Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is an immune-mediated condition in which the intestines of people become inflamed and give them symptoms and make them sick. Ulcerative colitis affects the large intestine, or also known as the colon and rectum, and because it affects that large intestine, that’s the part of the bowel that gives people symptoms of bleeding and urgency, and they often have diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Ulcerative colitis usually presents in somebody with symptoms of blood and urgency to go to the bathroom. They lose the ability to distinguish between gas and stool. And because of these symptoms they have pain in their abdomen and will often present to a physician complaining of these. And it requires first the suspicion of the diagnosis, so the doctor has to have some idea of what might be going on. But almost always the diagnosis is made by a colonoscopy or some imaging study of the large intestine.

Men and women are almost equally affected by Ulcerative Colitis. It now has been seen in every race and every group in the United States that’s been studied and in fact it’s going around the world and affecting people all over the world. It’s important for people to know that most people who are diagnosed with ulcerative colitis have no family history. So just because you don’t have the history doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have this disease.

Currently there is not a cure for ulcerative colitis but patients can achieve remission. The first step to getting healthy with ulcerative colitis is to know what remission means. That means having no symptoms and almost forgetting you have the condition at all. And that’s a very high bar to set, but it’s also one that’s very achievable. And it does require taking daily medicines, but medicines that we know are safe and very effective. So we want to make sure people know that if they’re not in remission or they know someone who’s suffering they should really be challenging and asking their doctor to help adjust their therapy to achieve that.