Ulcerative Colitis's Impacts on Society
Ulcerative Colitis probably first appeared as an isolated case several centuries ago, but did not attract the medical interest until the last half century. Ulcerative Colitis occurs throughout the world, but is more prevalent in temperate climates than in tropical ones. It is found more often in North America, United States, England, Scandinavia, and Western Europe. Ulcerative Colitis is more likely to occur in people of higher social class. However, poorer people may not be able to seek treatment which skews the studies.
Ulcerative Colitis is 3 times more common in people of Jewish decent, but this only applies to Jewish people from Eastern-Europe. It is also less common in the black population and Asian's than in Caucasians. As well Orientals are unlikely to have Ulcerative Colitis if they live in the fast East, but if they moved to North America it would develop more frequently. Ulcerative Colitis is hard to live with, but if you are having a hard time seek friends, family, and counsellor's for support in your battle against Ulcerative Colitis. Children with Ulcerative Colitis should definitely create an relationship with their doctor because it affects children psychology. It affects them psychology because children don't want to be different from other children and being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis makes them different and may make them feel depressed. If this applies to you look out for signs of depression in your children.
Ulcerative Colitis does not affect sex life, fertility, the birth control pill, and it generally does not affect pregnancy. Ulcerative Colitis does not affect the baby during pregnancy, but your symptoms could get worse during pregnancy because the colon is very close to the reproductive system. Ulcerative Colitis does affect women's menstrual cycle because the symptoms before and after of their cycle will be increased. Thus, if cramps are a symptom of a women's cycle it will be increased. As well your eating habits depending on how severe your attacks are will not change, but sometimes avoiding certain foods is recommended if symptoms increase after eating certain food. If your Ulcerative Colitis is severe sometimes liquid diets are prescribed when your in the hospital because you can digest food without it going right through you.
The complications of Ulcerative Colitis if not treated is severe bleeding in the colon, perforation in the colon, severe dehydration, liver disease (rare), bone loss, inflammation of skin, joint pain, eye pain, increased risk of colon cancer, rapidly swelling colon, increased risk of blood clots and arteries, and sores in the lining of your mouth. These complications can be fatal if not treated properly or at all. For example, if the patient develops a perforation in the colon, the waste in the colon will spill out onto the stomach and will kill the patient because the waste is poisonous.
The Quality of Life Guide for People with Ulcerative Colitis
1. Bowel Symptoms
a) frequent bowel movements
b) loose bowel movements
c) abdominal cramps
d) pain in the abdomen
e) abdominal bloating
f) passing large amounts of gas
2. Systemic Symptoms
a) fatigue
b) overall feeling unwell
c) feeling worn out
d) tiring very easily
e) waking up during the night
f) feeling weak
3. Emotional Function
a) frustrated
b) depressed
c) discouraged
d) angry
e) anxious
f) impatient
g) worried
h) fearful
4. Social Impairment
a) avoiding events without bathrooms
b) cancelling social party's
c) unable to play sports
d) unable to plan outings in advance
5. Functional Impairment
a) unable to attend work/school regularly
b) having to stop work/school
c) difficulty doing homework
Although this guide to Quality of Life for people with Ulcerative Colitis seems quite depressing and your life is over it is not. If you decide to receive surgery for Ulcerative Colitis your quality of life steadily improves. After surgery for a while there will be some symptoms, but over time the symptoms will go away and you will be cured from Ulcerative Colitis. If you don't receive surgery for Ulcerative Colitis depending on how severe or mild your attacks all in age you will lose your independence because people will have to help you. As well older men specifically will have a shorter fuse and get more angry. This does not apply to everyone because some patients go into remission and will not have attacks for years. Although the attacks will still happen it won't be as often and after the attack the patient will live their life normally again. Thus, the quality of life for patients with Ulcerative Colitis is not that bad and they may live long normal lives.