What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the name of a group of disorders in which the intestines (small and large intestines or bowels) become inflamed (red and swollen). This inflammation causes symptoms such as: • Severe or chronic (almost all of the time) pain in the abdomen (belly) • Diarrhea — may be bloody • Unexplained weight loss • Loss of appetite • Bleeding from the rectum • Joint pain • Skin problems • Fever Symptoms can range from mild to severe. Also, symptoms can come and go, sometimes going away for months or even years at a time. When people with IBD start to have symptoms again, they are said to be having a relapse or flare-up. When they are not having symptoms, the disease is said to have gone into remission. The most common forms of IBD are ulcerative colitis (UHL-sur-uh-tiv koh-LEYE-tiss) and Crohn’s (krohnz) disease. The diseases are very similar. In fact, doctors sometimes have a hard time figuring out which type of IBD a person has. The main difference between the tw
