Ulcerative Colitis: Treatment, Symptoms, Causes, Cure

What is Ulcerative Colitis?

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD includes many diseases that cause harm to the gastrointestinal tract. Ulcerative colitis happens when the coating of your rectum, colon, or both inflames. This inflammation produces little bruises called ulcers on the coating of your colon. It mostly starts in the rectum and spreads upward. It can include your whole colon. The inflammation makes your bowel to move its substance quickly and empty as often as possible. As cells on the surface of the covering of your bowel die, ulcers are formed. The ulcers may lead to a release of pus and mucus and bleeding. While this disease can occur in individuals of all ages, the vast majority are analyzed to be between the ages of 15 and 35. After the age of 50, another small increase in determination for this disease is seen, generally in men.

Symptoms

Symptoms of this disease include:

Diarrhea, often with pus or blood
In children, failure to grow
Fatigue
Rectal pain
Weight loss
Urgency to defecate
Rectal bleeding — passing small amount of blood with stool
Fever
Abdominal pain and cramping
Inability to defecate despite urgency

Causes

The correct reason for ulcerative colitis stays unknown. Earlier, eating regimen and stress were suspected, but now doctors realize that these elements may bother but don't bring about ulcerative colitis. One conceivable cause is an immune system breakdown. At the point when your immune system tries to fight an attacking bacteria or virus, an unusual immune reaction makes the immune system attack the cells in the stomach related track, as well. Heredity likewise appears to play a part in that ulcerative colitis is more typical in individuals who have relatives or siblings with the illness. But, many people with ulcerative colitis don't have this family history.

Risks

Ulcerative colitis is diagnosed in about a similar number of ladies and men. Risk factors may include:

Age: Ulcerative colitis, for the most part, starts before the age of 30. In any case, it can happen at any age, and a few people may not build up the disease until after age 60.
Family history: You're at higher risk on the off chance that you have a close relative, for example, a parent, bother/sister or child, with the disease
Isotretinoinuse: Isotretinoin is a prescription used to treat scarring cystic skin inflammation or acne. A few studies propose it is a risk factor for IBD, yet a relationship between ulcerative colitis and isotretinoin has not been set up.

Prevention

It's almost impossible to prevent ulcerative colitis, however, there are steps that can be followed to decrease the symptoms. Some of them are:

Dietary changes, including and avoiding particular food items, like avoid raw fruits, chocolate, popcorn, soda, coffee and alcohol.
Exercise, walk daily, practice yoga and meditation.
Involve yourself in activities like music, reading etc.

How is it diagnosed?

Ulcerative Colitis is very easy to detect, in light of the fact that it typically influences just the colon and rectum camera. Also, it generally causes a usual change in everyday bowel habits, for...

Flexible sigmoidoscopy
Blood tests
CT scan
Stool sample test
X-ray
Colonoscopy

How is it treated?

Ulcerative colitis is generally treated either by medicinal therapy or by surgery.A few classifications of medicines can be effective in treating ulcerative colitis. The sort of medicines you take will rely on upon the seriousness of your conditio..

Medicinal therapy
The treatment includes medicines like:
- Anti-inflammatory medicines like Corticosteroids and Aminosalicylates
- Immune system suppressors like Cyclosporine, Azathioprine, Vedolizumab, Infliximab, Golimumab and Adalimumab
- Other medications like Pain relievers, Antibiotics, Iron supplements and Anti-diarrheal medications
Surgery
Often surgery helps in removing ulcerative colitis. However, that for the most part, means removing your whole rectum and colon. Much of the time, this includes a method called ileoanal anastomosis which eliminates the need to wear a pocket to gather stool. Your doctor builds a pocket from the end of your small intestine. This pocket is then appended specifically to your anus, enabling you to remove stool normally.

When do I contact the doctor?

You should contact the doctor in case of the following:

An unexplained fever lasting more than a day or two

Abdominal pain

Diarrhea that awakens you from sleep

Ongoing diarrhea that doesn't respond to over-the-counter medications

Blood in your stool

Book an Appointment

How does Medanta provide care?

The Medanta Institute of Digestive and Hepatobiliary Sciences has been set up with an aim to provide supreme quality diagnostic and therapeutic services to patients suffering from any disorder associated with the digestive tract. The institute enc..