Inflammatory Bowel Disease Symptoms
Inflammatory bowel disease, IBD, is a chronic disorder that causes an inflamed and swollen digestive tract or intestinal wall. When the digestive tract becomes inflamed or swollen with
inflammatory bowel disease, sores (ulcers) form and bleed. This in turn, can cause abdominal pain, watery diarrhea, blood in the stool, fatigue, reduced appetite, weight loss, or fever. The two most common forms of IBD are ulcerative colitis
and Crohn's disease.
A healthy digestive system removes nutrients from food so they can be absorbed into the bloodstream. It then stores the unwanted waste until it passes out of the body. Food moves from the esophagus to the small intestine, where the nutrients are absorbed. The leftover water and waste move to the large intestine (colon), then through the rectum and out the anus.
Symptoms of
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
See your health care provider if you see blood in the stool, have a change in bowel habits lasting longer than 10 days, or if you have any of the following symptoms that do not improve with over-the-counter medicines.
- Severe abdominal cramps or pain
- Severe diarrhea or bloody diarrhea
- Weight loss
- Unexplained fever lasting more than 1 or 2 days
- Extreme fatigue
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
Sometimes symptoms are bad enough that a person has to be hospitalized. For example, a person may have severe diarrhea that causes dehydration and needs to be treated with fluids through his/her vein.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Symptoms
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