What Causes Crohn S Disease In A 13 Year Old?

My daughter was diagnosed with Crohn s disease. In 2008 she had a colonoscopy that revealed a small area of inflammation in her lower colon. She had developed an abscess a few months before which was operated on after it turned to a fistula. At this time all her labs were normal (no anemia, no dehydration, normal WBC). The GI specialist said she has Crohn s, the MD who did the colonoscopy said more tests she be run, her ileum wasn t affected and didn t look like Crohn s to him. We got a second opinion and he had the films sent over and even got a second opinion and said it was not Crohn s. He put her on 40mg of Prednisone for the fistula area. She was only 55lbs and 9 years old. Her diarrhea that she has had since a baby, got worse. She went from 3-4 BMS a day to 13 + a day. We decided to seek out naturopathic. Now this year she was severly anemic, she hasn t grown in height and weight she is only 60lbs. and now 13 years old. So, we went back to a GI specialist. He did an MRI and it showed no inflammation or thickening anywhere except for the very lower part of her colon. The same area as 2008 and the fistula is the same. No additional fistulas at all. They diagnosed her with Crohn s and put her on Remicade. Could this be something else, like even UC? They say she is malabsorbing but her stored iron levels continue to go up, just not her circulating iron. And, her thyroid T3 is low, T4 is normal. And, why did they not try other drugs first? Remicade webpage says it is used only after all other drugs have failed to help. And, I would also like to add that she has no visual blood in her stools and no pain anywhere, ever. She eats what she likes and eats a lot.