Acute colitis is a sudden onset of inflammation of your large intestine also known as the colon.
Acute colitis causes symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, fever in some cases and less commonly nausea and vomiting.
With acute colitis you will often have frequent, loose and sometimes bloody stools or poop, cramping or dull pain in your lower abdomen and blood may be present in your poop or even passed as mucus.
Acute colitis can be caused by several factors, which include viral infections, bacterial infections, autoimmune disorders, such as ulcerative colitis, certain medications and reduced blood flow to the colon also called ischemia.
Treatment for acute colitis often involves antibiotics for bacterial infections and anti inflammatory medications to reduce inflammation and for severe cases of acute colitis corticosteroids can be used or even surgery if other treatments are not effective in treating the acute colitis.
Stress can also cause colitis and even worsen colitis.
Stress can cause colitis by triggering the release of stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol, which can increase inflammation in the gut and stress can also disrupt the balance of bacteria in your gut and cause an overgrowth of harmful bacteria which can also contribute to inflammation.
Stress also can suppress your immune system and make your gut more vulnerable to inflammation and infections and stress can also increase the permeability of your gut lining and allow harmful substances to leak into your bloodstream and trigger an immune response.
People with high levels of stress are more likely to develop colitis than people without high levels of stress and stress can make the symptoms of colitis worse like diarrhea, bloody poop and abdominal pain.
What a gastroenterologist will do for colitis is perform a physical exam, order blood tests and stool tests and use endoscopies such as colonoscopies and even use imaging tests like MRI scans and or CT scans.
Treatment for the colitis will focus on reducing the inflammation from the colitis using medications like anti inflammatories, biologics and or immune suppressants.
The gastroenterologist will also often recommend lifestyle adjustments and dietary adjustments and in severe cases, surgery can be done to correct the colitis condition.
The time of day that colitis pain is worse is in the morning and also at night.
Colitis pain is worse in the morning as well as at night as a result of your colon's activity and the effects of eating.
When you have colitis you may wake up with discomfort as your colon begins it's daily activities and nighttime colitis symptoms can result from eating close to bedtime or even from a lack of distractions.
Colitis pain can also occur at any time as flare ups of colitis are unpredictable.
Colitis is inflammation of your large intestines also called your colon and it can cause a variety of different symptoms.
Common symptoms of colitis are fever, vomiting and nausea, rectal bleeding, diarrhea and abdominal pain and cramping.
Colitis and ulcerative colitis are different conditions although they are related.
Ulcerative colitis is a specific type of colitis which is also an autoimmune disorder and it causes chronic inflammation in the lining of your colon.
Colitis can have multiple causes and ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune disorder.
Colitis also causes inflammation anywhere in your colon, and ulcerative colitis often affects only your lower colon and rectum.
Ulcerative colitis results in the presence and development of ulcers in your colon.
And colitis may or may not have these ulcers.
Treatment for colitis will depend on the cause and ulcerative colitis is often treated with medications such as immunosuppressants and corticosteroids.
Colitis is basically a general term, for inflammation of your colon and ulcerative colitis is a certain or specific type of colitis, which is an autoimmune disorder that results in ulcers and chronic inflammation in the colon.