Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms

The large intestine can be described as the garbage storehouse of the body. It is in the large intestine that most of the waste materials of the body are stored before elimination. These waste materials are chiefly the byproducts of the digestive process. The large intestine consists of the colon, which is situated at the top of the rectum. In most vertebrates, the colon is the last part of the digestive system. Its function is to extract the water and salts from the waste materials that accumulate in the large intestine, before being eliminated from the body. It is also at the colon that the unabsorbed waste material is fermented by the body flora, which consists mostly of bacteria. So, as you can see that if the function of the colon is hampered then the entire digestive tract must bear the brunt. However, due to some factors there develops ulcers and inflammation in the inner lining of the colon. This results in the disease, which is known as ulcerative colitis or simply colitis. The exact cause of this digestive disease is not known, though some physicians say that it can be caused due to bacterial infections. Ulcerative colitis, like the other intestinal inflammation disease, known as Crohn's disease, is also chronic, and the symptoms can last from several years to decades, and the disease mostly occurs in early adulthood, and sometimes during the childhood. To know more on the symptoms of this disease read below.