Ulcerative Colitis Treatment
The Ulcerative Colitis treatment depends largely on the severity of the disease. It is an inflammatory bowel disease which causes sores and ulcers in the large intestine. Both surgery and medication are used to control the disease.
The development in medication has improved over the years. Today, there are medicines available which can help to a great extent in containing the disease.
Medications include immunomodulators and anti inflammatory agents. The main aim of the medical therapy is to induce remission (symptom free period of time), maintain remission (preventing flare ups of disease), consequently enabling the patients to avoid surgery. A new treatment uses nicotine. It has, so far, been believed that non-smokers and ex-smokers run the least risk of ulcerative colitis. On the contrary, in certain cases patients improve when treated with nicotine where other medicines fail.
Surgery is reserved for severe cases when all medications fail to cure. It may also become necessary in case of massive bleeding or perforation of the colon. Surgery usually involves removing the entire colon and the rectum which is the single permanent cure of ulcerative colitis. For past many years, surgery has been performed with a procedure called Ileostomy. Ileostoy is performed after the colon, rectum and anus have been removed. It involves bringing the end of the small intestine (ileum) through a hole (stoma) in the abdominal wall, allowing the drainage of intestinal waste out of the body. The ileoanal pouch, then, allows the stool to pass through the anus. Going for the treatment becomes indispensable when patients observe the symptoms of ulcerative colitis. Loss of appetite, ulceration in the digestive tract, bloating, mucus in the stool, eye irritation and fever are certain other symptoms apart from the most common of them all, bloody diarrhea. Men and women across the globe are hit in equal numbers by the disease. No specific cause of the disease has been determined till date. Evidences fail to prove if the disease is contagious or caused by an infection. It is believed that the disease is caused by the abnormal activity of the immune system which takes place in the absence of any known invader which further causes inflammation and ulceration. The research on ulcerative colitis treatment is an ongoing and active process. This shall fortunately emerge out as an answer to the questions which remain unanswered yet- the cause of the disease, mechanism of inflammation and so on..... In addition, newer and safer methods of treatment are being developed. It may be a slow but surely a steady process.
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