Signs of Crohn's Disease

I’ve lived with Crohn’s colitis for over a decade, and one thing I’ve learned is that the signs of Crohn’s disease can show up way before anyone gives it a name. Growing up, I remember the burning sensations in my stomach, the sudden bathroom trips, and eventually in my early twenties, I started noticing blood, mucus, and looser stools. What I thought were just random stomach issues turned out to be signs of something deeper.

This post breaks down all the signs I’ve come to recognize as part of Crohn’s, some that are obvious and some that don’t seem gut-related at all. I’ll mix in the research with my real-life experience to give a full picture of how this disease can show up, shift, and disguise itself over time.

Crohn’s is a type of IBD, or inflammatory bowel disease. It causes chronic inflammation in the digestive tract, often in the ileum (end of the small intestine) and colon, but it can really pop up anywhere along the GI tract. Some folks deal with just Crohn’s colitis (when it’s only in the large intestine), others get inflammation higher up too.

For me, it started subtly. I didn’t get an official diagnosis until my twenties, but the signs were already there when I was younger. It's not just about diarrhea and stomach pain. Crohn’s can impact energy, mood, skin, joints, and more.

Looking back, I wish someone had connected the dots sooner. I went years thinking it was just stress, bad food, or anxiety. IBD symptoms can be brushed off as "just IBS" or written off as poor eating habits. Recognizing the signs of Crohn’s early gave me a better shot at calming things down before complications showed up.

It didn’t stop flares overnight, but it helped me start building a healing strategy. I eventually built the Remission Roadmap and started GutMellow because I realized how many people were stuck in the same cycle, frustrated and overlooked.

Persistent Diarrhea

This one hit me the hardest during flares. I wasn’t just going once or twice a day...it was five, six, seven times. Sometimes with urgency so bad I couldn’t leave the house. The consistency wasn’t normal either: watery, loose, sometimes oily-looking.

Abdominal Pain

Mine usually showed up in the lower right side, but it moved around depending on what part of my gut was inflamed. It could feel crampy, sharp, dull, or like something was just…off. After meals, it would flare up more, especially with trigger foods I didn’t yet know I had.

Blood in Stool

I started seeing blood regularly in my twenties. It was terrifying at first, but also weirdly normalized over time. Sometimes bright red, sometimes darker. It was usually mixed with mucus, which I now know is a sign of active inflammation in the colon.

Unexplained Weight Loss

When my gut wasn’t absorbing food properly, I started dropping weight fast—even when I wasn’t trying. I had moments where I looked at myself in the mirror and didn’t recognize how gaunt I’d become. This was one of the signs that pushed me to seek more testing.

Fatigue

Even if I slept 8–10 hours, I woke up tired. That’s the thing about systemic inflammation, it zaps energy. Pair that with low iron or B12 and you’ve got constant exhaustion that no amount of caffeine can fix. (Though I had to cut caffeine too.)

Fever

During flares, I’d sometimes feel feverish. Low-grade stuff. It wasn’t enough to land me in bed, but it was enough to know my immune system was going wild.

Mouth Sores

Painful little ulcers in my mouth, almost like canker sores but deeper. At one point, I had several at once. I had no clue they were connected to Crohn’s until much later.

Joint Pain

There were days my knees and ankles ached more than my gut. I didn’t realize at the time that Crohn’s can trigger joint inflammation, especially during flares.

Eye Inflammation

I had redness and blurry vision in one eye once that my eye doctor called uveitis. At the time, I didn’t know it could be part of an autoimmune issue like IBD.

Skin Problems

I’ve dealt with rashes and red bumps, especially on my shins and arms. Some were likely erythema nodosum, which is pretty common in Crohn’s colitis.

In kids, the signs can look different. I didn’t experience this myself, but I’ve seen it in others. Delayed growth, failure to gain weight, or missed puberty milestones are all signs that something might be off with the gut. It can be misdiagnosed as picky eating or stress at school.

I’ve had inflammation in both my small intestine and colon, and they showed up differently.

When my small intestine was flaring, I’d get bloated, nauseous, and felt like I wasn’t absorbing anything. Meals felt like they just sat in my gut.

With Crohn’s colitis which affects my colon, it was more bloody diarrhea, urgency, and mucus.

When I had perianal symptoms, I dealt with painful fissures and irritation. It felt like something sharp during bowel movements, and it made bathroom trips even more miserable.

During a flare, everything got more intense: diarrhea, pain, urgency, mucus, blood, the works. My symptoms flared hard and fast, especially after eating. Certain foods like bread or dairy lit me up.

In remission, my stool got more formed. The mucus cleared. I didn’t feel the constant pressure to go. I could eat without fear. I wrote about what remission felt like more in my book How I Stopped IBD Flare-Ups & Achieved Remission and in the Remission Roadmap over at gutmellow.com.

By the time I had blood and mucus regularly, I knew I needed real answers. A colonoscopy confirmed inflammation, and I finally had a diagnosis. I also did a bunch of stool tests, bloodwork, and imaging over the years to track progress.

I got misdiagnosed with IBS at one point. Others I’ve talked to were told it was celiac, food poisoning, or just stress. Crohn’s overlaps with a bunch of other things like ulcerative colitis, colon cancer, even SIBO.

Diagnosis is tricky but important. If you’ve read this far and it all sounds too familiar, you might want to look into it.

I talk a lot about my approach over at gutmellow.com, and inside the Remission Roadmap Bundle. It wasn’t one thing. It was a mix of diet changes (cutting dairy, gluten, and processed food completely), figuring out what causes Crohn’s flares for me (stress, certain oils, sugar), and building out a supplement stack that supported my gut lining.

Things like bone broth, ginger, and omega-3s became part of my routine. I avoided probiotics, certain herbs, and foods that never seemed to sit right no matter how “healthy” they sounded.

The signs of Crohn’s disease don’t always shout. Sometimes they whisper for years. I ignored mine until they got loud, but even then, it took time to find what worked. If you’re on the hunt for relief or clarity, my full story is inside my book and the resources at gutmellow.com.

Everyone’s gut is different. But if what I went through sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

After years of trial and error, I finally found a combination of strategies that worked for me. I went from constant flare-ups to long-term remission, without biologics like Stelara or surgery. I created GutMellow to share my experience and help others navigate their own healing journey.

The GutMellow Remission Roadmap includes everything I wish I had when I was first diagnosed. It’s a comprehensive resource that outlines the exact steps I took to regain control of my gut health, including:

This blog is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. While I am sharing my personal experience, every individual’s health journey is unique. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, supplements, medications, or lifestyle. Healing is a personal journey, and what worked for me may not work for everyone.