Inflammatory bowel disease
Overview
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a term used to describe conditions that cause severe tummy pain and diarrhoea. IBD is long-term, but there are treatments that can help with the symptoms.
Symptoms
The main symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can include: diarrhoea that lasts longer than 4 weekstummy painblood or mucus (clear slime) in your poobleeding from your bottomfeeling tired all the timelosing weight without trying
Causes
It's not clear what causes inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It happens when your immune system attacks your bowel, which causes it to get inflamed. You're more likely to get IBD if one of your close relatives has it, for example, one of your parents, grandparents, or a sibling.
Treatment
Treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) will depend on your symptoms. If you're very unwell, you may need to be treated in hospital. Treatments may include: medicines to help ease your symptoms, such assteroids, and other medicines that can help keep your symptoms under controlsurgery to remove part of your bowel, if your symptoms are severe