Crohn’s disease: Medications and diet key to managing symptoms

Diarrhea, cramping and fatigue may seem like symptoms of a simple stomach bug. But if they don’t go away — or if they come with issues such as night sweats, joint pain or mouth sores — they might point to a more serious underlying condition. For more than a million people in the U.S., that condition is Crohn’s disease.

Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). That means it causes long-lasting inflammation in the digestive tract — most often at the end of the small intestine and the beginning of the large intestine.

While the disease is long-lasting, its symptoms may not be constant. For many people, symptoms come and go, with periods of calm, called remission, in between. The severity and location of the disease can vary from person to person.