Diagnosing an Inflammatory Bowel Disease in its Early Stages

People that suffer from Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis cannot describe what it feels like to suffer everyday from it. They can only say that it is like having a stomach flu that never goes away. The pain of is occurs randomly or is triggered by eating the wrong food or even stress. There is no wonder why discovering and treating it early is so important.

These two digestive conditions are incurable chronic diseases that affect your intestinal tract and are often grouped together as inflammatory bowel diseases since they share similar symptoms. They both cause abdominal pain and frequent diarrhea as well as swelling and sores along the tissue that lines your intestines. Crohn's disease attacks the digestive tract, from the mouth to the rectum; while ulcerative colitis usually normally is found only the outermost layer of the colon.

Here are a few ways you can learn how to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease and begin treatment immediately.

• A sigmoidoscopy test lets your doctor correctly diagnose ulcerative colitis through examining the rectum and left colon from taking detailed pictures. This procedure is done with inserting an endoscope, a tube with a camera on end, into your rectum. If you have any questions about your colon's health, expect to have one this performed.



• A colonoscopy is used by your doctor uses an endoscope to look at the rectum and entire large bowel while the patient is under sedation. They are routinely used to diagnose bowel issues such as Crohn's disease or IBS. Ask your doctor to perform one on you. This way they can have a complete picture of your rectum and in turn your colon's health. There are even times when tissue samples are taken for further examination. as well.



• After you doctor is finished with your colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy, he will get a copy of the pictures he took with the endoscope and use them to make a diagnosis. For example, with Crohn's disease, a doctor must find random patches of deep ulcers or looks for an even amount of inflammation in the colon that bleeds with contact to identify ulcerative colitis.



• If your doctor took a tissue sample, then they should look at it under a microscope for inflammatory cells called granulomas. This procedure helps better diagnose Crohn's disease and other health conditions.



• Another procedure your doctor may recommend you to undergo is a magnetic resonance spectroscopy. It is a variation of magnetic resonance imaging, also called an MRI, to help determine which of the two diseases you are suffering from. This helps to properly diagnose Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.



• Finally as a final precaution, ask your doctor to examine your small intestine for Crohn's disease with an upper barium X-ray. In this procedure, you have to drink a barium shake in order for the X-ray pictures taken and the images to properly show any potential issues.