"What Is Ulcerative Colitis and How Can I Treat It?" - Anna Medaris Miller
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the large intestine. The condition – which, like Crohn’s disease, falls under the umbrella term “inflammatory bowel disease” or IBD – causes the lining of the colon to become inflamed and develop sores known as ulcers, which can lead to stomach pain, bleeding and needing to have a bowel movement upwards of 20 times a day. Left untreated, the symptoms of ulcerative colitis can be debilitating and dramatically inhibit your daily life, especially due to the frequency and urgency with which patients need to use the bathroom, finds Marla Dubinsky, MD, co-director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center at the Mount Sinai Hospital. “Knowing where every bathroom is is not an uncommon phenomenon among people who have active disease,” she said.
— Marla C. Dubinsky, MD, Professor, Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Chief, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai, Co-Director, The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital
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