What is colitis?

Question

How is it caused and what happens to your body?

Answer 1

Inflammation of the colon. Oh my god! just the thought of it. I had a bout of colitis after giving birth to my second daughter. It was hard for me to walk to the corner without feeling the urge to move my bowels. Everything I ate was coming out a minute later. I could hardly hold anything down on my stomach. It was horrible! I was taking medication and the medication is actually what brought it on. I believe it was antibiotics. My sister suggested I stop taking the medicine because it wasn't making me better. I went to the dr. and he said the same thing. Once I stopped the antibiotics and a light diet to give my system a rest, I improved.

Answer 2

Inflammation of the large intestine (colon) Although there are different types apparently

Types
There are several types of colitis, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn's colitis, diversion colitis, ischemic colitis, infectious colitis, chemical colitis, microscopic colitis, and atypical colitis.

A well known subtype of infectious colitis is pseudomembranous colitis, resulting from infection by a toxigenic strain of Clostridium difficile. Parasitic infections can also cause colitis.

Any colitis which has a rapid downhill clinical course is known as fulminant colitis. In addition to the diarrhea, fever, and anemia seen in colitis, the patient has severe abdominal pain and a clinical picture similar to septicemia with shock is present. Approximately half of those patients require surgery.

Irritable bowel syndrome is a separate disease which has been called spastic colitis or spastic colon. This name causes confusion since colitis is not a feature of irritable bowel syndrome. Autistic enterocolitis is a disputed medical entity but refers to a type of colitis found in patients with autism.