How is ulcerative colitis a disease? Ulcerative colitis is literally an inflammation of the colon, or large intestine, that results from an ulcer. However, this type of inflammation is not caused by diarrhea or eating unclean food, as we often say. The cause of this inflammation is not known, but some speculate that it is related to the patient’s immune dysfunction, and some speculate that it is related to factors such as stress. Although the cause of ulcerative colitis is not clear, the symptoms are quite consistent with those of common enteritis, namely diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloody stools, and urgency (abdominal pain and distress, the need to defecate at times, heavy anus, and unpleasant bowel movements). Many patients even initially think that they have eaten badly and delay treatment until the disease becomes more severe and even develops bloody stools, significant weight loss, abdominal distention, and fever. Those who have chronic diarrhea for more than 3 months should go to the hospital for a colonoscopy sooner rather than later and always think it’s okay. Diagnosis of ulcerative colitis may not be difficult, the difficulty is the treatment, which is usually given with medication, but it tends to recur and get progressively worse. Many people develop this disease at a young age, the age of onset is often young, and the disease often lasts for a long time and is difficult to cure. The new concept now is that ulcerative colitis is a lifelong disease, but patients need not be discouraged. Although there is no cure, patients can live a normal life for most of their lives, provided that they cooperate with their doctors, especially during the non-onset period when maintenance treatment is not neglected. For example, the highest incidence of ulcerative colitis is between 30 and 40 years old, and the main clinical symptoms are recurrent diarrhea and blood in the stool, with mild and moderate cases being the most common in China. Treatment is based on the main principle of regulating the immune response and suppressing inflammation, and can be combined with local medication. After a period of treatment, most patients’ symptoms can disappear. During the non-onset period, the medication should be maintained, which is called “maintenance therapy” and can greatly reduce the frequency of recurrence. Since the majority of patients are young people, many of them “forget the pain when the symptoms disappear” due to their busy schedules and stop taking the medication as soon as the symptoms disappear. As a result, the symptoms of diarrhea and blood in the stool may reappear in a short time. Will it be harmful to the body to rely on medication for a long time to maintain the effect? In addition, for patients suffering from “ulcerative colitis”, more can only be seen from the point of view of a “benefit to harm ratio”, that is, there are pros and cons of doing everything, the key is to see whether the pros outweigh the cons or the cons outweigh the benefits. In general, taking medication can be very helpful in controlling the disease and even in clinical recovery. If treatment is not timely or complete, ulcerative colitis may become malignant, and its overall cancer rate is about 3.7%. However, in patients with extensive lesions, long duration of lesions and heavy symptoms, their risk of cancer is greatly increased, and they need to be reviewed as required during the follow-up period of the treatment machine.