Archive for the ‘Colitis Symptoms Articles’ Category

Due to the nature of colitis symptoms, you may feel rather uneasy, even embarrassed about discussing them with your doctor but it is something that must be undertaken for the sake of your health. Your doctor requires being aware of what you are suffering from to make a concise diagnosis and prescribe a course of treatment. Knowing how to discuss your colitis with a doctor is important.

Let’s just get something straight right now. Symptoms such as abdominal pain, blood, diarrhoea and tiredness have appeared for a reason and are not likely to dissipate in the short term without medical help. If the symptoms are not cared for they can, in some instances, develop into a serious situation where admission to hospital will be required. It is therefore essential that an appointment with your doctor is made as soon as possible to seek a diagnosis and then start immediately on a course of medication.
It is important when with the doctor to disclose everything that has happened to you. It is unwise to withhold information on the basis that you will feel embarrassed talking about it. You should be reassured that the patient-doctor confidentiality will ensure that your doctor will not discuss your case with anyone else, unless with your consent. What you reveal will not be new to them as they will have treated other patients with colitis.

Once you have advised them of your symptoms the doctor will probably wish to undertake a physical examination. This is necessary to gain as much information as possible in order to diagnose then treat. You should advise as to the range of symptoms that you are experiencing, their strength, frequency and anything else about your health that has changed since the colitis symptoms began. This is important in order to assess the likely extent of the inflammation of the colon that is causing the symptoms. Only with a colonoscopy will the precise extent of the inflammation be known but until that happens you will be put on medication to try and start the process of bringing the symptoms under control.

Make sure that you understand what a diagnosis for colitis means, how it will impact on your daily life and the medication that is proposed to treat the symptoms. Ask about each of those medications and any side effects and if there are any alternative medications. With colitis, diet and lifestyle have to be taken into account and altered not only when suffering from symptoms but when also enjoying periods of remission.

It is an anxious time when colitis symptoms appear and whilst you may feel embarrassed talking about it, the doctor will have seen and heard it all before and will require as much detail from you in order to give a correct diagnosis and start the medication. Before even going to the doctor, it is beneficial to have some knowledge of what is happening to you and one of the best sources of this is to learn about colitis from someone who has experienced exactly what you are now enduring.

For the majority of colitis sufferers, once you have had an attack you should be able to attain the level of health that you had before it happened. Whilst remission brings with it relief from pronounced colitis symptoms, you must always be aware that the inflammation in your large bowel has not disappeared.

It is still there. Think about it as a volcano. It has erupted for the first time, pouring out lava and causing discomfort to those around (that’s you). The eruption has now subsided yet the volcano is still active. In remission, the blood, mucus and the abdominal pain and discomfort will have stopped. The open sore on the bowel lining caused by the inflammation will have closed and hence the weeping of mucus and blood stopped, but that does not mean you are now free to forget about it. It’s still there; in fact it will always be there yet for now it can be described as “sleeping” rather than in volcano terms, “dormant”.

You may ask “how can I prevent it from waking up whilst living my usual life again?” Unfortunately it is not as simple as advising you to do one thing and don’t do another. If there were definitive answers, all colitis sufferers would be following them and living perhaps a colitis free life. Until that occurs, you need to be aware of your overall health more now than before and consider whether by doing something it may have a detrimental effect on a possible relapse occurring.

The first tip to avoid colitis symptoms during a period of remission is to be careful in what your diet consists of. The vast majority of foods will have no detrimental effect, yet there is a chance that a few could bring on some symptoms such as diarrhoea. These symptoms should not last long, perhaps not even one day but you should not be unnecessarily provoking the inflammation present in your large colon.

The second tip is not to over stretch yourself both physically and mentally, especially during the period immediately after the attack period has subsided. It takes a significant period of time for the body to recover from a colitis attack and during this stage no excessive strain should be placed upon it that could trigger symptoms, which, if left unchecked, could develop into a full blown attack.

