What are the symptoms of colitis?

Colitis is an inflammation of the large intestine that causes many discomforts in the body. When you suffer from colitis, it is best to detect and treat it early. If the treatment is not timely, it will cause other diseases. When colitis attacks, there will be abdominal pain and slight bleeding when defecating. Severe cases can lead to intestinal perforation, so it is important to detect and pay attention to it early.

The onset of colitis is usually slow, lasting for several years to several decades. There are usually some symptoms in the early stages. Let’s take a look at the early symptoms of colitis.

Early symptoms of colitis

1. Abdominal pain: Mild patients have no abdominal pain or only abdominal discomfort. Generally, there is mild to moderate abdominal pain, which is paroxysmal pain in the left lower abdomen and may involve the entire abdomen. There is a pattern of relief after the urge to defecate.

2. Heavy blood in the stool: refers to heavy intestinal bleeding in a short period of time, accompanied by increased pulse, decreased blood pressure and low hemoglobin, requiring blood transfusion treatment.

3. Intestinal stenosis: The early symptoms of colitis are sometimes not clinically manifested, but in severe cases it can cause intestinal obstruction. When intestinal stenosis occurs in this disease, be alert to tumors.

4. Intestinal perforation: The use of corticosteroids is considered a risk factor for intestinal perforation.

5. Toxic dilatation: What are the symptoms of colitis? This is a serious complication of the disease, which often occurs in people with pancolitis. The mortality rate can be as high as 44%, and it is prone to intestinal perforation.

6. Colon cancer: About 5% of cases develop into cancer.

7. Diarrhea: It is caused by inflammatory stimulation, the severity varies, and diarrhea is the main symptom of this disease. In mild cases, the patient may have diarrhea 3-4 times a day, with soft or mushy stools that may be mixed with mucus, pus and blood; in severe cases, the patient may have diarrhea dozens of times a day or have alternating diarrhea and constipation.

8. Constipation: Constipation causes bowel movement once every 4-5 days, and the stool is like sheep dung, or even inability to defecate.

9. Other early symptoms: abdominal distension, weight loss, fatigue, bowel sounds, insomnia, nightmares, fear of cold, and in severe cases, fever, rapid heartbeat, weakness, anemia, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and nutritional disorders.

The harm of colitis to the human body

1. Fecal ulcer

Fecal ulcers are the accumulated harm of long-term colitis. Hard feces compress the intestinal cavity, causing it to narrow and the surrounding structures of the pelvis, hindering the expansion of the colon, and causing the rectum or colon to be compressed to form fecal ulcers. In severe cases, intestinal perforation may occur.

2. Decreased sexual desire

Due to long-term colitis, the patient's pelvic muscle groups will be chronically stimulated and cause a spastic contraction state. Over time, these muscles will affect the normal function of the penis erection, ejaculation and vaginal function, leading to a decrease in sexual desire, especially the pubococcygeus muscle, which some people call the sex muscle. It is a broad ligament, like a bandage bed, supporting the organs and vaginal muscles in the pelvis. If this muscle is often in a relaxed or abnormally tense state, it will cause a decrease in vaginal sensitivity and a decrease in sexual pleasure.

3. Hemorrhoids

The occurrence of hemorrhoids is one of the serious hazards of long-term colitis. When patients with colitis, they hold their stools with force, which increases the pressure in the rectal neck and blocks venous return. The normal anal cushions become congested and hypertrophic and repeatedly shift distally. The fibrous septa therein gradually relax until they rupture, accompanied by congestion, dilation, and fusion of the venous plexus, and even small arteriovenous fistulas, eventually forming hemorrhoids.