Colitis is inflammation in your colon, which is the main part of your large intestine. Your colon is the last leg of the journey your food takes through your digestive system. Inflammation in your colon can affect the way this journey ends, causing pain, diarrhea and sometimes blood in your poop. Inflammation is your body’s response to infection or injury. It causes swelling and tenderness in your tissues.
Infectious colitis is caused by a viral, parasitic or bacterial infection. Salmonella and E. coli are common causes. Most people get it from eating or drinking contaminated food or water. It’s usually temporary, but some people may need antibiotics to treat certain infections.
Pseudomembranous colitis. This type of colitis is usually caused by a specific bacterium known as C. diff (clostridioides difficile). Ironically, people often get pseudomembranous colitis after taking antibiotics. The bacterium C. diff commonly already lives in your intestines, but certain antibiotics kill off other bacteria that help to keep it in check, causing C. diff to overgrow.
Allergic colitis. Allergic colitis affects breastfeeding babies. It’s caused by food intolerances, often to dairy milk (lactose intolerance) or soy milk (soy allergy). Proteins that breastfeeding people eat reach their babies through their breastmilk.
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are a group of conditions that cause chronic inflammation in your colon. They include ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis and Crohn’s disease. These conditions don’t have a direct cause. Doctors believe they are a type of autoimmune disease, which means they cause your immune system to malfunction and attack its own tissues. Autoimmune diseases appear to be partially genetic and triggered by environmental factors.
Radiation colitisis a side effect of radiation therapy, which is used to treat certain types of cancer. It’s usually temporary, but some people develop long-term symptoms.
Diversion colitis is a side effect that can occur in people who've had a colostomy. It happens in the part of your colon that's no longer being used. Doctors believe that diverting your poop away from that part of your bowel may deprive it of certain nutrients that the tissues need to stay healthy. It only causes symptoms in a small number of people.
What are the possible complications of colitis?
Complications usually result from severe, long-term, chronic colitis. They can include:
Perforation. Chronic inflammation weakens your colon walls, making them more likely to rupture. An ulcer in your colon may wear a hole all the way through. This can cause bacteria from your colon to infect your abdominal cavity (peritonitis) and possibly your bloodstream (septicemia), which would be especially dangerous. Septicemia can lead to sepsis.
Toxic megacolon. Severe inflammation can cause the walls of your colon to dilate (widen) and interfere with its natural muscle contractions (peristalsis). This can trap food and gas in your colon (large bowel obstruction). Obstruction leads to painful abdominal distension and an increased risk of rupture.
Increased risk of colon cancer. Long-term inflammation is associated with cellular changes in your colon wall that can sometimes progress to cancerous changes. The risk increases rapidly after the first decade of chronic colitis.
Increased risk of other inflammatory diseases. People with inflammatory bowel diseases are more likely to have other inflammatory diseases in other parts of their bodies. Some examples include osteoarthritis (joint inflammation) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (inflammation in your liver and bile ducts). It appears that uncontrolled inflammation in one area may trigger a similar process somewhere else.
How is colitis treated?
Treatment for colitis depends on the type and the cause. It may include:
Medications. Your provider may prescribeantibiotics to treat infections, corticosteroids to treat inflammation, immune modifiers to repress your autoimmune response, and aminosalicylates to treat IBD.
Diet. If you have temporary, acute colitis, you may benefit from a low-fiber, easy-to-digest diet. If you have chronic colitis, you may need a personalized diet plan. You may need to avoid foods that trigger your colitis flare-ups and to incorporate other foods or supplements to make sure you get adequate nutrition.
Surgery. People with certain types of colitis, including necrotizing enterocolitis, ischemic colitis and IBD, may require surgery to treat complications. Surgery doesn't always cure these conditions, but it may be necessary to stop bleeding, repair a perforation or remove a blockage.
How is colitis diagnosed?
Your healthcare provider will begin by asking you about your symptoms, when they began and what you were eating and drinking at the time. They’ll ask you about your current medications and any health conditions that you’ve been recently treated for. They’ll physically examine you, then move on to medical tests. These are likely to include blood tests, stool tests and imaging tests to look at your colon.
In particular, endoscopic tests that visualize the inside of your colon with a lighted scope can be helpful in diagnosing the type of colitis you have. Endoscopic exams, including colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy, allow healthcare providers to take tissue samples from the inside of your colon (biopsy). Healthcare providers can learn important information by examining tissue samples in the lab.
Your Family, Our Responsibility !