Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an illness that causes severe inflammation in the intestines. This disease can cause more serious problems then just diarrhoea and pain. It could cause delays in puberty or growth problems in teens with this disease. This happens because it can interfere with the body receiving the nutrients it needs to be healthy and develop the way it’s supposed to.

This disease has two major types, which include Chron’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Chron’s disease happens when the wall of the intestines becomes inflamed (reddens and swells) and ulcers develop. Symptoms include; abdominal cramps or pain, diarrhoea, sometimes with blood in it, fever, fatigue and weight loss. This disease can be less serious to some people, where their symptoms only flare a few times.

Ulcerative Colitis only effects the large intestine. The inflammation begins in the rectum and can effect only the rectum or the part of the intestine that joins it. The most common symptoms include; abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea, but some people can experience; fatigue, weight loss, appetite loss and nausea. Some people have periods where they have no symptoms, and other times they feel sick. Ulcerative colitis, like Chron’s disease can cause problems in other parts of the body like; eye problems or anemia due to blood loss.

IBD is most likely to occur in people in their late teens and their early twenties. Although, kids as young as five have developed this disease as well. It also effects both males and females.

Nobody knows the exact cause of IBD, since 15% to 30% of people that have it have had a relative that had it to, they think that it has to do with genetics but they aren’t positive. Research is being done to find out if it is a gene that makes a person more susceptible to this disease.

IBD can be treated in a couple different ways, Nutritional therapy, more sleep and less stress, medications and surgery. Nutritional therapy, helps you get the nutrients that you lose in your diarrhoea. The doctor may ask you to keep a diet diary to see which foods make your disease worse and which ones make them better. More sleep and less stress, it is important that you get lots of sleep and handle stress in a positive way. Medication, there are a few different types of medications that may help with IBD, these include; anti-inflammatory drugs (corticosteroids), antibiotics to kill infections and anti-diarrhoeal drugs for someone who has diarrhea a lot. Surgery may be needed to remove the damaged sections of the intestine, for Chron’s disease this may have to be done a couple times. For ulcerative colitis they can remove the entire intestine, but this is only done if the medications don’t work, they get a hole in their intestine, uncontrollable bleeding or has developed intestinal cancer.