I try not to reply, but I probably owe you some clarification.

My point was that disclaimers to the effect of "no offense but" are almost always useless, no matter how qualified[1]. Familiarity with the plight of another doesn't make insensitivity about it impossible. Whether you actually have Crohn's or not is a moot point in the face of this.

1 - the sheer preponderance of such disclaimers sometimes makes me wonder if there actually are such linguistic "get out of jail free" cards and I'm the only one who doesn't have the common sense to understand it.