Ulcerative Colitis Weakness And Fatigue

What Is The Prognosis For People With Crohns Disease

Most people with Crohns disease enjoy healthy, active lives. While there isnt a cure for Crohns disease, treatments and lifestyle changes can keep the disease in remission and prevent complications.

Lifestyle changes can include changes to your diet. People with Crohns disease often need to adapt their diets so that they get enough calories each day. Lactose intolerance can also be an issue for those with Crohns disease. You may need to avoid certain dairy products if you find that youre having issues with this dietary intolerance. You should also avoid smoking if you have Crohns disease. Smoking can only make your condition worse.

Your healthcare provider might recommend you receive preventative colonoscopies after youre diagnosed with Crohns disease. Talk to your provider about how often you should have colonoscopies and what your risks are for other medical conditions.

How Common Is Fatigue In Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Fatigue affects many people with IBD, and it occurs more frequently among people with Crohn’s disease. Approximately 54% of people with Crohns disease and 33% of those with ulcerative colitis report experiencing fatigue.2 Fatigue also seems to worsen with more aggressive disease, with the people with the most aggressive Crohns disease most likely to report fatigue.9 Up to 86% report feeling fatigue during moderate-to-severely active Crohns disease.3 Even during remission, about 40% to 50% of patients with IBD disease report fatigue.3,9

When Symptoms Get Severe

In some cases, UC can in some cases cause life-threatening complications including severe bleeding, perforated colon, and severe dehydration. If any of these conditions are present, its a medical emergency and the person should get immediate medical attention. UC can also cause an increased risk of colon cancer and blood clots in the veins and arteries.

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What Complications Are Associated With Ulcerative Colitis

Yes. There are some complications related to ulcerative colitis. Possible complications include:

• Severe bleeding
• Perforated colon
• Kidney stones
• Osteoporosis
• Toxic megacolon
• Liver disease

People with ulcerative colitis are also at increased risk of developing colon cancer. The risk of colon cancer is related to the length of time since you were diagnosed and how much of your colon is affected by inflammation. However, a regular examination by your doctor and colorectal cancer screening tests can help to reduce the risk of cancer and detect problems early.

How Is Crohn’s Disease Diagnosed

Most people with Crohns first see a healthcare provider because of ongoing diarrhea, belly cramping or unexplained weight loss. If you have a child who has been experiencing the symptoms of Crohns disease, reach out to your pediatrician.

To find the cause of your symptoms, your healthcare provider may order one or more of these tests:

• Blood test: A blood test checks for high numbers of white blood cells that may indicate inflammation or infection. The test also checks for low red blood cell count, or anemia. Approximately one in three people with Crohns disease have anemia.
• Stool test: This test looks at a sample of your stool to check for bacteria or parasites. It can rule out infections that cause chronic diarrhea.
• Colonoscopy: During a colonoscopy, your doctor uses an endoscope to examine the inside of your colon. Your doctor may take a tissue sample from the colon to test for signs of inflammation.
• Computed tomography scan: A CT scan creates images of the digestive tract. It tells your healthcare provider how severe the intestinal inflammation is.
• Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy: Your doctor threads a long, thin tube called an endoscope through your mouth and into your throat. An attached camera allows your doctor to see inside. During an upper endoscopy, your doctor may also take tissue samples.
• Upper gastrointestinal exam: X-ray images used during an upper GI exam allow your doctor to watch as a swallowed barium liquid moves through your digestive tract.

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Make Quality Sleep A Priority

There are many reasons that you may not be getting the rest you need, and your ulcerative colitis may be one of them. In fact, those with UC appear to experience worse quality of sleep in general, even when theyre in remission, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. However, when it comes to reducing inflammation, good, consistent sleep is your goal. Even a single night of getting just four hours of shuteye has been shown to increase inflammation. When youre short on ZZZs, try these smart UC sleep tips to send you into slumberland.

