Treatment for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

Both conditions can cause abdominal pain, diarrhoea, urgency, tiredness and reduced appetite, but they affect the digestive tract in different patterns. Crohn’s disease can involve different areas and deeper layers of the bowel. Ulcerative colitis affects the lining of the large bowel and rectum. Symptoms can flare and settle, so treatment is adjusted to current activity, previous response and findings from blood, stool or camera tests.

Take anti-inflammatory or immune-targeting treatment exactly as prescribed and do not stop it suddenly without advice. Keep a record of stool changes, pain, fever, weight change and possible triggers. Ask about nutrition, anaemia, vaccinations and medicine monitoring. A GP consultation can help coordinate care, while a gastroenterology team may arrange tests or change treatment when inflammation persists. Screening and follow-up plans may be advised over time.

Seek urgent help for severe or worsening abdominal pain, a swollen abdomen, repeated vomiting, heavy rectal bleeding, fainting or inability to keep fluids down. Contact your clinical team promptly for frequent bloody stools, fever, dehydration, rapidly worsening diarrhoea or symptoms that are not responding to your plan.

Ask which condition is being treated, how active it is, what each medicine is for, and how you will know whether it is working. Ask when to test blood or stool, how to handle a flare, and which symptoms need urgent help.