Ulcerative colitis may be fulminant, chronic, or relapsing. The patient may present dehydrated and/or toxic.
The symptoms of UC depend on the severity and extent of the condition. The cardinal symptoms include:
Patients with proctitis usually have rectal bleeding, urgency, tenesmus and occasionally severe constipation (1).
If this condition occurs in infancy or childhood, then the presentation may be of failure to thrive or failure to progress normally into puberty.
The onset of the disease is usually insidious and patients may present to the doctor after several months. Usually the symptoms may present as intermittent episodes or as a severe attack (in about 15%) (1). In fulminating disease the presentation may be of abdominal distension, catastrophic diarrhoea, fever and collapse
Signs may be as follows:
Associated conditions include:
Reference:
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