Updated 3 October 2026
At a glance
- AHRQ reports that one in three American adults has multiple chronic conditions, and defines the term as two or more chronic physical or mental health conditions occurring together.
- The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation says between 25% and 40% of people with IBD experience problems outside the gut, commonly in the joints, skin, bones, eyes, kidneys and liver.
- The National Institute on Aging notes that taking many medicines can raise the chance of interactions, including a medicine for one condition affecting another.
- One dated page, one medicine list and one question list let each clinician read the same record.
- Crohn's Journey keeps symptoms, medicines and visit notes on one dated history.
Two conditions mean two sets of symptoms, two clinicians, two medicine lists and often two different ideas of what matters most. A joint ache can belong to either one. A tired week can belong to both. And each clinic sees only its part. This guide covers how to put both conditions on one dated page, how to write down which clinician said what, how to keep one medicine list, how to prepare one question list for both teams and how to record the days when the combined load is high. It is general information. Decisions about each condition belong to the clinician treating it.
Why two conditions need one record
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines multiple chronic conditions as the co-occurrence of two or more chronic physical or mental health conditions. It reports that one in three American adults has them, and that people living with multiple chronic conditions account for 64% of all clinician visits and 83% of all prescriptions.AHRQ also describes how care is organized around single diseases, which creates a mismatch with individual needs and calls for coordination among clinicians. It quotes Dr. Victor Montori, who writes that patients are often left to integrate and coordinate visits, tests and treatments across specialist services.
So if you live with Crohn's disease and another condition, you may be the person who holds the pieces together. That is a lot to ask, and a record reduces the load.
The record can be simple: a dated page that lists both conditions at the top, then one short line per day that covers pain, energy, bowel entries and anything else that changed. It does not need a diagnosis for each symptom. It needs dates.
Over a few weeks, the page shows which things moved together and which did not, and each clinician can read it without having to guess about the other.
In Crohn's Journey, the Daily check-in covers physical symptoms, emotional state, nutrition, sleep, exercise, medicines and outside factors on one date, so both conditions can share the same line.
Symptoms outside the gut
Crohn's disease does not always stay in the digestive system. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation says that when the disease affects other parts of the body, it is called an extraintestinal manifestation or complication, and that between 25% and 40% of people with IBD experience them, commonly in the joints, skin, bones, eyes, kidneys and liver.
It describes arthritis, or inflammation of the joints, as the most common, affecting as many as 30% of patients with Crohn's or colitis. It adds that up to 20% of people with IBD have skin complications and about 10% have eye problems.
NIDDK also lists symptoms such as joint pain or soreness, eye redness or pain and skin changes among the possible signs of Crohn's disease.This matters for a record because an ache in the knees or a red eye may relate to Crohn's disease, to your second condition or to something else. You do not need to decide which. You need to write it down with the date and tell the clinicians.
Line for a new symptom outside the gut
Crohn's Journey (part of Health Journey Labs) gives each new symptom a short line with four parts:
- Where it is.
- When it began.
- How long it lasted.
- What else was going on that week.
Mention it to both teams. For aching joints in particular, what to log in Crohn's joint pain weeks covers the extra lines.
Ask your clinicians which of your symptoms each of them wants to hear about, and write the answer on the page.
A photo can help for visible changes such as a rash or a red eye. Date it, and keep it with the page. Ask the clinic how it prefers to receive images.
If a symptom comes and goes, write each occurrence rather than only the worst one. A clinician can read a pattern from several dated lines in a way that a single memory does not allow.
The Stool Tracker (Bristol Scale) and Daily Journal in Crohn's Journey cover bowel entries and free-text notes on joints, skin or eyes, so a new symptom has a date and can be read with the bowel weeks around it.
One page for both conditions
A page that covers two conditions should be short enough to read in two minutes.
Steps to build one page for two conditions
Crohn's Journey builds the shared page in four steps:
- Put the names of both conditions at the top, with the date of each diagnosis and the clinician who manages it.
- List the symptoms you track for each condition, in your own words, with a short label such as "gut", "joints" or "skin".
- Write one daily line: pain from 0 to 10 and where, energy in a word, the number of bowel trips if your gastroenterology team asked, and one line for the other condition.
- Mark the days when one condition seemed to crowd out the other: a flare while the second condition was quiet, or the reverse.
Source: Crohn's Journey
Keep the labels the same from week to week so a month can be compared with the last.
At the end of each week, write two lines: the best day and the worst day, with what made them so.
Do not worry if you cannot tell the conditions apart. Write what happened, and let the clinicians decide.
