It has been 17 years since I had UC but at that time my understanding was that UC only affects the large colon and rectum and Crohn's can go anywhere in your digestive tract. I had been sick with UC for 10 years and perforated in the hospital (believe it or not it is not the safest place to be - nurses don't like to listen) and had a total colectomy. When they did the pathology they could not confirm which I had so told me I needed to wait for a year to see if I got sick again in my small bowel. Needless to say I made it through and then had the J-pouch surgery. It has been very successful for me.
Sigh... don't listen to loidiasis, he is spamming all of the boards with his "crohn's doesn't exist, it's parasites" trolling.
To answer your question, my understanding is that UC can become Crohn's, and vice versa. (I am not 100% sure about this) but I believe this is how my gastroenterologist was explaining it to me. The way he told me was that if I had surgery on my ileum, the Crohn's would almost certainly come back within a few years in a new section of the intestine. Therefore, there is no way to totally get rid of it - it will find a way back into your small intestine or large intestine, where it is called UC.
hi mate i know how u feel im constantly having flare ups with my uc! and i often wonder if i have chrons is well? im currently on pentasa/azathioprine 100mg a day/ i often wonder what to do for the best sometimes? what kind of symptons do u have?? be nice to share what other people go threw ?? ali xx