New publication: Tests and Investigations for IBD

A new information sheet: Tests and Investigations for IBD (Edition 4) is now available to download from our website.

Tests and Investigations for IBD (PDF)

This replaces the booklet Investigations for IBD - Edition 3, which is now out of date and being discontinued.

More information

Printed copies are available from the office - contact usif you would like one.

Visit our Information about IBD section to view all of our information sheets, guides and booklets.

Crohn's and Colitis UK Comments on NICE Recommendation

Crohn’s and Colitis UK welcomes the recommendation from NICE (National Institute for Health Care Excellence) that faecal calprotectin be used to support a diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis (known collectively as Inflammatory Bowel Disease), in conjunction with other appropriate processes.

The use of faecal calprotectin, which identifies inflammation in the bowel, could accelerate diagnoses in future.

We are now looking forward to NICE’s work on developing the Quality Standards for IBD, which will begin in December. These Standards will be essential for mandating good quality care for anyone receiving a diagnosis of IBD.

We know that people with IBD can experience long delays in receiving a diagnosis, as symptoms are often confused with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Related Links

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• Simple tests could help diagnose serious bowel conditions

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• Faecal calprotectin diagnostic tests for inflammatory diseases of the bowel: guidance (PDF)

Guest Writer Harvey - Young Diagnosis

Me, Myself and My Immune System: A brief timeline of my love affair with Crohn’s Disease.

Harvey Hancock

Part ONE

Rewind to summer 2001. I’m on holiday in Portugal. I should be enjoying the sun but I am peering into the toilet. I am so impressed by the sight my 10yr-old eyes see that I call my mum in so she can view this biological magnificence. “Look Mum!” I say, “I’ve got snot in my poo!”

Fast forward one week. I’m in the car on my way home from the airport. It’s not very late but I’m sleeping again – I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Mum keeps poking me awake, which I don’t enjoy, to show me the really interesting places we’re driving through. I’m 10. I have no interest in being woken up by a prod in my chest to be told that Biddy, or Elaine, or Auntie Melanie lived in this town. She would reveal to me 11 years later that she agreed this was a poor excuse to wake a sleeping boy, but, at the time, she didn’t want to tell me that she was waking me to make sure I wasn’t dead.

Fast forward one day. I have been rushed into hospital and am being admitted into the children’s ward. Apparently such sudden weight loss and “interesting bowel movements” aren’t common in healthy young boys. I get a room to myself, but the TV has no remote; this shouldn’t really bother me given the circumstances, but watching Scooby Doo is higher on my agenda than having strangers shove thermometers in my mouth, and certainly higher than the struggle to make it to the toilet in time every 45 minutes or so. I am massively dehydrated and feverish, sleeping with a fan in each corner of the room. Everyone else wears blankets around them when they sit with me but I am still swelteringly hot in my hospital gown, giving me a more ghostly shape than I’d perhaps appreciate.

Fast forward a week. Scooby Doo is doing my bloody head in; I get it, it was the janitor. I am accustomed to having strangers shove thermometers in my mouth and my violent diarrhoea. My “interesting bowel movements” are now an hour apart – progress. Unfortunately, I am still not walking. Mum suggests I walk up to the end of the corridor and back. I take my drip stand in my hand – not only is it delaying death by dehydration, but it acts as a rather stylish walking stick. It has wheels and everything. I take mum up on her offer. I know dad is coming by with Sian and KFC (I prefer the KFC to my kid sister) and the thought of tucking into the culinary delights of Colonel Sanders over the hospital’s three-course-melange of mystery meat gets me on my feet. 

As I drag my feeble frame from one end of the corridor back to my room I consider the implications of denouncing hospital food by comparing it with KFC (which, in spite of its name, doesn’t really taste like chicken) but am distracted by a young boy bashing many toys in the play-room. Concluding that the boy and I are not kindred spirits, I decide never to walk up to that end of the corridor again. I return to my room for a quick poo and some well-deserved rest.

Fast forward 3 days. A charming doctor named Julian comes to my room. He tries to pass off his conversation as a secret between the two of us but he is basically talking to my mum. Crohn’s Disease, he explains to me, is basically my tummy deciding to speed up the digestion process to such an extent that it forgets to absorb any nutrients from my food. Moreover, he tells me that this Crohn’s Disease is causing my “interesting bowel movements”, which explains why I am able to see entire meals in my toilet bowl. KFC is quite familiar with the toilet, now – I am eating it every day because dad says that I deserve a treat. Before Julian retires for the day, he also says that I am particularly special; my liver is ballsed up, too! This doesn’t affect me at the moment but Mum says that I won’t be able to drink alcohol in the future. I believe her when she tells me I can “have a glass of champagne on my wedding day, but that’s it.”

