.

That's just the misguided belief of the AMA.

Bubba's Mom Enthusiast
Bubba's Mom
Posted

Crohn's can affect your digestive system anywhere from the mouth to the other end, and everything in between. My sister has had her Colon removed and it's now attacking her small intestine. It's brutal.

Celiac doesn't look as bad to me? At least it can be controlled?

ChristenDG Rookie
ChristenDG
Posted

My best friend has Crohn's Disease (which runs in my family, but fortunately I do not have!). I very much agree that Celiacs is much better to deal with! Remove gluten and the damage can heal and you can have a fairly normal life! With Crohn's though, the way I understand it and from my experience, there's not much you can do. You can eat carefully and whatnot, but there doesn't really seem to be a way to control the symptoms. The symptoms are all very similar though and before I was diagnosed with Celiacs the doctors believed I might have Crohn's. Thank God it wasn't!

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faithforlife Apprentice
faithforlife
Posted
  • Author

Thanks everyone. I find it very interesting.

  • 2 weeks later...
49erlady Newbie
49erlady
Posted

I was just dx with both Celiac Disease and Crohns on the same day. The dr told me they don't know of a def correlation but would not surprise him if the Celiac got so bad that it triggered the Crohns. However no way to tell. Balancing the two is going to be challenging but I will find a way. Long road ahead for me!

GlutenFreeAustinite Contributor
GlutenFreeAustinite
Posted

My grandmother was dx'ed with Crohn's when she was much, much older...when she was in her 70s. She was tested for celiac in the 1990s, but it came back negative. My family is convinced she had gluten-intolerance, and most likely celiac, even though she did have a negative test. The Crohn's was absolutely nasty--she eventually had to have a colostomy bag.

GFinDC Veteran
GFinDC
Posted

Hi 49er,

My younger brother had both celiac and Crohn's. It is not unheard of to have both. I wish you the best in your journey. I wish I understood more about celiac back then so I could have helped him. He didn't really follow the gluten-free diet. But we know a lot more about how to eat healthy these days. On some Crohn's forums they are people who say the gluten-free diet helps their symptoms. Some say it doesn't help them. So it is a variable thing. Maybe it will help you. :)

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heidi g. Contributor
heidi g.
Posted

You will know if you have crohns because I've heard the pain from it be described as close to labor pains. Now I'll tell ya from experience those hurt! I had ulcerative colitis when I was younger and luckily it healed.by itself but (very similar pain as crohns) and id wake up sweaty. I know several people who have crohns disease and their Main symptoms are extreme pain and bloody diarrhea. It will only get worse too. You get sicker and sicker. Now depending on she. Your symptoms started but the doctors.most likely would of seen the extreme inflammation crohns causes. Hope that made you feel better. (I myself questioned if I had crohns at one point so I asked people who actually have it.)

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      Hi @Scatterbrain Thank you for your reply.   Some of these things could be weaknesses, also triggered by stress, which perhaps have come about as the result of long-term deficiencies which can take a long time to correct.   Some could be completely unrelated. If it is of help, I'll tell you some of the things that started in the first year or two, following my diagnosis - I pinned everything on coeliac disease, but it turns out I wasn't always right!  Dizziness, lightheaded - I was eventually diagnosed with cervical dizziness (worth googling, could be your issue too, also if you have neck pain?)  A few months after diagnosis I put my neck out slightly carrying my seven-year-old above my head, and never assigned any relevance to it as the pain at the time was severe but so short-lived that I'd forgotten the connection. Jaw pain - stress. Tinnitus - I think stress, but perhaps exacerbated by iron/vitamin deficiencies. Painful ribs and sacroiliac joints - no idea, bloating made the pain worse. It got really bad but then got better. Irregular heart rate - could be a coincidence but my sister (not a coeliac) and I both developed this temporarily after our second Astra Zeneca covid jabs.   Subsequent Pfizer jabs didn't affect us. Brain fog - a big thing for people with certain autoimmune issues but in my case I think possibly worse when my iron or B12 are low, but I have no proof of this. Insomnia - stress, menopause. So basically, it isn't always gluten.  It might be worth having your vitamins and mineral levels checked, and if you have deficiencies speak to your Dr about how better to address them?    
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