Weight Loss And Loss Of Appetite

About half of individuals with ulcerative colitis experience weight loss.4 Loss of appetite is common, due to fear of eating and the symptoms that follow.4,13 Some people have very limited diets in order to manage their symptoms. Healing from inflammation or surgery can increase nutrient needs at a time when it is difficult to eat. Diarrhea can cause significant loss of fluid and blood.

One weight measurement is not enough for evaluating a persons nutritional status.13 It is important that your health care provider or dietitian tracks changes in your weight over time.

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Symptoms Of Ulcerative Colitis

Mika, Facty Staff

Ulcerative colitis is a condition that mainly affects the colon, causing inflammation as well as ulcers. It also affects the rectum, and symptoms can be far-ranging, affecting many parts of the body. The main symptoms include bloody stool, pain, and inflammation. Ulcerative colitis may cause flare-ups, during which symptoms can be especially difficult to manage. Different treatment options are ranging from dietary modifications to medication.

Find Ways To Reduce Your Stress

Stress plays a big role in fatigue. If you’re stressed about work, school, family, or otherparts of your life and you’re fatigued, you might find your stress level steadily increasing. Stress negatively impacts fatigue and can make you feel more tired. In this case, look to something that can help break your stress cycle. Whether that’s saying no to an activity, preplanning work or a project, or maybe taking time to meditate, findwhat works for you to help alleviate any stressors.

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Eat For Maximum Energy

Diet may play a role in causing UC fatigueespecially if youre not eating a balanced and broad diet, says Dr. Ananthakrishnan . Consuming low FODMAP foods can also help so, too, can avoiding seeds, whole wheats, and lactose foods. While there are several specialized diets that may be helpful for some, no one plan has been proven to prevent or control UC, per the Crohns & Colitis Foundation. Your medical team may recommend a particular diet based on your symptoms and what foods youre best able to tolerate.

Plan A Relaxing Activity

Whether with your partner, friend, or family, planning a relaxing activity like a couple’s massage, manicure/pedicure, or other spa-like treatment can work wonders on your fatigue. Or, if you prefer, plan an activity like watching a movie with a close friend. Taking time to do something relaxing and slow-paced still provides you with time to be with your friend or loved one but doesn’t become too taxing for you. And your friend could probably use a relaxing activity, too!

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What Is Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disorder affecting the large intestine . The digestive system converts food into nutrients and absorbs them into the bloodstream to fuel our bodies. The colons main role is to absorb water and salts from undigested food waste. This action helps to thicken and solidify the stool, which is then expelled from the body through the anus.

Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation and ulceration along the lining of the colon which can lead to abdominal pain, cramps, bleeding and diarrhea. The disease usually begins in the rectal area, which holds stool until you go to the bathroom, and may involve the entire colon over time. Ulcerative colitis is classified as an inflammatory bowel disease , due to the inflammation that occurs in the intestines. Another common form of IBD is called Crohns disease. Although the symptoms of ulcerative colitis are similar to Crohns disease, the conditions are different in several ways.

While both ulcerative colitis and Crohns disease are types of IBD, they should not be confused with Irritable Bowel Syndrome , a disorder that affects the muscle contractions and the sensitivity of the colon. Unlike ulcerative colitis and Crohns disease, IBS does not cause intestinal inflammation nor damage the bowel.

What Are The Types Of Crohns Disease

Crohns disease can affect different sections of the digestive tract. Types of Crohns disease include:

• Ileocolitis: Inflammation occurs in the small intestine and part of the large intestine, or colon. Ileocolitis is the most common type of Crohns disease.
• Ileitis: Swelling and inflammation develop in the small intestine .
• Gastroduodenal: Inflammation and irritation affect the stomach and the top of the small intestine .
• Jejunoileitis: Patchy areas of inflammation develop in the upper half of the small intestine .