Fast forward to the next day. I am actually feeling better. I have finished eating my KFC and it takes almost an hour and a half before my toilet acquaints itself with my dinner – I am an unwilling middle-man in this despicable love triangle. Medication has done its job and I am able to shower without sitting down. My “interesting bowel movements” are no longer interesting and they stimulate me about as much as Scooby F*!"ing Doo – so my dad brings in my Playstation and goes on the hunt for a television remote. It appears the room next door has a television remote, but the mother refuses to share it because her daughter is more ill than I am. I complain more than I should, disregarding the fact that we are kindred spirits. We’re stuck in bed like flowers that refuse to grow, away from home and missing out on the summer weather. Television is our only weapon, our only reminder that the world is having a party – and we’re not invited. Then the runs hit me at breakneck speed and I have to stop playing the philosopher. I let the girl keep the remote.

Coming up in Part 2 - going home, school and telling the other kids...

Guest Writer - Sadie

Hi, my name is Sadie and I have Crohn’s Disease.

I was delighted that ‘Me and IBD’ asked me to write a guest post on their blog as, after starting my own blog around my story and struggles, I am hooked!

IBD isn’t a very glamorous disease and I think some sufferers are reluctant to share their experience as it can be embarrassing. This, accompanied with the confusion between IBD and IBS, means that not a lot of people are aware of the severity of the disease, or fully understand how it can affect us!

I hope that by sharing my story and experience with the condition I can not only help others through hard times, but educate and raise awareness of the disease.

First of all, I will start off with life before my diagnosis. For me, and for lots of other people with IBD, it takes a long time to get diagnosed. I experienced extreme fatigue, bloating and urgent diarrhoea before I was diagnosed with Pernicious Anaemia and IBS by my GP. It was really tough going through school and college with these horrible symptoms and no medication that seemed to work for me. I was embarrassed to use the toilet anywhere other than my house, but sometimes I had to. My constant fatigue meant my exams were a struggle. But after I while I got used to it and thought that this was something I just had to put up with.

I managed to pass my GCSE’s and A Level and get a place doing Drama and English at Hull University. In my second year there, is when I really started to experience problems. My symptoms just seemed to get worse and worse until one day I rushed to hospital with severe stomach cramps and vomiting. It turned out I had an abscess and severe inflammation in the ileum of my bowel. This was when I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.

Since then I have been battling this disease head on. It was kind of a relief getting a diagnosis; I could now get treatment instead of being told I had to just get on with things. But it was a bit of a shock. I didn't realise how serious it was at first and just shrugged it off thinking I’d be fine and back to normal by September, when I started my third and final year at uni. But it didn’t…

I know I am lucky in some respects because my disease is in no way as bad as what others have experienced. It is classified as moderate- severe but thankfully I have not had to have surgery (yet) or be hospitalized for longer than a week! (I think this is mostly due to my moaning when I am in there, I am so stubborn even though the doctors and nurses are helping me, and I cannot stand to be told what to do. So being told I can't leave really grinds me gears :P)

I have tried several different medications and therapies since I was diagnosed. You can head over to my blog to hear my experience with each medication but remember everyone is different, so what works for me might not work for you or vice-versa :) 

Although I have only been diagnosed for 9 months, my journey so far has been a whirlwind. I think I have finally come to terms with it now. Having a chronic illness is tough and it has affected my life a lot, even without me or other people realising. It has affected university, my job, my social life; my relationships, my self-esteem, and even my fitness and hobbies.

BUT I always try and stay positive no matter what because I know there are people who are going through 100% worse. Now and then I even joke about it :) I don’t want to complain and I don’t want attention, I just want to try and live as normal a life as I can.

I’ve had so much help from my IBD team and am so thankful for the NHS. My friends and family; especially my mum and my boyfriend Sean have been there for me whenever I need help or support. The online community and social networking sites have enabled me to talk to other people in the same situation as me and help me realise I am not suffering alone.

IBD may not be life threatening but it definitely is life altering. I know I am a better person since I was diagnosed. I have learnt to appreciate the little things like being able to go out with friends and even eat! Happiness is a healer and although I have missed a lot of opportunities because of being ill; I know I will succeed not despite of it, but because of the person it has and will make me! 

I also hope I can help and offer advice to people who are going through similar things to me :) So feel free to message or comment on my blog for any advice or support! 

Confessions of a Crohnie