Can bowel prep cause inflammation? Crohn’s without symptoms?

Hi & welcome to the forum. The prep can cause redness & inflammation for some people as they are pretty harsh. It's a tough call to make, sadly you will have to wait until the biopsy report comes back. If you were not having any symptoms why was the scope ordered?

A month wait to get results seems to be a bit odd. Where are you located to have such a long wait time? It's a shame that you didn't have someone with you when you woke up. I never remember a thing my dr tells me when I wake up either.

Try to dial back the stress that will not help you any. Take care.

It's possible to have Crohn's without symptoms. It's not the normal case, but it does happen.

It's also possible that the prep caused minor irritation (redness and mild swelling).

There are several medications that can cause those findings too. Are you on any medications, prescription or over-the-counter?

Have you had any blood tests done? The doctors should do a complete panel of blood tests, including CRP and ESR.

They should also do stool tests to rule out infections and to look for hidden blood.

This may be nothing at all, or it may be a result of the prep, or a result of medications, or an infection, or Crohn's, or many other things.

The biopsies will give more info. Blood tests and stool test would help too.

Crohn's usually needs several pieces of information in order to be diagnosed.

I really appreciate your responses, thank you. Oh, I didn't realize swelling or redness could be caused by so many things, and maybe nothing. That gives me some hope that it is not Crohn's since I have no symptoms, it sounds like it could be unlikely. It doesn't seem that Crohn's is very common or widespread either from what I've read, but I know there's a lot of misinformation out there.

I am a healthy 43 year old that doesn't take any medications (except the occasional tylenol or advil). I did a stool sample and they called me back saying it was negative for everything. The PA actually called me the evening of my colonoscopy (and I was still a bit out of it) to give me the results of the stool sample and I mentioned what the doctor said about biopsying for possible Crohn's. She said he might want to do a pill camera. I was hoping they would have called me this week with the results of the biopsy, but I don't know if they do that over the phone.

So the biopsy will not give a definitive diagnosis? What are they looking for? I was thinking there are Crohn's cells they are looking for or something that would give a for sure answer. They haven't ordered any blood tests yet, but I did recently have my annual blood work with my general doctor and everything came back perfect. It was just a general annual workup with a lipid panel, comprehensive metabolic panel, CBC and TSH. I'm not sure if the tests you mentioned have to be specifically ordered. My family has no history of any gastro illnesses, or autoimmune, except my aunt (Dad's sister) has Lupus.

Thank you again for your feedback.

Agree with all the above. I will add, if you are healthy and not symptomatic, I would also limit the number of tests you allow them to do. Test enough, you will find something. And that something leads to more tests, that make you more anxious.

I have multiple chronic illnesses and I very much limit how much I allow testing now.

So it sounds like regardless of the biopsy, they will want to run more tests? Sounds like it gives very unclear results.

You are so knowledgeable on here, thank you! If I google reasons for small bowel inflammation only Crohn's pops up everywhere...sometimes the internet is not a good resource. I'm glad I came across this site. I ate a big steak dinner the night before my prep day and I thought that could possibly cause it too. The flushing of everything and having steak :/ I realize now I should've eaten more lightly the night before the prep day.

Nothing came up about ulcerations, just the mild inflammation and redness I posted above. Yes, you are right, no other symptoms, but occasional loose bowels., which is why they did the colonoscopy in the first place. Now that I think of it I don't have loose stools often and it is after a lot of coffee, or possibly foods I eat. I should've never said anything. I feel like I opened up a can of worms for nothing. Trying not to worry, but I tend to...can you tell?

The anal discharge could be sweat or from something else, but it does seem to be coming from that area. No mucous or blood ever. Yes, those suckers move around a lot and maybe I should forgo them anyways.

I got in with the PA for tomorrow afternoon, so I should have some more answers then. I wish it was the doctor I'm meeting with in case I have additional questions, but I don't want to wait a month. Thanks again for the info!

Yes, I've not heard of food causing inflammation of the intestines in any other contexts other than the ones beave mentioned. Ditto stress - it can exacerbate diarrhoea in susceptible people, but actually cause the intestines to become inflamed? Nah.

It's also possible to have early or mild Crohn's with very few symptoms - I was one of them. It began with basically 1 loose stool a day. Pretty pathetic, but when it didn't clear up after a few weeks (it began around Christmas time so I put it down to too much Christmas food at first), I went to the GP. No pain, no blood, no mucus, no fevers. Six months later I got a diagnosis of Crohn's after a colonoscopy and small bowel barium x-ray. I was shocked at the diagnosis, even though my brother had got the same diagnosis a couple of years earlier (don't think I knew at that point that Crohn's can sometimes run in families though).

That said, none of this means you have Crohn's. But if it *does* turn out to be that, it is better to catch it early. Good luck.

I just returned from my appointment and got good news. The PA said that there were no significant findings on my biopsies and that the doc recommends coming back in 7-10 years (he wrote that on the original report). She said he hasn't signed the report yet, since it just came in Friday and he is on vacation, but she said it showed nothing and with the absence of symptoms, the initial mild inflammation was probably from the prep and I don't need to do anything further. So I am going to put this to rest. Thank you so much for your insight and advice, I can't express how much it means to me. I got the copy of the report like you suggested and it says:
A:Ileum, terminal, biopsy:
Unremarkable small bowel mucosa

B: Colon, Random, biopsy:
No significant pathology

Thanks again and I wish everyone well.

Thank you, I am very relieved. I know many of you are very knowledgeable about this disease and everything that goes with it. Do you agree that I should just move on and put this to rest? I woke up thinking about it and wanted your input.

I know there are many more tests that could be run, but I don't want to insist on more probing if unnecessary, and want to let it go. I saw the PA, (who in my state is qualified to interpret results, diagnose, prescribe meds, etc) because the doctor is so booked out. Apparently she typically meets patients for follow up appointments. She didn't blink at looking into it any further, and doesn't recommend anything more. She was very thorough with looking at other things on my report as well and explaining them (hemorrhoids, diverticulitis, etc)

On my initial colonoscopy report from the doctor, it said to return in 2 weeks for biopsy report, then to return in 7-10 years for Colonoscopy, so once the PA saw nothing on the biopsy, she said to return in 7-10 years. The doctor did say after my colonoscopy that there was very mild swelling in one area that he biopsied just to be safe, but it could just be from the prep.

As I stated above, the doctor hasn't seen or signed the results yet since he's out of town, but I'm sure will when he gets back and they will send a copy to my primary doctor. I definitely want to put this behind me and don't want to drag it out for nothing, but wanted to see what you guys thought. I don't have any symptoms of Crohn's, had mild inflammation that they saw during Colonoscopy and biopsied (results below) and negative stool samples. I recently had a typical blood work panel from my primary doctor that came back great. The PA said the mild inflammation was probably from the prep.

A:Ileum, terminal, biopsy:
Unremarkable small bowel mucosa

B: Colon, Random, biopsy:
No significant pathology

Thank you for your input as I want to put it all behind me and move on. I guess I am questioning it since I didn't hear from the horses mouth (GI doc), but I'm sure they wouldn't let the PA deliver and interpret results is she wasn't qualified. This is a very busy, reputable office in Orange County, Ca. Thanks again!

Oh great, thank you! Yes, it is easy to go down the "what if" road! I am going to let it go, I figure that they wouldn't let the PA deliver results if she wasn't qualified, and results that show nothing are the best kind of results to get. I just got into my own head for a minute. Yes, life it too short! Thanks!

Okay, sounds good. Thank you for your input. It's much appreciated!!