Our grateful thanks to the charity Crohn's & Colitis UK for their contribution to our on-air radio report, which you can hear again via the audio player at the bottom of this page, and for the use of the information below. To link through to the charity for further help and support click here.
Crohn's Disease & Ulcerative Colitis are lifelong diseases of the gut. They are the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Why do they develop? They develop when your immune system starts attacking your gut. But its now known exactly what makes this happen.
What impact can Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis have? As well as your physical health, Crohn’s and Colitis can impact your mental health, work, relationships and education.
Symptoms Don't Just Affect Your Gut. They can include:
Diagnosis & Prevalence. As we highlighted in our radio report , early diagnosis is important. But.... Crohn's & Colitis UK tell us one in six individuals with Crohn's or Colitis initially receive a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) It then takes an average of 5.5 years to get a diagnosis of Crohn's or Colitis after being initially diagnosed with IBS.
Crohn's & Colitis UK provide a really useful symptom checker which you can access via clicking here.
Around 1 in 4 people with Crohn’s or Colitis are diagnosed before they’re 30. This means young people can experience effects on their development as well as their relationships, education and work prospects.
More than 500,000 people in the UK are living with Crohn’s or Colitis. That’s 1 in every 123 people.
Treatment. Right now there is no cure for Crohn’s or Colitis. Medicines and sometimes surgery can help keep the conditions under control. People may have some periods of good health and other times when symptoms are more difficult to manage.
Listen to this weeks radio report
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