Then, ten years later, a different doctor, after retesting me, saw no sign of Crohn's but gave me a drug to control the diarrhea. Now I have been retested because of new stomach pain. All tests were negative except for ulcers that were found in the terminal ileum of my colon during a colonoscopy. I sometimes think the doctors believe I just have a stressful personality. The cause of Crohn's is not known, although some intriguing recent research seems to indicate that it may involve a persistent measles virus infection in the small blood vessels going to the areas of the intestine affected by the disease.
Family studies indicate a strongly inherited tendency to develop Crohn's.
Identical twins have a 60 percent likelihood of being concordant for Crohn's, meaning that both develop it. Smoking and long-term use of oral contraceptives also seem to increase one's risk of developing the disease. The course of Crohn's disease over the years may be highly variable. Although many patients with severe cases will have loss of appetite and weight loss, often with anemia, some may not have such severe disease. President Dwight Eisenhower, not a notably emaciated man, was operated on for regional ileitis during his second term.