| health information | health factsheets

Print-friendly version

Ulcerative colitis
Published by Bupa's health information team, April 2008.

This factsheet is for people who have ulcerative colitis, or who would like to find out about it.

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease that affects about one in every 500 people in the UK. it is a chronic (long-lasting) condition that causes inflammation and ulcers to develop in the lining of your large intestine (colon) and rectum.

If you have ulcerative colitis you may have inflammation problems in other areas of your body, such as arthritis or red and painful skin or eyes.

Ulcerative colitis can occur at any age and affects men and women equally.

About ulcerative colitis
Symptoms
Complications
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Living with ulcerative colitis
Further information
Sources
Related topics
About ulcerative colitis
No one knows exactly what causes ulcerative colitis. it may run in the family – about one in seven people with ulcerative colitis have a close relative who also has the condition. most experts think that things in your environment, such as certain foods or an infection, are also needed to trigger it.

Will it clear up itself?
Ulcerative colitis is known as a "relapsing and remitting" condition. This means that your symptoms can disappear and then flare up again from time to time. you may have weeks or even months with few or no symptoms at all.

A recent survey of patient members of the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease found that 55 percent of people with ulcerative colitis have flare-ups every few months, with some people having monthly or even weekly recurrences. Others have more flare-ups less often.

Symptoms
The main symptom of ulcerative colitis is frequent, watery diarrhoea that sometimes has blood and/or mucus in it. you may also have cramping abdominal during bowel movements.

Other symptoms include:

feeling like you haven't finished on the toilet
nausea
loss of appetite
weight loss
tiredness
inflammation (redness or pain) in the eyes, skin or joints.
These symptoms aren't always due to ulcerative colitis but if you have them you should visit your GP.

Complications
Having ulcerative colitis increases your risk of developing colon cancer. the risk depends on how long you have it for, and how extensive it is.

Because of this, if you have ulcerative colitis you should have regular colonoscopy's (See Tests) to check for any signs of cancer developing. If these are present you may need surgery to remove the affected area of colon. Talk to your GP or gastroenterologist (doctor who specialises in conditions that affects the digestive system) for more information about this.

Causes
Ulcerative colitis is caused by inflammation and ulcers in the lining of your large intestine and rectum. you get diarrhoea because water isn't easily absorbed by your inflamed colon. sometimes ulcerative colitis only affects the rectum – this is called proctitis. Proctitis is less severe than ulcerative colitis. you may not have diarrhoea, but will still tend to have rectal bleeding.

Diarrhea that may contain blood and mucus, pain in the abdomen when it's time to go or while going, anemia. It's not fun. the anemia would come from the blood in your stool. Symptoms of anemia would be tiredness/lack of energy, being cold, and feeling weak. If you have any of these, please see a doctor.

vomiting,pain,mucus in your poop,nausea, i pray you don't have that it is ugly to have that.