Understanding Your Colitis Symptoms

Whilst suffering from abdominal pain and passing some mucus and even blood in the stools can be alarming, many people who find these symptoms suddenly appearing often think the worst and confuse them with another more serious condition. It is normally the case that the lesser symptom, inflammatory bowel syndrome will be diagnosed rather than inflammatory bowel disease, otherwise known as colitis.

Sufferers of colitis will be faced with symptoms that are much more pronounced than those associated with inflammatory bowel syndrome. The colitis symptoms will not suddenly appear and for the person to be immediately incapacitated. What happens is that a part of the large colon gradually becomes inflamed and the open wound that is created starts to excrete mucus and blood. This can be in varying amounts depending on the degree of the inflammation. The person will start to notice that their stools will start to contain such mucus and blood and the stools themselves will change their form to a more diarrhoea like consistency.

In addition, the sufferer will experience some abdominal pain and find that when passing a stool that this action will create sometimes acute pain as the waste passes over the inflamed part of the large colon. Tiredness and lack of hunger can also be felt as the body is trying to fight the disease though due to the general overall feeling of being unwell, the person may not desire much food.

Depending on the severity of the attack, the colitis symptoms can last for anything between a few days to several weeks. Some people find themselves in remission for long periods of time whilst others may face periods of reoccurring symptoms.  

Taking all this into consideration, the sufferer must accept that their life will most likely have to be put on hold for a period of time for the worst of the symptoms to pass. But there is a real dilemma here. Often, the person will not know how long the attack will last, how strong the symptoms will be, what affect it has on the body, what should and shouldn’t they eat, and when they can realistically start to get back into their usual lifestyle again. Plus also, whether they can just pick up their life where they left it as if no attack had happened.

It is also common for the sufferer to be anxious about the future, whether the attack was a once of occurrence or if a pattern of relapses will develop and what severity will they take. There is a clear need for information to try and answer such dilemmas which, if left unanswered, can turn into anxieties causing possible stress. And that is the last thing a sufferer will want. The experience of a survivor is invaluable to understand what you are now facing and use such knowledge to your benefit. You can now access such valuable information at The Colitis Experience