Teen Diagnoses Herself With Crohn's

You would think that Crohn's disease would be easy to diagnose, especially when to those of us who have IBD, the symptoms are so clear. However, it's more complicated than that, and some people go for months, even years without a proper diagnosis. Others are first diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome or ulcerative colitis, only to find out later that they really have Crohn's disease.

Now there is a report that a young woman has diagnosed herself with Crohn's disease. According to several news reports, 18 year-old Jessica Terry had suffered for the better part of a decade with typical Crohn's disease symptoms, yet a diagnosis was elusive. It just so happened that her Advanced Placement high school biology class was learning how to view specimens under a microscope. Local pathologists were assisting the students in the class. Terry was examining tissue from her own intestinal biopsy when she made a discovery. She found a granuloma -- a mass of tissue that is found in Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease had long been suspected, but the granuloma finding, which was confirmed by a pathologist, made the diagnosis conclusive. Terry has written a children's book about Crohn's, which she hopes to have published.

More on this story:

• Teen diagnoses her own disease in science class
• Sammamish teen solves own medical mystery
• Teen Self-Diagnoses Her Own Mysterious Disease