Something about ulcerative colitis!

eolanda · Silver Member Joined: 06 Dec 2001 Posts: 294

Hi. I'm pretty worried about my mother because, just the other day she was diagnosed with some intestine disease called ulcerative colitis and I don’t know anything about it.
I know that these last few years she complained a lot about some intestine problems such as bloating, diarrhea and pain but we didn’t pay too much attention on it. We thought it could be caused by some specific type of food or some food intolerance.
But, when she noticed a blood in her stool, we took him to a doctor who determined that she suffers from some ulcerative colitis.
I don’t know a lot about this accept that it is very serious intestine disease!

radebaugh · Newbie Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 24

I'm very sorry about your mother and I agree with you because this could be very serious disease.
Ulcerative colitis is also called inflammatory bowel disease and, like with your mother, it can be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms are similar to other intestinal disorders.
There are many theories about what causes this disease but still- the right cause is unknown.
The most popular theory is that it is caused by one autoimmune process in which body attacks its own intestine. There are several symptoms of it such as fever, bloody diarrhea, nausea, and severe abdominal cramps, fatigue, body loss and rectal bleeding. The goal of therapy is to improve the quality of life to patients and some of drugs that are being used are Aminosalicylates, Corticosteroids and Immunomodulators.

Guest · Guest

Hi, I see that this post is a couple of years old, so I don't know if I can really shed any light here, but I will try.....

I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, after I spent a week lying in bed with writhing abdominal pain. After several tests and two months of pain, I found about the colitis.

First, I'll give you the basic run down. There are two diseases of the small and large intestine that are grouped into a category call Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD for short). IBD of the small intestine is called Krohn's Disease, IBD of the large intestine is called Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Some patients have both Krohn's and UC, others have only one disease. These are called inflammatory bowel disease for a reason, the lining of your intestines (large or small) becomes inflamed, causing soreness and cramps, bleeding, ulcers, and other things. People who have this disease can have symptoms that are mild, to extreme. I've seen both ends of the spectrum, and am thankful to be on the lower end of the spectrum.

The cause of IBD in general is unknown. Some think that an infection during the childhood years is the culprit, some think that bad diet and lack of exercise cause this (even though this is largely unsupported, and I can vouch for it), the forerunner is an over reactive immune system. This hypothesis is supported by the studies performed on HIV patients, that have shown that once the white blood cell counts in HIV/AIDS patients drops below a certain level, the colitis turns itself off (or is turned off by the HIV virus).

Treatment for IBD is mostly to slow down symptoms and allow patients to have a normal life. There are several medicines on the market now that treat the symptoms of IBD. The general progression of medication seems to be the following Asacol, Steroids, then Imuran (Spelling??). My original gastrointerologist also prescribed Hyoscamine for me. Asacol works kind of like a fancy aspirin for your colon (large intestine), the basic dosage is 6 pills a day (or 2400 mg), the hyoscamine is about .375 mg 2x a day for me. If medicine doesn't work, then the next step is removal of the large intestine (partially or fully). But this is often the last resort.

The important things to me about living with colitis is that you need to be proactive about the disease. The drugs that are out there are effective, but begin to lose their power over time. A lady that I work with is 10 yrs older than me, and takes 3x the amount of medicine that I take. So managing the disease so that I don't ever have to have my colon removed is my goal. These are the tips that I would give people with UC.

1) Take your medicine, take the right doses, take as little as possible to control symptoms. Remember that they are going to eventually become less effective.

2) See you gastro guy(or gal) on a regular basis (every six months) or make an appointment as soon as you have sever symptoms (bad pain or bloody stools). Prevent a full blown flare up is the key.

3) Eat a healthy and balanced diet. Get enough exercise. Eating fatty foods and being inactive make you more likely to get constipated. And constipation exacerbates the colitis. It's well documented that diet does not affect the root cause of the disease. However, healthy eating habits and exercise will make you more regular, and not put so much strain on your bowels.

4) Remember that UC or Krohn's make your MUCH MORE susceptible to intestinal cancers. It also makes you more susceptible to fissures, diverticuly and other intestinal problems.

UC can be a bad disease, it is also very manageable, especially if you work hard at staying healthy.

Something about ulcerative colitis!

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