Recently, there have been patients who have come to us with colonoscopy results to ask about and treat “colitis”.
Question: How do I get colitis? How is it treated? How to prevent it? What should I pay attention to in the future?
Answer: (How do you get colitis?) What are the causes of colitis?
To understand what the cause of colitis is, I think we should first understand what we mean by colitis. A significant number of patients who come to me have chronic abdominal pain, diarrhea (diarrhea), or constipation, and then a colonoscopy suggests edema and congestion in the mucosa of the rectum and colon, with increased and blurred vascular texture, and our colonoscopist gives us a diagnosis of “chronic colitis. This is when our patients tell us that I have “chronic colitis”, but in fact this diagnosis is gradually being abandoned as our understanding of this disease advances. Why? Because its performance under colonoscopy is not specific, and the patient’s symptoms are recurrent and lingering, if not reasonably treated, the symptoms will get worse, so that many patients think they have an incurable disease, increasing the mental and psychological burden of patients. For patients with organic lesions, this disease has a clinical name of irritable bowel syndrome, and the English name is IBS.
What is the cause of this disease? This disease is a relatively common disease in the patients we see, but unfortunately we are still not able to say exactly what causes it.
However, in the course of our treatment, we have found that psychosomatic factors play a big role in this disease: almost all the tests done by many patients have negative results, which makes our patients confused: I am obviously very uncomfortable, but why can’t the tests show it? Many patients do not have the understanding of their family and friends, which causes further development of the disease. So is high mental stress the cause of this disease? Of course not, stress itself cannot cause the occurrence of this disease, but excessive mental stress can aggravate the symptoms of this disease.
Next is diet. Although it is not the cause of irritable bowel syndrome, a scientific diet can prevent the occurrence and aggravation of the disease. The principles of dietary treatment will be described later in the treatment.
Treatment of colitis
If you are diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, then you need to know the following treatments.
First: the first thing is to understand and know the basics of irritable bowel syndrome. This disease is a very common functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, and many patients who do not come to the doctor have been afflicted by irritable bowel syndrome. This disease is neither hereditary nor life-threatening, nor does it evolve into a serious malignant disease, such as colorectal cancer. So far, we do not know exactly what causes it and there is no specific medicine for its treatment, but we can help you control it and not let it affect your life through scientific guidance and individualized medication. The best way to learn about irritable bowel syndrome is, in my opinion, by reading various magazines and books about it and talking to your doctor.
Second: Reduce stress
Many people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome think they are fine and have no stress, so how do they reduce stress? Stress in this disease tends to build up slowly and unconsciously, so we don’t always feel it when we come to the clinic. Stress reduction, in other words, means relaxing our mood and our body. Total relaxation does not necessarily cure irritable bowel syndrome, but it can make these uncomfortable symptoms lessen the impact on your life.
Third: physical exercise and physical activity
This approach may not have good results for every patient, but some patients, through gradual physical exercise and physical activity, have even better results than conventional medication.
Fourth: Adjustment of diet
When the food eaten is closely related to the occurrence of the symptoms of the disease, then it is necessary to avoid these foods as much as possible. Sometimes it is not possible to determine the kind of food that causes it, so you can record the diet and then come to analyze whether there are specific factors in the food that trigger the occurrence of symptoms, and make adjustments to the diet. Since everyone has different dietary habits, it is important to adjust the diet according to individual circumstances.
Fourth: Treatment with medication
There are both herbal and western medicine treatments. Chinese medicine treatment can choose a combination of oral and enema and other physical therapy, the effect is relatively long-lasting, but takes a long time, the patient should be patient. Western medicine treatment is effective, but some of them can’t make the effect lasting. Therefore, I usually use a combination of Chinese and Western medicine to control the symptoms first, and then use Chinese medicine to regulate the body to achieve a balanced state.
For the treatment I would like to remind is that for this disease do not use drugs indiscriminately, this will only aggravate the disease, and cause the psychological burden of incurable disease. A systematic and regular, scientific and non-disorganized, orderly and strategic approach to medication will help you control your symptoms and help you cure the disease.
How to prevent?
A good attitude, a good diet, a regular routine, and the ability to constantly learn to adjust your body will help to prevent functional disorders.
What to pay attention to?
First: diet to increase the intake of protein, reduce the intake of fat, and should pay attention to a balanced intake of various dietary vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients food. But the following factors should be avoided ① excessive diet, excessive diet can induce diarrhea, intestinal spasm and abdominal pain ② large amounts of alcohol, it can stimulate the intestines, so that the intestinal movement accelerated and diarrhea ③ drinks and foods containing caffeine, can also stimulate the colon ④ foods containing large amounts of animal and vegetable fats, stimulate the colon, causing intestinal spasm and pain ⑤ can lead to gas production and bloating vegetables, beans, etc. ⑥ refined flour and artificial food ⑦ food and drinks containing sorbitol and fructose can aggravate diarrhea
Second: learn more about the disease, relax, find patients with similar interests to communicate with each other about the disease, use medication reasonably, and avoid using medication indiscriminately.