The third tip is to take life a little slower paced and develop methods where you can take a step back and re-energise yourself and reduce any levels of stress that might have been building. By effective colitis management techniques, you can ensure that it is you who are in control during a period of remission and to ensure that you do nothing to encourage the reappearance of the volcano and its problematic colitis symptoms.

The main point to understand is that in the vast majority of cases, in fact virtually all, once you have been diagnosed with colitis you have it for life (unless surgery is called for). The colitis symptoms of diarrhoea, abdominal pain, tiredness, and general discomfort may disappear after the first attack and not come back for a long time. If this is the case, count yourself one of the “lucky” ones.

The majority of sufferers tend to fall into the pattern of first attack then a period of remission (this can last for a period of months to years) before another attack. A few unfortunately have continuous symptoms that can be controlled to an extent with medication and lifestyle choices. During periods of remission your health will most likely be back to normal so don’t alarm yourself that you will never gain a degree of good health again.

At the beginning of the first attack, the first and only aspect on your mind, once you have consulted your doctor, should be your own wellbeing. Everything else in life now comes secondary. It may well be hard to accept, even appreciate at the beginning of your first attack, but you will need all your strength and determination to enable you to get through the worst period that is coming and ensure your rehabilitation back to health is as soon as possible.

If you are to have anything like an average to a full attack, you simply won’t be physically able to conduct your usual daily activities. This means that if you work, you are going to have to inform your place of work that you will not be able to attend for a period of time. Your social life outside your home will stop and even daily life in your home will have to change. Your family or other house members will have to do the jobs that you did. In fact, you should do absolutely nothing apart from concentrating on steering yourself through this illness.

There is differing experiences of this and everyone is different, but for a normal attack of colitis, you should probably be accepting to the fact that you will be off work for perhaps one month. This can differ depending on severity of the attack. Your condition will worsen for a period, then the medication that your doctor provides will slowly take its effect on the colitis and you will then benefit from a slow improvement.

Once you feel you are getting better, you will not be able to jump into your daily activities again because you will be tired and possibly rather weak. It will take time to start building yourself up because you will not have been eating as normal for a period of weeks. Even once you are back to work, it is not like that a switch can be flicked and you are back into the routine, full of vigour. It takes time, you must be realistic of what you are capable of doing and in no way should you be pushing yourself. You must take time to understand this colitis remission process or you could be heading straight back into trouble.

A colitis attack has the potential to last for many weeks and the sufferer can be at the mercy of quite ferocious colitis symptoms that can have a very debilitating effect upon them. Tiredness, both mental and physical, acute pain and a general feeling of being worn out results yet the subsiding of the symptoms should not mean that life can get back to normal quickly.  

After a period when you started to wonder if life will ever return to anything near normality, you begin to feel an easing of the symptoms. The pain is subsiding, the blood is less, going to the toilet is less frequent, you feel a little bit of strength returning and you feel ready to try and eat a little more, This process is not quick. But day by day you will notice a difference. The blood will stop, though there may still be some discomfort and pain.

Your bowel is still inflamed but at least the wound has started to heal. Trips to the toilet will reduce to perhaps only half a dozen times in twenty four hours and you will feel really elated that the worse is over, especially that the pain is reducing by the day. You may even feel a new sense of freedom. How? Well, you will probably have been trapped in your home for weeks not being able to get out. Remember, cutting down on movement can greatly reduced the pain and discomfort. That first time back outside is incredible, the sense of freedom is acute. You have the ability to get outside, move in fact, without the associated pain and the need to get to the toilet fast.

But this is not to say that you should go wild and celebrate with abandon. Quite simply, the last thing that you want to do is put yourself at risk of a quick return to what you have just been through. And that can happen if you do not have care in what you do in the following weeks when you are recuperating from the colitis attack. Your body has taken a battering and, if the attack has been strong, you will be under strength, underweight, and under nourished. The feeling of tiredness will appear quickly if you undertake too much physical exercise too early in the rehab process.

