What is colitis?
There are different types of colitis, some you may
well of heard of, some you may not of. The different types of colitis
are ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s Disease, ischemis colitis,
diversion colitis, infectious colitis and atypical colitis. The word
‘colitis’ literally means ‘inflammation
of the colon’.
The symptoms of colitis are:
• Anaemia
• Bleeding
• Blood and mucus within the stools
• Constipation
• Diarrhoea
• Fever
• Flatulence
• Irregular bowel movements (which can be loose)
• Redness of the surface of the colon
• Severe pain and tenderness in the abdomen
• Swelling of the tissue within the colon
• Ulcerations of the colon
Together with these symptoms you may also have:
• Eye problems
• Joint, lower back or neck pain
• Liver and kidney problems
• Skin rashes
This is due to the immune system triggering other
inflammations throughout the body as a reaction.
Advice: Do not be
confused by the names spastic colon or spastic colitis, this is not
actually colitis but another name for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
which is a separate condition and has no relation to colitis.
What is the cause of colitis?
There a few possible causes of colitis, such as:
• Allergies
• Food poisoning
• Medication such as antibiotics
• Poor diet
• Smoking
• Genetics and heredity
• Stress
• Viral infection of the intestines
What is ulcerative colitis?
Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel
disease (IBD); it causes ulcers (sores) and inflammation of the
membrane lining of the large intestine and sometimes the ileum.
The ulcers appear in the spots where the
inflammation has destroyed the membrane lining; these ulcers bleed and
produce pus and mucus which appears in the stools.
The inflammation causes the bowel to empty on a
regular occurrence causing diarrhoea.
Doctors find it hard to diagnose ulcerative
colitis, they sometime misdiagnose the condition as irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s disease.
The essential fatty acids in oily fish are very
good at reducing the symptoms of ulcerative colitis.
What is Crohn’s disease?
Crohn’s disease is a chronic
inflammatory disease which primarily normally affects the lower part of
the small intestine known as the ileum, although it sometimes can
affect the large intestine. Like ulcerative colitis, it typically
affects younger people but unlike ulcerative colitis it tends to affect
males rather than females.
Keeping to a simple diet (no processed or fast
foods) and eliminating foods which cause allergies can improve
Crohn’s disease symptoms.