Chronic ulcerative colitis is a severe prolonged inflammation of the colon or large bowel in which ulcers form on the walls of the colon. In severe cases, ulceration leads to bleeding and the patient passes bloody stools with pus and mucus. The disease results from prolonged irritation of the delicate membrane which lines the walls of the colon. It affects all age groups from very young children to the elderly.
Normally, it is the function of the colon to store waste material until most of the fluids have been removed to enable well-formed soft stools, consisting of non -absorbable food materials to be passed. Persons who suffer from an irritable colon have irregular and erratic contractions which are specially noticeable on the left side.
Symptoms
Chronic ulcerative colitis usually begins in the lower part of the bowels and spreads upwards. The first symptom is an increased urgency to move the bowel, followed by cramping pains in the abdomen and blood mucus in the stools. As the disease spreads upwards, the stools become watery and more frequent and are characterised by rectal straining. All this loss of blood and fluid from the bowels results in weakness, fever, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and anaemia.
The patient may develop a bloated feeling because the gas is not absorbed or expelled normally. Some patients suffer from constipation alternating with periods of loose bowel movements. Still others may suffer from persistent diarrhoea for years together. The patient is usually malnourished and may be severely underweight. He may suffer from frequent insomnia.
Ulcerative colitis in its severe form may also lead to nutritional problems. The improper assimilation of food due to inflammatory conditions may cause deficiency diseases. This may gradually result in nervous irritability, exhaustion and depression. IN very severe cases, the patient may even develop suicidal tendencies.
Causes
The main cause of colitis is chronic constipation and the use of purgatives. Constipation causes an accumulation of the hard faecal matter which is never properly evacuated. The use of purgatives only increases irritation. Often, colitis is caused by poorly-digested rough-age, especially of cereals and carbohydrates, which causes bowel irritation.
It may also result from an allergic sensitivity to certain foods, especially milk, wheat and eggs. Often, the intake of antibiotics may upset the bacterial flora in the intestines and interfere with proper digestion.
Severe stress may also produce ulcerative colitis. During any form of severe stress, outpouring of adrenal hormones causes such destruction of body protein that at times parts of the walls, lining the intestines, are literally eaten away. Such stress also depletes the body of pantothenic acid. Experiments on animals have shown that they can develop ulcerative colitis when they are kept on diets deficient in pantothenic acid.