What you must accept is that it is a slow yet steady process to reintegrate yourself into everyday life. You need to avoid both physical and mental stress and slowly build yourself up over a period of time. For a successful rehabilitation, it is essential to accept and understand this and to be aware of the successful path to follow to ensure that the remission period that you are now entering will not be cut short due to some avoidable action which results in the swift return of the colitis symptoms. 

You will enter a period when the pain and discomfort remains the same, where your condition is not deteriorating any more but is not getting any better. This does not mean to say that the medication that you have been prescribed is not working and is not garnering strength to reduce the colitis symptoms that you are suffering from. Quite the opposite in fact.

It just takes time to bring the strength of this disease under control. This period is the toughest time. You are tired physically due to less sleep and the effects of this disease on your body, tired because of having to go to the toilet so often, tired because you are not eating normally and mentally tired ensuring you keep going.

This can be a period when you may start to lose your fight, lose your strong will to see an end to the relapse. It may also be the time when you just want a quick reminder that the outside world exists. Going outside will require effort, movement and strength. None of these your body has or needs right now. You think about eating something you shouldn’t and in quantities that you know will have serious repercussions. Keep a firm grip against such temptations as they will only bring self induced pain and trouble. There will be plenty of time later on when you can enjoy such things and not put yourself at risk.  

The problem of hunger is never far away. Whilst you are feeling very poor with the pain and the tiredness you may still have some form of appetite, maybe not on the scale as before, but oh for some food. Don’t be surprised if you start to imagine a plate of your favourite food just waiting to be eaten as the pangs of hunger become ever stronger. Now you maybe are wondering “why don’t you just have something to eat?” It is not that eating stops entirely, it is just the awkward matter of what goes in must come out. And in the process of the waste reaching the inflamed part of the bowel and then being passed out, pain and discomfort have to be endured. Therefore, the amount and what you eat changes during an attack.  

It is vitally important not to give into temptation during this period. Whilst you do require taking on some nutrition during a colitis attack, too great a quantity or eating food that will only exacerbate the symptoms will if anything be a retrograde step and will only deliver yet more uncomfortable or extremely painful consequences. It is essential to understand what is a sensible eating plan during a colitis relapse and the how to achieve the required nutrients without the worst of the possible resultant symptoms.  

The first period of the colitis attack after you have been diagnosed by your doctor will bring more frequent trips to the toilet; that is guaranteed. Now don’t get alarmed, but be prepared to have well over a dozen trips to the toilet over a twenty four hour period. It could even be every hour! This will include being woken up during the night with the urge to go. Accept that you will have broken nights sleep for the next few weeks.

As colitis is a debilitating disease, you are going to feel really tired. Therefore, during the day it is essential that you catch up on lost sleep, that being either sleeping in to late in the morning or taking a sleep in the afternoon. Sleep assists the body in fighting disease and aids recuperation and this is going to be a vital component in your fight to become healthy again.

The amount of pain that you will have to bear will unfortunately get worse. This will steadily increase as the inflammation of the bowel becomes more pronounced to the point where the medication that you’re prescribed starts to have an effect. One of the most effective ways of reducing the pain is to try and eliminate movement. The effect of movement on the bowel is to antagonise the inflammation which of course means a surge of bloodied stool to be emptied in the toilet. The more movement means more surges which, in turn, means more irritation due to stools passing over the inflamed part of the bowel which creates pain.

Often the most comfortable positions, or least painful, is when lying still in bed or on a sofa. By laying flat on your back, it is the most comfortable position and won’t put undue pressure on your inflamed bowel as laying on your side will. This can result in visiting the toilet fewer times from adopting this position.

By trying to eliminate movement, you should forsake venturing outside. Remember, you have to accept that life is put on hold. It won’t be you who decides this, it will be the colitis attack making you adhere to this if you wish the speediest possible recovery. You will have plenty of time to join the outside world when you are feeling better. In the meantime, if you are up to it, have the outside world visit you, reminding them that colitis is not infectious in any way.

It is essential to seek out and understand the proven methods of dealing with colitis symptoms in order that the period of a relapse can be endured without unnecessary suffering. The disease can be extremely debilitating and any advice of how to deal with it should be sought and used.

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