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Types Of Ulcerative Colitis :

The different types of ulcerative colitis are classified according to the location, or affected site of inflammation. They are :

Ulcerative Proctitis:

It this inflammation is limited to the rectum. A person has suffered from rectal bleeding, rectal inflammation, pain, urgency , etc.

Proctosigmoiditis:

It involves inflammation of the rectum and the sigmoid colon . Symptoms include abdominal cramps, rectal bleeding, urgency, and tenesmus, diarrhea with blood, etc.

Left-Sided Colitis:

This type involves inflammation that starts at the rectum and extends up the left colon . A person may experience excess weight loss, dehydration, bloody diarrhea, left-sided abdominal pain, etc.

Universal Colitis:

This type is called universal colitis because it affects the entire colon . Symptoms may include fever, night sweating, diarrhea with mucus, weakness, loss of appetite, anemia, etc.

Fulminant colitis:

It is rare but severe form of universal colitis. Patients with this type of colitis are suffered with dehydration, abdominal cramps, diarrhea with bleeding, weakness, loss of appetite, and even shock. Those people are at the risk of developing toxic megacolon and colonic rupture .

Using Different Disease Indices

Increasing the threshold for quiescent disease to CRP < 10 mg/L according to ECCO guidelines resulted in 61 active and 52 patients in remission . Using these categories of active and IBD in remission, the prevalence of fatigue was not significantly different from the more conservative disease in remission definition.

Table 3.

Comparison of fatigue prevalence using different values of CRP as one of categorizing disease indices

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Altered Gut Microbiome And Its Impact On The Gutbrain Axis

Our current strategies of microbial manipulation include antimicrobials, fecal bacteriotherapy, and probiotics. Antimicrobials have questions around their safety, specificity, and durability . A systematic review of randomized control studies of probiotics found only support for a single formulation in a narrow indication of preventing UC relapse. However, this formulation as originally studied no longer exists under that trade name, but has been rebranded as Visibiome . At this point, there are microbial changes associated with disease activity and fatigue, but currently no narrowly targeted strategy exists to manipulate the microbiome to manage fatigue.

Testing For Ulcerative Colitis

Often, symptoms alone can provide doctors with the information they need to diagnose ulcerative colitis. Your doctor will perform a physical examination and take a complete medical history that includes a careful review of your symptoms. For this reason, it is important to be candid and specific with your doctor about the problems you are having.

There is no one specific laboratory test, X-ray or scope to diagnose ulcerative colitis, however, to help confirm the condition and rule out other problems, your doctor may send you to have one or more of the following tests:

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Open Up To Friends And Family

If youre feeling too tired to go to a relatives birthday party, for example, be honest about it. Parris says she hid her fatigue from family and friends for a long time because she was embarrassed. “But after I shared what I was going through, they were really supportive,” she says. “Plus, it made me stop looking like a flake when I couldnt go out. They understood the real reason instead of me having to try and make up an excuse.”Speaking up about her ulcerative colitis allowed Parris to help her friends and relatives better understand what she was going through so that they could be more supportive.

What Causes Ulcerative Colitis Fatigue

People with ulcerative colitis may experience fatigue for a number of reasons, including:

• Inflammation In some cases, fatigue is caused by the bodys response to inflammation in the colon, says Katkov. Chemical signals produced during inflammation can directly act on the brain to cause tiredness and lack of energy.
• Poor sleep The aforementioned 2020 study published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases found that sleep disturbances were the strongest predictor of fatigue in IBD patients.
• Anemia A common complication of ulcerative colitis, anemia can result from blood loss, diarrhea, and malabsorption of certain nutrients. According to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, IBD patients with anemia do not have enough healthy red blood cells to carry sufficient oxygen to the their body’s tissues, which can make them feel tired and weak.

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Fatigue With Ulcerative Colitis

For the longest time, I didnt know that fatigue could be a part of my UC. My doctors have always focused the majority of our time together on assessing the strictly physical symptoms, like bleeding, urgency, and the number of bowel movements I have per day.