Day-to-day lines can go into the Daily check-in in Crohn's Journey, and the Flare Tracker flags a day clearly worse than a usual week, with onset, intensity and a short note.
One medicine list for two clinicians
Two clinicians may prescribe separately, and neither may see what the other has written. A single list is the safest record you can hold.
The National Institute on Aging notes that the use of many medications can increase the risk of adverse reactions and drug interactions, and that inappropriate polypharmacy can lead to drug-disease interactions, in which a medication prescribed to treat one condition worsens another. Its examples are drawn from older adults, but the principle is why a complete list matters.Entries on a shared medicine list
Each line of the shared list in Crohn's Journey holds:
- The name, as prescribed.
- The prescriber, and which clinician manages the entry.
- The date it started or changed.
- Anything bought without a prescription, vitamins and supplements, on lines of their own.
Do not change, stop or add anything yourself. Decisions belong to the prescriber.
Bring the whole list to every visit, to both clinicians, and to the pharmacy.
A useful question: "Is it worth reviewing the whole list together, given both conditions?" Write the answer and the date.
If one clinician changes something, add it with the date, and tell the other.
Keep the pharmacy's name and number on the list. A pharmacist sees what each prescriber has sent, and can be a useful second reader of the whole list.
When a refill runs out or a new box looks different, write the date and what you noticed, and ask the pharmacy or prescriber. Decisions stay with them.
Medicine names, timing and medication entries live in My Meds in Crohn's Journey, where biologics, steroids and other options can be read with stool weeks, pain and sleep.
Tiredness and the combined load
Two conditions can mean a double load of tiredness. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation reports that fatigue affects nearly 80% of IBD patients with active disease and 50% of patients in clinical remission.
When another condition is also present, the reasons for tiredness may multiply, and a clinician can help sort them out. Your record can help by showing when the tiredness appears and what else is happening.
Tiredness lines for two conditions
Crohn's Journey records tiredness with three lines:
- Energy in a word each day, with what the day held: a clinic visit, a test, a work shift, a long journey.
- How long tiredness lasted after an activity, in plain words.
- The number of days each week you could do what you planned, with a note on what you cut.
Ask your clinicians whether any test result might bear on the tiredness, and write which tests are due and when.
Tell a clinician if the tiredness is increasing or is beyond what you can manage.
The counts are facts for a visit, not a grade on how you are doing.
On days when both conditions are active, shorten the entry rather than skipping it. One line with pain, energy and the word "both" is enough, and the dated gap you avoid is easier to explain than a blank.
The Weekly Goals tracker in Crohn's Journey holds one small aim for the week and marks whether it held, and the My Labs tracker stores result dates for the tests each clinician orders.
Two teams, one message
Each team will ask different questions and will write different notes. You can help them read each other's.
Three lines after each visit
After each visit, Crohn's Journey keeps three lines, in this order:
- What the clinician said.
- What changed.
- What was asked of you.
Send a copy of the notes, or the one-page summary, to the other clinician or ask the clinic to share it with them. Rules about sharing differ, so ask each clinic how it works.
If two instructions seem to conflict, write both with their dates and ask each clinician which applies, or ask them to confirm with each other. Do not choose between them on your own.
Keep one list of questions and tick them off by team. A question for the rheumatologist and a question for the gastroenterologist can sit on the same page.
Write the name of someone who coordinates, such as a primary care clinician, if you have one, and ask if they can help.
Write the date of every next appointment, and the order of tests if one team needs a result from the other.
Your clinicians and short visit notes for prep, during the visit and afterward live in My Care Team in Crohn's Journey, so what each team said and when is written in one place.
Mood and the weight of it
Living with two conditions can wear on mood. Record it as you would any other symptom.
Add one word for mood to the daily line, and write what you did and who you saw.
Notice how often appointments and admin fill your week, and count them. The number may surprise you and may be useful for a clinician.
Tell a clinician if low mood or worry lasts, grows or starts to shape decisions. It is a normal topic for any visit.
Tell one person you trust what the week has been like, using the page if it helps.
If you are thinking about hurting yourself, contact your local emergency number first, and then a crisis line where you live (988 is an example in the United States). Let someone near you know.
Mood goes into the Daily check-in in Crohn's Journey with the physical entries, and the Daily Journal has room for the weeks that the admin took over, kept apart from the dated lines.
The combined visit page
What goes on the combined visit page
Crohn's Journey prepares one page for each visit, whichever clinician you are seeing:
- Both conditions, with diagnosis dates and the name of each clinician.
