Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

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• QCan inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affect other parts of my body?

  2 Answers

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  A Riverside Health System answered

  Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can cause a number of problems outside of the digestive tract.

  • Anemia: red blood cells, which carry oxygen to organs, is below normal. This can make a person feel very tired.
  • Arthritis and joint pain
  • Weak bones and bone breaks
  • Inflammation in the eye and other eye problems
  • Liver inflammation
  • Gallstones
  • Red bumps or ulcers on the skin
  • Kidney stones
  • Delayed puberty and growth problems (in children and teens)
  • In rare cases, lung problems

  Some of these problems are caused by poor absorption of nutrients. Others are due to inflammation in parts of the body other than the digestive tract.

  Inflammatory bowel disease, as well as the surgery and medicines used to treat it, can also affect your sex life. Sometimes, you may just feel too tired to have sex. You may also have emotional issues related to the disease. Even though it may be embarrassing, it is important to talk to your doctor if you are having sexual problems.

  Some women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) feel worse right before and during their menstrual periods as well. Diarrhea, abdominal pain, and other symptoms can be more severe during these times. Women with IBD and their doctors should keep track of these monthly changes in symptoms. This will prevent over treating the disease.

  This answer is based on source information from the National Women's Health Information Center.

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• QWhy is endoscopy important in the management of inflammatory bowel disease?

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  A UCLA Health answered

  Endoscopy is very important for the diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease. In terms of ulcerative colitis, doctors will look for endoscopic degrees of disease activity, which can range from mild to severe. For Crohn's disease, doctors will try to see if there are any of the ulcers that are very typical in Crohn's disease, or others that have a feature called cobblestoning. An endoscopy may also reveal areas of narrowing in the bowel. There may be the need for surgery in the future depending on how tight and how severe these are. An endoscopy will also show any prior history of surgery.
• QWhy are blood tests done for inflammatory bowel disease?

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  A UCLA Health answered

  Some blood tests are required to help doctors assess how active your inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis) is. First is a complete blood count, which will indicate if you are anemic or if your blood counts are low. Further, the elevation of platelets and other markers of inflammation can allow your doctor to gauge how severe your disease is.
  
  Your metabolic panel will be assessed to see if you're dehydrated. Are your electrolytes normal? Are there any liver abnormalities? Particularly, these are things that doctors will monitor while you're on certain types of therapies for Crohn's disease.
   
  If you've had certain bowel resections or if you're very malnourished, your doctor will want to make sure that you're not running low on certain vitamins and nutrients, such as B12, iron and vitamin D.
• QCan inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) be treated by diet alone?

  1 Answer

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  A UCLA Health answered

  A lot of people want to try to treat their inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with diet alone. It is important to note that diet has not been implicated as a cause for IBD with the exception of possibly high-fat animal proteins. IBD is not related to food allergies, and there are no specific foods that have been identified that worsen the actual disease once you have been diagnosed.
  
  As of yet, there is no IBD-specific diet that helps to treat inflammation. A lot of different theories are out there, and many different diets have been tried. However, a lot of the time, those diets lead to malnutrition and eventually a worsening of disease activity. Nevertheless, diet is important in the management of IBD because the most important aspect is to maintain adequate caloric intake and hydration. Malnutrition is associated with worse outcomes, including more infections and more hospitalizations.
• QWhat triggers inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) flares?

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  A UCLA Health answered

  Some of the triggers for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) flares may be infection, such as viral gastroenteritis or food poisoning. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen, Aleve and naproxen, can cause ulcers anywhere throughout the gastrointestinal tract, so they may also increase IBD flares. Stress may also be associated with the flaring of your disease. Some people think that changes in seasonality may increase your risk, but most importantly, your risk of flaring is greatest if you don't adhere to your medication regimen. Medications don't work if you don't take them, so if medications got you better, you need to continue taking them, or else there's a higher likelihood that your symptoms will flare.
• QHow can I change my diet when I have active inflammatory bowel disease?

  1 Answer

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  A UCLA Health answered

  You can modify your diet when you are having active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by eating small, frequent meals instead of large meals. Reduced fatty food consumption is important because rich, fatty foods can sometimes cause problems with gastrointestinal tract motility (movement). You may want to avoid milk products, particularly if you feel as though you're lactose intolerant. Also, certain types of tough fibers are harder to digest and may cause more spasticity, cramping and gas in your colon and small bowel. Therefore, you may want to decrease your fiber intake.
  
  The diet that doctors usually recommend is a low-residue (low-fiber) diet, particularly if you’re prone to symptoms of obstruction.
• QWhat can I do if I have problems with my medications for IBD?

  1 Answer

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  A UCLA Health answered

  The treatment options for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are based on the disease's severity. This will dictate the types of therapies you are offered. If you have severe IBD, being on medications that are predominantly used for mild IBD are not going to work. The earlier and the better the treatment strategies for your degree of disease activity are optimized, the higher the likelihood you are going to respond. Medications don't work if you don't take them, so it's very important to continue taking your medications. If you have problems or side effects with the medications or difficulty taking them as prescribed, you should talk to your gastroenterologist about how to improve the situation.
• QWhy are stool tests done for inflammatory bowel disease?

  1 Answer

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  A UCLA Health answered

  One of the most common infections that is associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is called Clostridium difficile. This infection often mimics an inflammatory bowel disease flare. Doctors will test your stool to determine which is actually causing your symptoms at the time—Clostridium difficile or an IBD flare.

  Another stool study for IBD, fecal calprotectin, can give us clues regarding your degree of disease activity.

• QDoes gut bacteria influence my chances of getting IBD?

  1 Answer

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  A UCLA Health answered

  There's a lot of interest in gut bacteria and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It has been established that people with IBD, whether it's Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, have a different bacterial composition within their small bowel and colon than people who don't. Therefore, it may be that these differences in gut bacteria, in combination with a genetic predisposition or immune system abnormalities, will lead to the diagnosis of IBD.

• QWhat is a low-residue diet for inflammatory bowel disease?

  1 Answer

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  A UCLA Health answered

  The diet that doctors usually recommend for people with active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a low-residue diet. It is particularly suitable if you are prone to symptoms of obstruction.

  If you are on a low-residue diet, you should avoid seeds, popcorn, nuts, whole-grain breads and flours. Also, avoid dried fruits, raw vegetables and fruits, particularly the skins, pulps and peels. You may want to limit your milk and fat consumption and avoid tough and fibrous meats.

  It is also advisable to chew your food well and to eat slowly. Make sure your food is nearly liquid before you swallow it.