Diagnosis and Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a sneaky disease that typically comes on slowly. Its symptoms include constant diarrhea mixed with blood, an increased chance of anemia, and unplanned weight loss. It is also common for sufferers of intestinal diseases to have symptoms that appear to be unrelated to the gastrointestinal tract. With colitis Roanoke, these symptoms include mouth ulcers (canker sores), arthritis, skin inflammation, and even clubbing of the fingers. These symptoms may be the result of an overactive autoimmune response. Since many symptoms are similar to those of irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis it is often mistaken for one of these two at first. Because of this, medical testing is required to determine the cause of the problems.

Testing for colitis in Roanoke is done in several ways. The best test is colonoscopy, in which a doctor uses a camera on a flexible tube to directly view the colon. Since some people would rather not have instruments put "up there" if they can avoid it, it is common for other, preliminary, tests to be done first. These preliminary tests include electrolyte studies, renal function tests, stool culture to rule out parasites, and a complete blood count. Some of these tests are also used to find other problems that may cause diarrhea and stool abnormalities.

Once there is a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis Roanoke, treatment will begin. While it is technically possible to cure it by surgically removing the entire large intestine, that is a drastic option that is only done in the most extreme cases. Typical treatment involves the use of immunosuppressant drugs to stop flare-ups, corticosteroids to calm inflammation, and surprisingly, nicotine. It has been shown that smokers have a lower incidence of ulcerative colitis, so it is fairly common for nonsmoking sufferers to be prescribed nicotine patches. The patches deliver nicotine with none of the worrisome dangers to the lungs that smoking would bring.

Treatment is also needed to take care of any co-existing problems such as anemia. Iron supplements treat anemia, but doctors must be careful because overly-high supplementation also causes ulcerative colitis! I.V. administration is sometimes used to avoid the problem of low intestinal tolerance to supplementation.

These therapies are sufficient to bring most cases of colitis into remission and provide relief. Therefore, they are the most popular treatments and surgery is rare.