Symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis

The most common ulcerative colitis symptoms include:

• Progressive loosening of the stool
• Diarrhea
• Rectal bleeding
• Urgency to have a bowel movement
• A feeling that you still need to have a bowel movement after having one (tenesmus)
• Passage of mucus
• Crampy abdominal pain

You may also experience fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, and loss of body fluids and nutrients.

It is important to note that even when you’re not experiencing symptoms, ulcerative colitis can still cause damaging inflammation to the intestinal lining of the colon.

Half of people with ulcerative colitis experience mild symptoms. Others experience more severe symptoms, such as frequent fever, bloody diarrhea, nausea, and severe abdominal cramps.

Ulcerative colitis symptoms often come and go. The period of time between flare-ups is called remission. Remission can last several months or even years.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you should make an appointment with a gastroenterologist (a doctor who specializes in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract) so that he or she can accurately diagnose your ulcerative colitis symptoms.