- A four-week summary: best days, worst days, pain and energy.
- New symptoms, with dates, in a line each.
- The single medicine list, with dates.
- Results received, with dates.
- Questions in order of importance, marked with the team they are for.
Questions worth considering: whether a new symptom belongs to either condition, which clinician wants to hear about which symptoms, whether it is worth reviewing the medicine list together, which tests are due and what to watch for and when to call.
Tell each clinician about the other condition at the start. It changes how they read your answers.
Ask which changes need a call between visits, and write the answer in their words.
The guide on what to bring to a 15-minute Crohn's visit lists the wider packet, and how to track Crohn's meds covers the list in more detail.
For the appointment, the Doctor Report in Crohn's Journey exports a one-page summary of dates, symptoms and function, so a single page can serve both clinics.
How Crohn's Journey can help
Paper can hold the page, the list and the questions. If bowel entries, pain, medicines and visit notes need to share dates over months, a tracker may be worth trying, and our Crohn's apps guide sets out what to look for.
Crohn's Journey is a personal Crohn's disease tracker from Health Journey Labs on the App Store and Google Play. It keeps bowel entries, pain, energy and medicines on one date, so a second condition's symptoms can be added without a second notebook. Over months, the history lets both clinicians read the same dated record, which gives each of them facts to review at the visit. Below is what you can use and how each part helps.
- Stool Tracker (Bristol Scale) — Stool form on the Bristol Scale, urgency or bathroom load and short marks, read with pain, meals and energy.
- Food Tracker — Meal or drink lines, read with pain, urgency, energy, stool and sleep.
- Flare Tracker — A flag for a day clearly worse than the usual week, with onset, intensity and a short note, read against the weeks around it to tell a one-off rise from a repeating pattern.
- Daily check-in — A guided daily pass covering physical symptoms, emotional state, nutrition, sleep, exercise, medicines and outside factors.
- Daily Journal — Free-text or voice notes on what the day limited, bathroom maps, partner talks, visit debriefs and leftover guilt after you canceled.
- Weight Tracker — Scale readings or body notes, including weigh-ins and nutrition notes watched with a clinician, read with stool, meals, energy and sleep.
- My Meds — Medicine names, timing and medication entries, including biologics, steroids and other options you actually use, read with stool weeks, pain, sleep and the rest of the tracked history.
- My Labs — Result dates for blood counts, stool tests, calprotectin, imaging and other tests, read with symptoms and function.
- Weekly Goals — One small aim for the week and a mark for whether it held.
- Learn — Short education topics on flares, pacing, bathroom load and visit prep, to read with your own logged weeks.
- AI companions — Clara for general chat plus specialist companions covering knowledge, fitness, nutrition and relationships, all of which already see your logged history, useful for visit wording, a calm partner script, a soft rain-check line or a listening ear after a hard bathroom day.
- My Assessments — Structured check-ins beyond daily scores, plus life and social context from onboarding.
- My Care Team — Your clinicians and short visit notes, for visit prep, notes during the visit and review afterward, including a visit that centers on stool count while function gets less room.
- Doctor Report — A one-page summary exported from your logged history, covering dates, stool and meal context, symptoms and how you functioned.
- Period Tracker — Start and stop dates, flow, and how heavy or light bleeding felt, read with pain, stool, energy and everything else logged.
Everything you log builds one history, and insights get stronger as it grows. Custom symptoms let you add your own labels.
We make Crohn's Journey at Health Journey Labs. This guide is educational and does not replace medical advice. Diagnosis, medication decisions, and urgent care decisions belong with your treating clinicians.
Sources
- AHRQ — Advancing Patient-Centered Care for People Living With Multiple Chronic Conditions
- Crohn's & Colitis Foundation — Extraintestinal Complications of IBD
- National Institute on Aging — Dangers of Polypharmacy
- NIDDK — Symptoms & Causes of Crohn's Disease
- Crohn's & Colitis Foundation — Fatigue
FAQ
How do I know which condition a symptom belongs to?
You may not, and you do not have to decide. Write it down with the date, where it is and what else was going on, then tell both clinicians and ask which of them wants to hear about it.
In Crohn's Journey, the Daily Journal takes free-text or voice notes, so a new ache or rash can be written down the day it appears and read back when you describe it.
Can Crohn's disease affect joints, skin or eyes?
It can. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation says 25% to 40% of people with IBD experience problems outside the gut, commonly in the joints, skin, bones, eyes, kidneys and liver. Mention any new symptom to your care team.
