Symptoms
The main symptoms of
include:
- Abdominal pain. The pain often is described as
cramping and intermittent, and the abdomen may be sore when touched. Abdominal
pain may turn to a dull, constant ache as the condition
progresses.
- Diarrhea. Some people may have diarrhea 10 to 20 times
a day. They may wake up at night and need to go to the bathroom. Crohn's
disease may cause blood in stools, but not always.
- Loss of
appetite.
- Fever. In severe cases, fever or other symptoms that
affect the entire body may develop. A high fever may mean that you have a
complication involving infection, such as an
.
- Weight loss. Ongoing symptoms,
such as diarrhea, can lead to weight loss.
- Too few red blood cells
(). Some people with Crohn's disease develop
anemia because of low iron levels caused by bloody stools or the intestinal
inflammation itself.
People with Crohn's disease also may have:
- Sores in the mouth.
- Nutritional
deficiencies, such as lowered levels of vitamin B12, folic acid, iron, and
fat-soluble vitamins, because the intestines may not be able to absorb
nutrients from food.
- Bowel obstruction.
- Signs of
disease in or around the
. These may include:
- Abnormal tunnels or openings called
that sometimes form between organs. These
develop because Crohn's disease causes inflammation and ulcers in the deep
layers of the intestinal wall.
may form between parts of the intestine or
between the intestine and another organ such as the bladder, vagina, or skin. A
fistula may be the
first sign of Crohn's disease.
- Pockets of infection (abscesses).
- Small tears in the anus ().
- Skin tags that may resemble
. These are caused by inflamed skin.
Because there is some immune system involvement, you also
may have symptoms outside the digestive tract, such as
joint pain, eye problems, a skin rash, or liver disease.
with symptoms similar to Crohn's disease include
and
.