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What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?
Inflammatory bowel disease involves inflammation of the gut and into two main types of disease; Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative colitis. There are other forms of IBD however these are the main two.
Crohn’s disease can occur in any part of the digestive system from the rectum right to the mouth with the most common areas being the small and large bowel.
Ulcerative colitis occurs in the large bowel and rectum where inflammation and ulceration of the bowel lining happens.
It’s important to note that IBD is NOT the same as IBS – the two are often interchanged but they are in no way the same thing.
What are the symptoms of IBD?
The symptoms of IBD can vary from person to person and there can be times when they are a lot worse than others.
The main symptoms of IBD are as follows;
- Diarrhea and/or constipation
- Blood in your stool
- Cramping pains in the abdomen
- Tiredness and fatigue
- Feeling generally unwell or feverish
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Anaemia (a reduced level of red blood cells)
A symptom I often had was a real urge to go to the toilet (I’d have to run to get there) and then I wouldn’t actually need the toilet or a bit of blood would come out.
I had symptoms for over a month before I told anyone and then it took about 6 months to get referred to the hospital (which is actually quite quick compared to some people).
My main symptoms were;
Urgency to go to the toilet-
Diarrhoea - blood in stool
- cramping pains
- tiredness and fatigue
- anaemia (which was the thing which triggered the doctors to send me to the hospital)
For the first few weeks I thought that I just had a tummy bug, even though there was blood present sometimes too.
The two big things which made me realise I wasn’t well was I was becoming very breathless and struggled to walk anywhere far (especially school which was literally up the hill from my house) and my dance teacher saying how thin I’d got. She checked to see that I was okay and at the time, I shrugged it off but she was the first one to realise how much weight I was loosing.
How was I diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
Getting diagnosed for me, and many people I know was an uphill battle. As soon as I told my parents ALL the symptoms I had, I was taken to the doctors. It was around AS coursework/exam time so it was put to stress.
Apparently, the blood was a “small cut” (although I did say there was too much blood for that).
When I didn’t get any better after exams, I went to see a new Dr at my surgery who did blood tests and sent me to the hospital when my iron levels came back as being 6 (which is super low).
About three weeks after that, I had a colonoscopy where they took biopsies and confirmed it was inflammatory bowel disease.
They were never certain whether it was Crohn’s or Colitis until I had my bowel removed and they confirmed it was Ulcerative Colitis.
Getting diagnosed was a massive relief. Even though I knew IBD was more likely (as I have a family history) there was a time I thought I had bowel cancer as the symptoms are very similar. This is why it is SO important to go to the doctors if you start experiencing these symptoms, especially blood in your poo.
If you’re wanting some more information on IBD, I really recommend the Crohn’s and Colitis UK website which is a really reliable source and has some useful resources as well as a phone line.
If you are experiencing these symptoms, and have been for three weeks or more definitely head to the doctors and try and get some blood tests done.
Some resources which are great if you are experiencing symptoms or newly diagnosed are;
- Crohn’s & Colitis UK (they have some great resources as well as a phone line you can ring)
- The NHS website for more information on symptoms, treatment etc
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