What Is Ulcerative Colitis?
Ulcerative Colitis is an inflammatory disease that usually only affects the innermost lining of the large intestine and/or the rectum. It is one of a group of illnesses broadly categorized as an ‘Irritable Bowel Disease’ (IBD) and it only affects continuous lengths of your colon whereas other IBD like Crohn’s disease usually affects separate patches of the colon.
Although it is unclear what exactly causes Ulcerative Colitis, there are two possibilities that top the list. In years gone by doctors felt that stress was a main factor, but now that is no longer thought to be the case. Stress can aggravate the situation but the underlying cause is probably either the Immune System or Heredity.
There is one school of thought that believes that a virus or bacteria triggers the immune system to begin attacking the invading microorganism. It may also be an autoimmune response where the body senses an invader that isn’t there and goes on the attack. Since there is no pathogen to attack, the immune system turns on healthy tissue which in this case happens to be the lining of the large intestine. The second hypothesis is that genetics is a contributing factor. Heredity is thought to play a role in that if you have a parent or a sibling with the Ulcerative Colitis then there might be some genetic connection if you come down with it as well.
While there are pharmaceutical treatments for the disease, many people prefer to treat it naturally with homeopathic or naturopathic remedies. Doctors will treat Ulcerative Colitis with prescription anti-inflammatories as the treatment of choice so the natural alternative is to treat it with natural supplements that have anti-inflammatory properties.
Related Posts:
