Posts Tagged ‘coping with ulcerative colitis symptoms’

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.

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.