When I had a flare-up, or even when I was in clinical remission, I didnt recognize that my fatigue was anything other than a typical stressed-out graduate students level of tiredness. When I would talk to other people or tell them, Im tired, I always got a Me too, in response. I assumed fatigue was just what responsible adulthood felt like.

Exercise Combats Uc Fatigue Too

We get it: Feeling tired makes the sofa all the more appealing. But dont take this lying down: Try a brisk walk around the block instead. Why? Incorporating even moderate regular physical activity into your daily routine can reduce fatigue, Dr. Ananthakrishnan says. Research backs him up: A 2020 review article in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, found that recreational exercise decreases the risk of flares and fatigue in people with IBDs. A different 2020 study reports that a 12-week personalized exercise program not only improved fatigue levels in folks with IBD, but also improved overall quality of life.

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Understanding Crohn’s Disease & Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms

Fatigue is a non-specific symptom of many diseases and conditions. Feeling tired could be the result of not getting enough sleep, or not getting enough quality sleep. In the U.S., we are constantly shortchanging ourselves on sleep, and most children and adults do not get enough. Fatigue, however, is more than being tired and it can’t necessarily be overcome by getting some sleep. Fatigue is a symptom often associated with inflammatory bowel disease and tends to be one that is brought up frequently as being most problematic in lowering quality of life.

Chronic fatigue can lead to a host of other problems, including poor performance at work and school, drowsy driving, and feelings of depression. Figuring out that fatigue is a problem is not difficult, but determining what is causing it and what to do about it is no easy task. The reasons people with IBD may feel fatigued include medication side effects, sleep disturbances, related conditions such as anemia, and a flare-up.

What Are The Complications Of Crohns Disease

Crohns disease can lead to serious complications, including:

• Abscesses: Infected pus-filled pockets form in the digestive tract or abdomen.
• Anal fissures: Small tears in the anus can cause pain, itching and bleeding.
• Bowel obstructions: Scar tissue from inflammation, fistulas or a narrowed intestine can block the bowel partially or completely. Waste matter and gases build up. A blockage in the small bowel or large bowel requires surgery.
• Colon cancer: Crohns disease in the large intestine increases the risk of colon cancer.
• Fistulas: IBD can cause abnormal tunnel-like openings, called fistulas, to form in the intestinal walls. These fistulas sometimes become infected.
• Malnutrition: Chronic diarrhea can make it hard for your body to absorb nutrients. One common problem in people with Crohns disease is a lack of iron. Too little iron can lead to anemia when your organs cant get enough oxygen.
• Ulcers: Open sores called ulcers can form in your mouth, stomach or rectum.

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Inflammation Of The Joints Skin Eyes And Liver

Between 10% and 30% of people with ulcerative colitis have symptoms outside the intestine.7 The joints, skin, eyes, and liver are commonly affected.

Inflammation can affect joints in the arms and legs and the spine . People with inflammatory bowel disease often find that their arthritis is worse in morning and improves through the day.3 Somebut not alltypes of colitis-related arthritis get worse during flares. In other cases, the joint pain does not happen at the same time as intestinal inflammation.15

Skin symptoms affect roughly 10% to 20% of people with ulcerative colitis.15 The most common skin symptom is painful red growths under the skin. This condition is called erythema nodosum. The lower legs are most likely to be affected. These growths appear during flares. Treating the flare improves the growths.

Inflammation can affect the eyes, too. The symptoms depend on the part of the eye that is affected. Symptoms may include pain, redness/pinkness, blurry vision, sensitivity to light, and headaches.15

Up to 50% of people with inflammatory bowel disease are affected in the liver and gallbladder.15 Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a liver disease that often overlaps with inflammatory bowel disease, especially ulcerative colitis.16 This condition causes scarring in the bile ducts. There is no cure for primary sclerosing cholangitis. Other liver conditions related to inflammatory bowel disease are fatty liver disease and autoimmune hepatitis.16