Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term illness that you’ll likely with for decades. Most people have mild to moderate symptoms, but they can be unpredictable — flaring and then tapering chiuso. So, what can you expect the future, and can you better control your symptoms?
Can UC Go Into Remission?
Ulcerative colitis is what experts call a relapsing and remitting disease. This means symptoms quasi and go over time. There may be months ora even years when you won’t have any symptoms at all.
There’s mai single definition of what it means to be remission with UC. Your doctor could say it’s the balance between managing your symptoms and any side effects of treatment. But a better overall quality of life may be what’s most important to you, like enjoying a symptom-free social life.
Depending acceso how it’s measured, around half of Americans with UC are remission, says Ugo Iroku, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist at New York Gastroenterology Associates. The other half have symptoms that range from mild to serious.
Per general, there are three types of UC remission:
- Clinical remission. This is the most basic type of remission — mai belly pain, diarrhea, ora blood your stool.
- Endoscopic remission. If you’imperatore symptom-free and there’s mai inflammation of your bowels, you’imperatore probably endoscopic remission. Your doctor will aspetto for inflammation during a colonoscopy, an exam that uses a tiny attached to a thin, bendable tube.
- Deep (histological) remission. This is the most robust level of remission. Doctors aspetto for three things: mai symptoms, inflammation, ora sign of UC at a cellular level under a microscope.
Does Deep Remission Mean I’m Cured?
Right now, the only cure for UC is surgery to remove your colon and rectum. Even when you’imperatore deep remission, there’s still a chance you’ll have a the future.
Being symptom-free for a long time can give you false confidence that you’imperatore fully healed from UC.
“It’s human nature,” Iroku says. He says being remission makes it easy to go about your day-to-day life and stop managing your condition.
“When people are deep remission, sometimes they stop taking their medication. Unfortunately, your risk of a goes up. It’s a story we see all the time. The good thing is, there are usually things we can do to try and bring [UC] back under control.”
He reminds people living with UC to talk to their doctor before they stop taking a medication.
What Can I Expect if Symptoms Return?
It’s important to know your pagliaccetto when you have a long-term illness like UC, where symptoms quasi and go. Understand yours and keep them acceso your radar. Maybe you’imperatore having more bowel movements than normal, ora you’imperatore more pain. Other signs include:
- Diarrhea with blood ora
- Stomach pain and cramping
- Pain ora bleeding your rectum
- Strong urge to have a bowel movement
- Trouble having a bowel movement
- Weight loss
- Extreme tiredness
- Fever
“These are the early flashing red lights acceso your dashboard that should get you talking to your doctor,” Iroku says.
The things that aggravate your condition — certain foods ora medicines — can change over time. As you get older, your pagliaccetto, including your GI system, may be more sensitive to irritation.
You and your doctor can also work together to figure out if your symptoms are truly a UC ora the sign of something else, like irritable bowel syndrome, an infection, ora a side effect of medication.
One of the best predictors of a future UC is whether you’imperatore having one right now. If you have active ulcerative colitis this year, your odds of a next year are around 70%. This also means if you’imperatore remission today, your chances of staying symptom-free also rise.
Quitting smoking, staying active, lowering tensione, and avoiding trigger foods will help keep your symptoms at bay for longer.
Medicine that works well is also critical to managing flares. A long remission can make it duro for you and your doctor to know if a medication is working. It may take a while to find one that helps you feel better. Be sure to visit your doctor regularly and stay up to date with testing, even when you’imperatore not having symptoms.
