My understanding is that UC is in your colon and it only effects one layer of your intestine. Crohn's can be anywhere in your digestive track and effects all layers of your intestines. I have Crohn's and I have had ulcers in my esophogas and anal fistulas, so it can be all over the place.

I would check out www.ccfa.org for more information. Chrones is usually in small intestine and UC is in the large. You want to have UC, it can be removed and the disease is gone. You do not need a large intestine to survive. You can get a j-pouch. Check out j-pouch.org. Take care.

Thank you both so much for taking the time and trouble to reply.

I disagree wityh Lizzie,I have UC for the last 15 years.Its a inflamation in the large intestine. My colitis is effecting my rectum.I had it also a little bit in the middle of my intestine. Mine comes and goes. Depending on the stress I'm having. My doc told me it is a chronic disease,so I can go in remission for month even years but it will pop up eventually. I leaned to live with it,with the propper diet and stress handling.I'm not sure about chrons,just hear and read about it how much pain those people are in,don't get me wrong Colitis can be very pain ful too. I'm in remission for a couple of month right now.Hope you found out what kind of disease you got and leaned how to take care of your self.

I think the biggest difference is how it is treated. I agree with Lizzie to check out www.ccfa.org. I know many people with UC who have had their colon removed only to have the diseased areas pop up else where, then they were dx with Crohn's.

UC can effect many layers of the colon and can cause fistulas as well. CCFA has some interesting articles on the genetics of IBD.

i was told i had crohn's and it was in my bowel, large intestine & possibly small intestine too,
after all the enema's and xrays when drinking that foul mud to show up, they took my bowel & large intestine out with my apendix, they confirmed it was ulcerative colitis and said you still might have it infecting the small intestine as it isnt a cure when removed, that was 27yrs ago, i have an ileostmy (pouch) and sometimes the ulcers do burst, and they will bleed, but its contained in a pouch and i dont have the pain.

I guess I got lucky with my Colitis,every once in a while I get those symptoms of Uc ,(Bleeding,pain) I go back to my doc and lucky enough it gets treated with medicaton and I'm good.Every here &then I get my colonoskopie to make sure it didn't get worse or my doc is looking for those polyps sorry don't know how to spell that.Thank God so far I never had those.Maybe I' m not in a bad stage?Pray never to get there either.