Pancolitis

[jfb115]

I was diagnosed with UC in 2009 and when I found out, I was worried that my younger sister should get checked out since there was an increased chance of her having some colon problems as well. She kept getting sick over the last couple months, just colds and what not and doctors kept giving her antibiotics. She just returned from being abroad and for the last few days she had been having symptoms similar to me when I was at my worst, but doctors kept saying it was just a stomach virus. She went to the ER tonight and a cat scan shows that it looks like pancolitis. She will have to wait until the morning to see at GI, but in the meantime...
Can anyone tell me about what it is? I read online that it is a severe form of UC, but any other info would be helpful. Also any treatment info?

 

[littlemissh]

Pancolitis is where the whole of the colon is currently inflamed rather than part of it. The treatment is the same as uc but often needs to be higher doses etc to get things under control more quickly.

 

[Welsh-bird]

Littlemissh beat me to it.
Yes my understanding is that Pancolitis is when the whole colon is diseased.
Hope she's feeling better soon.

 

[jfb115]

Thanks! Me too. Colonoscopy tomorrow morning.

 

[vonfunk]

Just to clarify what has been said above, pancolitis isn't "like" Ulcerative Colitis it is Ulcerative Colitis. Its just the descriptive term to explain how much is inflamed, Proctitis is the lowest rung, Pancolitis is the top rung.

 

[jfb115]

One of the tests for bacteria came back positive, so they've determined that it was a really bad case of food poisoning that made her colon very inflamed. They haven't completely ruled out colitis because they saw some ulcerations during the colonoscopy, but for now it looks like she dodged a bullet.