Signs and Symptoms

• Diarrhea, often with blood or pus
• Abdominal pain and cramping
• Rectal pain
• Rectal bleeding — passing small amount of blood with stool
• Urgency to defecate
• Inability to defecate despite urgency
• Weight loss
• Fatigue
• Fever
• In children, failure to grow

Most people with ulcerative colitis have mild to moderate symptoms. The course of ulcerative colitis may vary, with some people having long periods of remission.

When to see a doctor

See your doctor if you experience a persistent change in your bowel habits or if you have signs and symptoms such as:

• Abdominal pain
• Blood in your stool
• Ongoing diarrhea that doesn't respond to over-the-counter medications
• Diarrhea that awakens you from sleep
• An unexplained fever lasting more than a day or two

Although ulcerative colitis usually isn't fatal, it's a serious disease that, in some cases, may cause life-threatening complications. Read more about ulcerative colitis.

The post Signs and Symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Constipation can lead to such discomfort and pain that patients seek medical treatment by going to the emergency room. Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist Michael Camilleri, M.D., says the most important step to take is prevention. To help avoid constipation problems, Dr. Camilleri says it is important to stay hydrated and have a fiber-rich diet. He recommends consuming between 12-25 grams of fiber in your diet every day.

A normal pattern of bowel function is a bowel movement every two or three days or three bowels movements per week. Dr. Camilleri says if you do not have a bowel movement for more than four or five days, you may want to talk with your doctor about what may be causing the symptoms.

The three most common reasons or risk factors for constipation include:

• inactivity
• medications
• inadequate diet or lack of fiber

For those suffering chronic constipation, Dr. Camilleri says check with your primary physician for best treatment options. Learn more about constipation issues:

Constipation in children
Constipation complications

Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Camilleri are available in the downloads.
https://youtu.be/ow761EQQbxo

The post Constipation is Often a Preventable Emergency appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ANSWER: Ischemic colitis occurs when blood flow to part of the large intestine (colon) is reduced due to one of two reasons: either there is a blocked or narrowed blood vessel (occlusive), or there is a temporary decrease in blood flow to the colon  (nonocclusive). Ninety-five percent of cases of ischemic colitis are due to a nonocclusive mechanism. When this occurs, cells in the digestive system don’t receive sufficient oxygen which then leads to areas of colon inflammation and ulceration. While the exact cause of ischemic colitis is often unclear, with proper medical care, most people diagnosed with ischemic colitis typically recover in a day or two and never have another episode.

Even under normal circumstances, the colon receives less blood flow than any other portion of the gastrointestinal tract. As a result, if the colon is suddenly subjected to reduced blood flow — whatever the reason — its tissues may be damaged. The severity of damage varies depending on the amount of time that the blood flow was interrupted and the degree to which it was decreased. In rare cases, patients can suffer a perforation (tear) of the colon, which requires surgical treatment.

Reduced blood flow to the colon may occur for a variety of reasons. One cause is narrowing of arteries serving the colon, which is often associated with the buildup of fatty deposits (atherosclerosis). More commonly, decreased blood pressure due to heart disease, severe illness, various medications, cocaine use or hemodialysis can decrease blood flow to the colon and cause an episode of ischemic colitis. Patients who participate in strenuous exercise can develop ischemia, likely due to a combination of dehydration and diversion of blood away from the colon to more vital parts of the body.

In addition, abdominal surgeries that require clamping off arteries that supply the colon with blood — such as during repair of an aortic aneurysm — may result in ischemic colitis. Blood clots in the vessels supplying the colon may be due to an underlying clotting disorder or could have traveled from another part of the body, such as the heart.

While the vast majority of people who develop ischemic colitis are older than 55, younger patients also can develop this condition. When it occurs in younger patients, a potential clotting disorder should be investigated.

The most common symptoms of ischemic colitis are abdominal pain — typically on the left side of the abdomen — and bloody diarrhea, which usually develops within 24 hours of the onset of pain. If a CT scan is performed, results can be normal or can show typical findings of bowel wall thickening (often in the left, but occasionally involving the right colon). Bowel wall thickening is a nonspecific finding, however, that could also be the result of a bacterial infection of the colon, diverticulitis, or due to an autoimmune condition called inflammatory bowel disease.

The gold standard to diagnose ischemic colitis is an evaluation with either flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy. These tests can directly evaluate the lining of the colon, and also can be used to obtain samples (biopsies) of the colon tissue.

Ischemic colitis tends to improve without treatment in 24 to 48 hours. In more severe cases, however, treatment may involve a day or two in the hospital for observation, intravenous fluids, and supportive care. Antibiotics also may be given in severe cases. For most people, the colon heals completely in about two weeks; healing in a small percentage of people may take longer. — Sarah Umar, M.D., Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Ariz.

The post Weekend Wellness: Cause of ischemic colitis often unclear appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Researchers estimate that approximately 15 to 20 percent of the Western world has IBS. It is a common disorder that affects the large intestine. Most patients with the disorder commonly experience symptoms of cramping, abdominal pain, bloating gas, diarrhea and constipation. Most treatments for IBS target these symptoms.

Researchers found that patients with a subset of IBS have a specific genetic defect, a mutation of the SCN5A gene. This defect causes patients to have a disruption in bowel function, by affecting the Nav1.5 channel, a sodium channel in the gastrointestinal smooth muscle and pacemaker cells.

The research is in early stages, but the results of this study give researchers hope of finding therapies for these patients.

“This gives us hope that from only treating symptoms of the disease, we can now work to find disease-modifying agents, which is where we really want to be to affect long-term treatment of IBS,” says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., a study author, Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine.

Researchers studied the sodium channel of 584 people with IBS and 1,380 control subjects. The analysis demonstrated that a defect in the SCN5A gene was found in 2.2 percent of IBS patients. The results were confirmed in a genome-wide association study and replicated in 1,745 patients in four independent cohorts of patients with IBS and control subjects.

Additionally, researchers were able to restore function to a patient with constipation predominant IBS with a defective SCN5A gene and resulting abnormally functioning sodium channel. Researchers used a drug called mexiletine, which restored the function of the channel and reversed the patient’s symptoms of constipation and abdominal pain.

This study also included researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and others in Italy and Greece.

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About Mayo Clinic
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Brian Kilen, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Mayo Clinic Researchers Find Genetic Clue to Irritable Bowel Syndrome appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

On Saturday, Nov. 2, pediatric gastroenterologist William Faubion, M.D., will join us to discuss the major complaint he hears about most from his patients, bellyaches.  Abdominal pain is troubling for both young patients and their parents, and while the usual reason for this type of pain is constipation, that is not always the case.  Sometimes it's more serious, involving weight loss, a flattened growth curve and chronic diarrhea. We hope you’ll join us.

Myth or Matter of Fact: Swallowed gum can get stuck and is a cause of bellyaches.

Note: You can hear the program LIVE Saturdays at 9 am CT on I Heart Radio via KROC AM. The show is taped for rebroadcast by some affiliates. On Twitter follow #MayoClinicRadio and tweet your questions.

Listen to this week’s Medical News Headlines: News Segment November 2, 2013 (right click MP3).    

Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic.

The post MAYO CLINIC RADIO appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.