Treatments for Diseases of the Colon

Irritable bowel syndrome is a condition the affects the lower intestinal tract. It is a complex condition with many symptoms often brought on by stress or by slow muscle movement of the intestines. People who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome often experience a number of symptoms. Symptoms can range from mild to severe. Symptoms seem to worsen in those with anxiety and depression. A symptom of IBS is abdominal pain and tenderness that comes and goes, stops after a bowel movement, or begins after meals. The stomach may become distended and a person may have a fullness sensation, gas, and bloating. Frequent or chronic constipation and diarrhea that is usually accompanied by pain is another symptom of IBS. Other symptoms are depression, loss of appetite, and nausea and vomiting.

Treatments of IBS are used to treat the symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome. Treatment includes counseling for depression and anxiety, diet changes, low-dose antidepressants to treat abdominal pain, and medications for constipation and diarrhea.

Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease the affects that begins in the rectum and eventually spreads to the large intestines. No one knows what causes ulcerative colitis. Inflammation that occurs often eventually leads to thickening of the intestinal wall as well as scar tissue of the rectum. In severe cases of ulcerative colitis colon tissue may die off or become sepsis. Symptoms of ulcerative colitis are camping and abdominal pain that goes away after a bowel movement, constant gurgling sounds inside the intestines, diarrhea that may have blood and mucus, fever and weight loss.

There are a number of treatments for ulcerative colitis that include medications such as mesalamine and immunomodulators like azaththioprine to prevent fewer attacks. Surgery may also be performed to remove the diseased colon but this is mostly performed on patients with severe ulcerative colitis.

Diverticulitis

Diverticulitis occurs when inflammation of an abnormal pouch, diverticulum, forms in the intestinal wall. Diverticulum forms when excessive pressure pushes against the colon wall causing a protruding sac to form. The sac them becomes inflamed. Symptoms of diverticulits are lower left abdominal pain, chills, fever, weight loss, nausea, and vomiting.

Antibiotics are used to treat acute diverticulitis. Patients with abscess, perforation in the colon, or repeat attacks, often require surgery.

Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is a disease of the colon that affects the large intestines or rectum. There are no real known causes of colon cancer but there are risk factors in developing colon cancer. One major risk for developing colon cancer is polyps. Polyps can form along the intestinal wall and while most are benign, some polyps can develop into cancer. Family history, ulcerative colitis, and Chron's Disease are other factors for developing colon cancer.

Early detection is a key treatment for fighting colon cancer. Getting a colonoscopy can determine if any polyps are inside the colon and if so the physician can cut them out and test them for cancer. If cancer is determined, chemotherapy, radiation, cryotherapy (freezing the tumor0, and ablation (burning the cancer) are often used to get rid of colon cancer.

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