Colitis - Inflammation of the Colon

What is Colitis?

Colitis - Inflammation of the Colon

A pain in the belly is sometimes hard to explain, but if it occurs in regular intervals, with symptoms such as incessant pain together with chronic diarrhoea or constipation, your are showing characteristic of Colitis.

The good news is, this condition is avoidable, as it is one of the many degenerative diseases common in the twentieth century, owing to dietary and emotional stresses.

Holistic Health Care and Naturopathy are always striving for balance and harmony, in body, mind and spirit.

In this short article we provide some practical measures to aid healing, but the emphasis is placed on you and a lifestyle change...

You have to take positive steps to remove stresses and work out your diet.

Better still, learn how to cope through relaxation - meditation therapy, even if this is only 10 to 15 minutes a day with quiet music, deep breathing exercises, baths or a foot massage.

The stress factor is particularly relevant to colitis.

Symptoms include:
Abdominal pain, tenderness or discomfort, cramping are found in the lower left side, relieved by defecation. (moving your bowels)
Diarrhoea, a gradual change in bowel habits is noticed, with recurring episodes of frequent small watery bowel movements containing mucus, and sometimes blood and pus. ( with blood in stool, maybe ulcerative colitis - see a Doctor) In severe cases, between five and twenty motions have been reported.

Other signs include weight loss, fever, loss of appetite, lack of energy.

Obviously, many complications can occur with colitis, or any chronic condition which is involving inflammation or ulceration... which will not be addressed in this article.

Colitis should not be taken lightly and a medical diagnosis is vital if you are experiencing any of these symptoms, particularly as there are other conditions that are easily confused with it, such as Chrohn's disease.

Colitis by definition means "inflammation of the colon" from the Greek "kolon" (large intestine) and "itis" (inflammation).

As for the cause, factors such as emotional stress, food intolerance and allergies can play an important part, which can precipitate an attack.

Unfortunately, colitis if not treated properly, tends to become a chronic illness, leading often to ulceration (ulcerative colitis) of the mucous membrane of the large intestine. Occasionally, only the rectum is affected (ulcerative proctitis).

Lifestyle changes, as mentioned before, would be to reduce stress, sort out the diet, eliminate offending food items, including alcohol and coffee.

An elimination diet is often helpful, for pinpointing offending food, which includes allergies or food intolerance's.

A digestive repair protocol is strongly recommended, which should be continued with a detox program in order to eliminate possible antigens.

Direct treatment could involve colon hydrotherapy, and no digestive repair protocol should go ahead without first eliminating harmful organism in the large colon.

Personally, I recommend for everyone at least 1 week each year, to go through a mild Detoxification Program, including prevention techniques and re-establishing intestinal flora with a good Pro-biotic, and most of all assist all detoxification with a carefully worked out diet to follow. No point to go back to your old diet habits.

Interesting fact about colonic irrigation!

Many patients who had a medically prescribed "Colonoscopy" to check the state of their colon, reported the cessation of their digestive problem after the procedure, even so no other medical treatment had been given!

Why is that you may ask?

Before a colonoscopy, the patient needs to have a clean, cleared out colon, which is achieved by the patient having a medially induced bowel elimination procedure. With other words, a no residue diet with a drastic laxative type agent.

And, yes, that is often all what is needed, "a good clean out" and believe me, even so a colonic irrigation may sound weird, it is much, much more beneficial and easy then a medical induced bowel elimination procedure.

Compiled by:

Dieter L. Editor of useNature Gold Coast