The Flare Tracker in Crohn's Journey flags a day clearly worse than a usual week with onset, intensity and a short note, which gives your team a date for the day a joint or eye symptom began.
Two clinicians prescribed different things. What do I do?
Write both instructions with their dates and do not choose between them on your own. Ask the two prescribers to confirm with each other, and ask whether it is worth reviewing the whole list together.
My Meds in Crohn's Journey keeps medicine names, timing and medication entries with dates, so you can show each prescriber exactly what the other one changed and when, in one list.
Who coordinates my care?
It varies, and you can ask. Some people have a primary care clinician or a care manager who helps, and others do much of the work themselves. Write down who each clinic says to call first.
My Care Team in Crohn's Journey holds your clinicians and short visit notes, so the list of who does what, and the date you asked, stays in a single place for every visit.
I am more tired than either condition explains. What should I log?
Write energy in a word each day, what the day held and how long tiredness lasted after an activity. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation reports fatigue in nearly 80% of people with active IBD, so raise it with your team.
The Daily check-in in Crohn's Journey keeps energy, sleep and pain on the same date, so a clinician can read the tiredness with the weeks around it and with any results.
How do I keep track of results from different clinics?
Keep each result with its date, the clinic that ordered it and the question it was meant to answer. Ask each clinic for a copy and bring them all to visits, so no one has to guess.
My Labs in Crohn's Journey records result dates for blood counts, stool tests, calprotectin, imaging and other tests, read with symptoms and function, so results from different clinics sit on one timeline.
How do I explain two conditions to my employer?
You choose how much to share, and rules differ by country. Many people describe what they need in plain words without naming a condition. A local adviser can tell you what applies where you live.
The Weekly Goals tracker in Crohn's Journey holds one small aim for the week, such as sending a request, and marks whether it held, so a paperwork step is not lost between appointments.
Can an AI companion help me prepare for two clinics?
It can help you word questions and summarize your logged history for each team, and you choose what to bring and what to leave out. Anything about treatment is for the clinician treating that condition.
Clara and the specialist companions in Crohn's Journey see your logged history, so a draft summary for each clinic can use your own dates and entries rather than general examples written for someone else.
The admin of two conditions is overwhelming. What can I do?
Tell someone you trust and tell a clinician, since low mood is a normal visit topic. If you are thinking about hurting yourself, contact your local emergency number first, then a crisis line where you live (988 in the United States).
Once you are safe, the Daily check-in in Crohn's Journey records mood with the physical entries, so a clinician can see how they moved together, though it does not replace contact with help.
Which symptoms need a same-day call?
Each clinician can tell you which changes need same-day contact for their condition, and a general article cannot. Ask both, write the answers in their words and keep both numbers together.
The Flare Tracker in Crohn's Journey marks the day with onset, intensity and a short note, so the person on the phone hears the order of events clearly and with dates.
Should I tell each clinician about my other condition?
Yes. Say it at the start of the visit, with the name of the clinician who manages it, because it changes how your answers are read. Ask each clinician which symptoms of yours they want to hear about.
My Care Team in Crohn's Journey keeps both teams and their visit notes in one list, so the answer each clinician gave about which symptoms to report is written down and easy to check before the next visit.
What do I write on a day when both conditions are active?
Shorten the entry rather than skip it. One line with pain, energy and the word both is enough, and a short dated line is easier to explain at a visit than a blank day in the record.
The Daily check-in in Crohn's Journey takes that short line on the same date as any bowel entry, so the days when both conditions were active can be counted later from the weekly and monthly views.
Is it worth counting appointments and admin each week?
It can be. Write how many visits, calls, forms and pharmacy trips filled the week. The count is a fact for a clinician, and it can explain a tired or low week better than a general description.
Crohn's Journey keeps the Daily Journal next to the daily scores, so a note about a week taken over by admin sits in the same history as the pain and energy lines from those days.
What should I note when a refill looks different?
Write the date and what you noticed, such as a new box, a different color or a changed name on the label. Then ask the pharmacy or the prescriber; any decision stays with them.
My Meds in Crohn's Journey keeps each entry with its date, so a refill that looked different can be shown to the pharmacist or prescriber together with the earlier entries for the same medicine.
Is privacy a concern when I write down sensitive health details?
Write down what you need for your care and leave out what you do not. Names, addresses and unrelated personal details rarely help a clinician, and a shorter log is easier to protect.
With Crohn's Journey, you decide which health notes to add. Read the app's privacy policy to see how data is stored and handled. This guide gives general information, not medical advice.