Crohn's Disease
Functional medicine support tailored to uncover the root cause of complex symptoms.
Consult with our care team to understand next steps and build a personalized plan.
Serving Denver Metro, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.
About This Condition
Crohn’s disease is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory bowel disease characterized by transmural inflammation that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, most commonly the terminal ileum and proximal colon. It typically presents in adolescents and young adults with chronic or recurrent gastrointestinal symptoms and systemic features such as weight loss and fatigue.
The clinical picture often includes chronic diarrhea, crampy abdominal pain, weight loss, and constitutional symptoms. Perianal disease (fissures, fistulas, abscesses, skin tags) is common and may be the initial presentation. Extraintestinal manifestations—such as arthralgias, inflammatory arthritis, uveitis, episcleritis, erythema nodosum, and primary sclerosing cholangitis—can occur and may parallel or diverge from bowel disease activity.
Disease severity and distribution are highly variable, ranging from mild, localized inflammation to extensive, penetrating, or stricturing disease requiring hospitalization or surgery. The condition follows a relapsing–remitting course with flares and periods of relative quiescence. Long-term risks include strictures, fistulas, malabsorption, nutritional deficiencies, and increased risk of colorectal cancer in long-standing colonic involvement.
Common Symptoms
- •Chronic or recurrent diarrhea (may be non-bloody or intermittently bloody)
- •Crampy abdominal pain, often in the right lower quadrant or periumbilical region
- •Unintentional weight loss and reduced appetite
- •Fatigue and low energy
- •Perianal pain, drainage, or swelling (fissures, fistulas, abscesses, skin tags)
- •Bloating, early satiety, or obstructive symptoms with stricturing disease
- •Fever or constitutional symptoms during flares
Conventional Treatment Options
Anti-inflammatory nutrition
Microbiome support
Lifestyle and stress
Our Functional Medicine Approach
Disease control needs GI care. Remission lasts longer with the upstream work.
Crohn's disease is managed by gastroenterology — biologics, immunomodulators, and acute care belong with your GI specialist. We do not replace that. What Spire adds is the upstream functional medicine work: gut dysbiosis, food triggers, micronutrient deficiencies (B12, iron, vitamin D), inflammatory burden, stress physiology, and lifestyle factors that make flares more or less likely. Done right, this work extends remission and protects nutritional status.
How Spire works the root cause
Our Autoimmune Care Pathway runs comprehensive stool, micronutrient, and inflammatory panels, food sensitivity work, dysbiosis evaluation, and bone density / nutritional risk monitoring. We coordinate with your gastroenterologist on timing so our interventions complement — not interfere with — your medication regimen.
Who this is for
Adults with Crohn's disease in remission or on stable maintenance who want functional medicine support layered onto their GI care, patients in repeated flare cycles wanting to address triggers, and anyone managing the nutritional and energetic toll of long-term IBD.