It’s normal for humans to push away or ignore things that we personally don’t think are serious. Sometimes living without a care in the world or allowing the saying “ignorance is bliss” to be your mantra of life can be beneficial but at what point does it become deadly? When you begin to blatantly ignore the signs your body is telling you? When do you stop and say “okay this may be serious, the pain and symptoms aren’t going away”? Waiting until it’s too late to get help is more dangerous than the actual issue itself. Many severe, lifelong conditions can be treated before they get worse if you reach out for help sooner rather than later, especially when it comes to ulcerative colitis.
Falling under the category of inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis is when the lining of your rectum and large intestine become red and swollen, this is also known as inflammation.
In most instances, the inflammation can move to your colon. The inflammation will then cause symptoms such as belly pain and diarrhea. This can lead to an extremely empty colon, which can lead to the death of your colon cells.
Once your colon cells die, you’re subjected to open sores also known as ulcers, which can cause pus and bleeding.
If you have a family history of people living with ulcerative colitis, then you may be at a higher risk of developing this chronic disease.
When diagnosed, most people are usually between ages 15 and 30.
White and Jewish people are known to be diagnosed with this inflammatory bowel disease the most, but that does not mean it can’t affect people of other ethnicities and races. It affects all races and ethnicities.
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When wondering if you may be living with a chronic disease such as ulcerative colitis, it’s important to know what the symptoms of this disease look like so you can identify exactly what you may be experiencing. Some symptoms of ulcerative colitis include:
Weight loss, fatigue, bleeding from your rectum, severe bleeding and loss of blood which leads to anemia and loss of nutrients and fluids from your body are all common symptoms of ulcerative colitis. Some people may also experience joint pain, sores on the skin, osteoporosis (brittle bones) and even liver disorders.
Another possible symptom is colon cancer since this disease severely affects the colon as well. Infections and tears in the colon are all symptoms that can happen over time when living with ulcerative colitis. Though symptoms look different in everyone who may be living with this, it’s better to know what to look for when determining if something isn’t right.
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It’s hard to know what to do to avoid triggering a flare-up when most experts don’t know the exact cause of flare-ups. Though experts aren’t too sure what causes a flare-up, it has been noted that certain foods and diets can make your symptoms worse.
Foods with high fiber are great for nutrients but consuming them raw can worsen your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms.
Try steaming or baking them instead. Eating large meals can also cause symptoms to worsen during a flare-up. Consuming too much dairy (or depending on your body) any dairy at all can trigger your inflammation. Stress is also a huge trigger for an ulcerative colitis flare-up.
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Unfortunately, there are no actions that can prevent ulcerative colitis from developing. As stated before, many experts do not know the exact cause of why it develops in the first place. Before it was thought to develop because of diet and stress but doctors now say that though diet and stress may trigger the disease and its symptoms, they are not the cause of it.
For now, it can just be looked at as your immune system malfunctioning. Regardless of what causes this disease, there are prevention tips that you can take in order to lower the chance of your symptoms worsening.
Lowering your stress levels with exercise, monitoring your diet, staying away from certain foods when experiencing symptoms such as dairy, foods high in fiber and sugary or alcoholic drinks are all ways to prevent worsening symptoms. In life, some things just can’t be prevented but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t measures to take to stop them from drastically worsening.
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