Ulcerative colitis is a chronic, recurrent colon disease with an unclear etiology that is characterized by purulent inflammation with hemorrhages and frequently occurring systemic and local complications. It is not possible to obtain an accurate statistical picture of the spread of this formidable disease, since asymptomatic and mild cases are often not taken into account, especially at the onset of the disease. Such patients usually undergo therapy in non-specialized medical institutions and are not included in the statistics.
Most often, this disease affects people between the ages of twenty and forty years. The second age group by the number of patients is people older than fifty-five. The highest mortality rates occur in the first year of the disease due to the rather frequent development of a very severe fulminant form of the disease, as well as in the tenth year, due to the development of colorectal cancer in some patients .
The role of certain factors of the human environment, for example, the same smoking, is not fully understood. According to the results of numerous epidemiological studies, it becomes clear that this pathology often develops in non-smokers. This information made it possible to start using nicotine to treat ulcerative colitis . It also reduces the risk of developing this disease underwent surgery - appendectomy, and constant physical activity.
Ulcerative colitis. Symptoms
Of the local manifestations for this disease, alternating constipation and diarrhea, tenesmus and constant abdominal pain are characteristic, the most formidable manifestation is intestinal bleeding. And from the general manifestations - a gradual decrease in the patient’s body weight, periodically occurring fever, bouts of nausea, turning into vomiting, general weakness and weakness. Depending on the extent to which the colon affected ulcerative colitis, the symptoms may vary significantly. For example, with severe total damage to almost the entire colon, profuse diarrhea occurs, in the feces - an impurity of blood, which in some cases is excreted in the form of clots. Before defecation, the patient is suffering from cramping abdominal pain. Anemia, symptoms of general intoxication, such as weight loss, constant general weakness , are expressed. Ulcerative colitis, the symptoms of which are described above, can often be accompanied by complications that pose an immediate and obvious threat to the life of a given patient: perforation of the large intestine, massive intestinal bleeding, or toxic megacolon. Most often, a similar course occurs in patients who have developed fulminant form of ulcerative colitis.
The diagnosis of ulcerative colitis is established, based on the general clinical picture of the disease, on the data obtained as a result of sigmoidoscopic, radiological and endoscopic research methods.
No matter how advanced the ulcerative colitis, the symptoms, its treatment depend on many reasons: the localization of the inflammatory process, its length, the severity of the attack, and the presence of all kinds of complications matter. Conservative treatment is primarily aimed at quickly stopping the attack that has arisen, as well as at preventing the disease and the progression of the pathological process. Ulcerative colitis, whose symptoms are milder, is most often localized in the distal (lower) parts of the colon, for example, proctosigmoiditis or proctitis. Such patients are treated on an outpatient basis, but those patients who have been diagnosed with total or left-sided lesions have much more pronounced symptoms and therefore are subject to 100% hospitalization.
Ulcerative colitis, a diet for which will be quite high-calorie, rich in vitamins and proteins, but limited in the use of plant-derived coarse fiber and animal fats, can be treated much faster than in the case of an unlimited diet.