Digestive tract diseases can be difficult to diagnose. Symptoms like stomach cramps, nausea, and alternating diarrhea and constipation can signal anything from anxiety to colon cancer.
But there is one symptom of ulcerative colitis that can let you know you might have the disease. Ulcerative colitis is characterized by bloody diarrhea.
Common Symptoms
In addition to this truly distressing symptom, you may also experience pain on the lower left side of your body that eases with a bowel movement. You may also experience very sharp pain in your rectal area and severe cramping. Other symptoms include sweating and nausea. Your stomach may also swell.
You may lose weight, have a decreased appetite, or even become dehydrated or malnourished. Another symptom that distinguishes ulcerative colitis from benign conditions like irritable bowel syndrome is a fever, which can be very high.
These symptoms may worsen if you are anxious or stressed, drink too much alcohol, or if ulcerative colitis runs in your family. If left untreated, ulcerative colitis can lead to dangerous blood loss or peritonitis. The inflammation can even spread to the joints, skin, and eyes.
Seek Treatment
The first thing you should do if you have bloody diarrhea, severe pain, or a high fever is to see your doctor. He or she will take your medical history and perform a physical exam. The doctor will also test a stool sample in a lab and give you a barium enema. You will drink or receive an enema made of a barium sulfate solution, which is opaque to X-rays. This allows the doctor to see what's going on in your gastrointestinal tract.
A sigmoidoscopy may also be done. This involves using an instrument with a light and a tiny camera to examine the lower part of the colon. The camera projects an image of the colon onto a monitor so the doctor can also see what's going on.
The doctor may also take a biopsy, or tissue sample, of your colon. A biopsy can help rule out colon cancer and some bacterial infections that can cause lesions in the colon.
The good news about ulcerative colitis is that it can be cured with medication. In very severe cases, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove the part of the colon that has lesions and ulcers. This may also reduce your risk of developing colon cancer in the future. Even if symptoms don't go away completely, they can be controlled with medication.
