Intestinal inflammation means an inflammatory disease affecting part of the intestine. It can be chronic or momentary acute and affects anyone indiscriminately: men and women of all ages.
Often causes severe abdominal pain and precisely because of this symptom rather common to many other pathologies, it is easy not to recognize it immediately or to confuse it with other medical problems, as he tells Giulia Martina Cavestro, gastroenterologist ofIRCCS San Raffaele Hospital of Milan and director of the Specialty School in Diseases of the Digestive System and Associate Professor of Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy at theVita-Salute San Raffaele University.
“It often happens that alarmed patients come to me, very convinced that they have intestinal inflammation, when instead it comes to irritable colon or another much less serious, non-inflammatory disorder, ”he explains.
Let’s clarify, therefore, starting from the term “colitis”, often and erroneously used to describe any type of disorder of this part of the intestine. “In reality it is not so, although it is the most common it is not the only one.”
Colitis is an inflammation of the colon and in turn it comes in many different forms including acute and chronic ones. We talk about Primitive Colitis when it originates directly in the colon and Secondary Colitis when it is caused by a disorder located elsewhere.
CHRONIC INTESTINAL INFLAMMATION
The two main inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are Crohn’s disease e Ulcerative colitis, very similar to each other but with some substantial differences.
The first is that Crohn’s disease can affect almost the entire digestive tract from the mouth to the anus, while ulcerative colitis almost always affects only the colon.
The causes of these chronic diseases are not yet known, although genetic predisposition appears to be important, “With it also the immunity of the mucous membranes, but there is still no certainty”, explains Giulia Martina Cavestro.
«Symptoms vary and can sometimes be heterogeneous but those that can cause diagnostic doubt and that are rarely missing are loss of blood from the anus, mucus and fever».
In particular people with Crohn’s disease usually have chronic diarrhea and abdominal pain, while who has ulcerative colitis, abdominal pain and haemorrhagic diarrhea.
Although we are naturally inclined to think that inflammation is one of the causes of improper nutrition, this is not the case. “Diet does not affect, unlike what happens with irritable bowel, and this is another factor that generates greater confusion between the two disorders».
Unfortunately, medical therapies for chronic intestinal inflammation are not totally decisive but are used to keep the situation under control and improve it as much as possible.
ACUTE INTESTINAL INFLAMMATION
In addition to chronic ones, there are acute inflammations, which they only show up for a limited period of time.
The infectious colitis are the most common and are caused by viruses or bacteria, often but not always, present in food. “Their most obvious symptom, besides the pain, and the acute diarrhea. – continues the gastroenterologist – Usually they heal in a few days, if we are dealing with viral forms you have to be patient, wait and hydrate; if they are bacterial, once the bacterium has been identified, one is needed targeted antibiotic therapy».
Infection with Escherichia coli, which can cause ainflammation of the colon with bleeding of the mucosa. It initially manifests itself with watery diarrhea, together with violent abdominal cramps.
Equally note the Salmonellosis, caused by Salmonella typhi and S. Paratyphi bacteria, present in spoiled or badly preserved foods. This infection has an incubation period of 7 to 20 days, after which it can appear high fever, state of general debilitation, pinkish spots on the skin, enlargement of the spleen e light green diarrhea.
Be careful not to underestimate it. If very intense, in fact, it can cause ulcers of the intestinal wall.
ALSO CELIAC IS AN INTESTINAL INFLAMMATION
The only chronic intestinal inflammation dependent on a food factor is celiac disease. To trigger it is the consumption of foods containing gluten protein, or wheat, barley, rye and spelled, on the part of those who do not tolerate it.
“In celiac subjects, gluten activates the response of the immune system which recognizes certain molecules of the intestine as harmful and reacts against them causing inflammation that can lead to lesions of the duodenal mucosa”.
Sometimes the symptoms are mild, or only appear over the years, and this causes many patients to ignore for some time that they are celiac and continue to eat gluten safely. “Many arrive at the diagnosis looking for answers to other problems which then turn out to be connected to celiac disease, such as anemia, sterility O meteorism».
Not taking care of it right away silently increases the inflammation which at some point becomes apparent, showing all or some of the following symptoms: diarrhea, swelling e abdominal pain, weight loss e slowing of growth in children.
The remedies in this case are simple: just refrain from ingesting gluten and the intestine will soon return to normal.
READ ALSO
All the benefits of cranberry juice for women
READ ALSO
READ ALSO
The winter detox diet to improve the immune system
–
