The most common symptoms of ulcerative colitis are abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea.
Patients also may experience:
- fatigue
- weight loss
- loss of appetite
- rectal bleeding
- loss of body fluids and nutrients
About half of patients have mild symptoms. Others suffer frequent fever, bloody diarrhea, nausea, and severe abdominal cramps. Ulcerative colitis may also cause problems such as arthritis, inflammation of the eye, liver disease (hepatitis, cirrhosis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis), osteoporosis, skin rashes, and anemia. No one knows for sure why problems occur outside the colon. Scientists think these complications may occur when the immune system triggers inflammation in other parts of the body. Some of these problems go away when the colitis is treated.
