What is Ulcerative Colitis?
Ulcerative colitis belongs to the same family of illnesses such as Crohn’s disease. As an autoimmune disease that affects the GI tract, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease often share similar symptomatology. However, ulcerative colitis predominantly affects the lining of the large intestine, causing more disturbances in the lower GI tract than Crohn’s.
Common symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis include:
- Abdominal pain and cramping
- Diarrhea
- Blood or puss in stool
- Rectal bleeding
- Rectal pain
- Frequent need or urgency to defecate
- Inability to defecate even with urgent need to
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Weight loss
While while there is no cure ulcerative colitis, symptoms can be managed and remission can be achieved.
How is Ulcerative Colitis Treated?
Treating ulcerative colitis first and foremost requires strict dietary and lifestyle changes to ensure a high quality of life. Although certain foods do not cause ulcerative colitis, you may find that certain foods can exacerbate your symptoms.
With dietary changes, your doctor will often prescribe a variety of medications that can help reduce and suppress inflammation in the colon. For those that are not responsive to medication, sometimes surgical interventions such as a colectomy are necessary to prevent any life-threatening complications.
However, before surgical interventions, most physicians will recommend the use of a biological infusion. Biologic infusions help switch off proteins in your immune system that are believed to trigger immune responses that attack healthy tissues in your GI tract.
