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Different types of Colitis

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 3/13/2009 8:34 AM (GMT 0)
This may sound like a really stupid question to ask but - I was under the impression that Ulcerative Colitis is the collective name for the whole of the disease...and under this name there are the separate names for which part of the colon are affected. Eg. Proctitis, left sided Colitis, Pancolitis. Is that right?! Its just from reading peoples sigs on this forum and also looking elsewhere on the internet it seems people for example differenciate between the 2, for example - Proctitis and Ulcerative Colitis.

Also is there a different between 'Ulcerative Colitis' and 'Colitis'?

Thankyou...I'm just a little confused! confused

Posted 3/13/2009 10:58 AM (GMT 0)
Ulcerative Colitis is a type of Colitis.

There are also Crohn's Colitis, Diversion Colitis, Pancolitis, Ischemic Colitis, Infectious Colitis, Fulminant Colitis, Pseudomembranous Colitis, Collagenous Colitis, Chemical Colitis, Microscopic Colitis, lymphocytic Colitis, Tuberculous and atypical Colitis, and so forth.

Perhaps this forum would have been better named Colitis instead of Ulcerative Colitis, although there is some overlap among the types of Colitis.
Posted 3/13/2009 10:59 AM (GMT 0)
Ah ok that makes more sense...thanks! :-)
Posted 3/13/2009 11:14 AM (GMT 0)
Wow! Someone's writing on the board at 4:00AM. Oh, yeah. You're in the U.K.
Posted 3/13/2009 11:18 AM (GMT 0)
Yep its 11.20am over here!

Posted 3/13/2009 11:35 AM (GMT 0)
Scientifically, there is no overlap of Ulcerative Colitis and Colitis if the diagnosis is definate. Ulcerative colitis is under the umbrella name of IBD and there are only two IBD's within this category. UC and Crohns. All the other types of colitis has a chance of ceasing in the future with possibly the help of medication and/or diet changes. That is not the case with UC nor Crohns - these are lifelong chronic illnesses with no cure. There is also a difference between proctitis and Ulcerated Proctitis. The same differences apply. UP is within the Uc diagnosis, however the person with UP may never end up with UC but a person with UC ALWAYS has UP. Does that make sense?

Proctitis = inflammation in the rectum with no ulceration - curable
Ulcerative Proctitis = inflammation in the rectum with ulceration - not curable
Colitis = inflammation anywhere in the colon with no ulceration - curable
Ulcerative colitis = inflammation in the colon, starting from the rectum and moving upward with ulceration - not curable
Posted 3/13/2009 12:17 PM (GMT 0)

Yes that makes sense...thanks.

One thing though...Ulcerative Proctitis (my main issue apart from some inflammation also in the Sigmoid) is part of Ulcerative Colitis though right?! Because they are both inflammation in the rectum with the tendency to move upwards.

Posted 3/13/2009 12:19 PM (GMT 0)
If you have inflammation into the sigmoid then that is Sigmoid proctitis or Sigmoiditis. And yes, it is considered to be in the Uc category.
Posted 3/13/2009 12:25 PM (GMT 0)
Ok..thankyou for your help smilewinkgrin
Posted 3/13/2009 12:44 PM (GMT 0)
You have to keep in mind though. Not everyone is going to have advancement of their disease. For instance, if someone has Sigmoiditis it doesn't mean it will advance to left sided or Pancolitis. No one really knows why some have that advancement while others don't. I personally think it has to do with several factors such as genetics, severity, medication compliance etc. I started out 16 years ago with UP and it advanced to left sided. But it has never gone beyond that. Now I have mainly have rectal flares but it has the potential of going left sided again because that is where it was at when I was at my worse. And yes, these flares always start at the rectum and move upward.
Posted 3/13/2009 1:39 PM (GMT 0)

I was first diagnosed with proctosigmoiditis - obviously starting in rectum and going up left side 30 cm.  The next colonoscopy doctor called it proctitis (confined to rectum) but later with sigmoid test it showed moved up again 20 cm. 

ElaineNY

Posted 3/13/2009 1:48 PM (GMT 0)
When I got my sigmoidoscopy I had proctitis. I don't think they said ulcerative proctitis. She said something about it having an undetermined cause. Maybe I really have some kind of bug like c.diff. I wish I had insurance so I could get some answers.
Posted 3/13/2009 2:41 PM (GMT 0)

c.diff is caused by antibiotic use.  I was tested after symptoms of UC and long term use of amoxicillin.  Negative, thank goodness.

ElaineNY

Posted 3/13/2009 3:21 PM (GMT 0)

I had 2 surgeries six months apart and had between 7 & 10 days of broadrange antibiotics for each. I always wonder if that caused something to happen. The surgery was quite a while before my symptoms of UP showed up. Maybe it is unrelated.

If you have a bug, how soon do the symptoms usually show up? Can you progressively get worse over time?

Posted 3/13/2009 4:14 PM (GMT 0)

Good info for your...

http://www.medicinenet.com/clostridium_difficile_colitis/article.htm

Posted 3/13/2009 4:37 PM (GMT 0)
I did take cephalexin which it says frequently causes c.diff but I am also helped by Asacol. Would Asacol heal someone with c.diff? I doubt it since it is bacterial. I also had a sigmoidoscopy and she didn't say anything about pseudomembranes.
Posted 3/13/2009 5:45 PM (GMT 0)

subdued said...
Ulcerative Colitis is a type of Colitis.

There are also Crohn's Colitis, Diversion Colitis, Pancolitis, Ischemic Colitis, Infectious Colitis, Fulminant Colitis, Pseudomembranous Colitis, Collagenous Colitis, Chemical Colitis, Microscopic Colitis, lymphocytic Colitis, Tuberculous and atypical Colitis, and so forth.

Perhaps this forum would have been better named Colitis instead of Ulcerative Colitis, although there is some overlap among the types of Colitis.

collagenous colitis is the same as microscopic colitis, as in "collagenous colitis aka; microscopic colitis".
Posted 3/13/2009 6:01 PM (GMT 0)

Thankyou all for your replies :-)  It just seems theres so many names for Colitis and types of Colitis it can be a little confusing!

One more thing - so, for example when some of you have in your signature...

'Diagnosed with Ulcerative Proctitis '08, then Diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis '09'

..do you mean the Colitis inflammation moved further up so that it was no longer just Ulcerative Proctitis but maybe left sided for example?

Posted 3/13/2009 6:15 PM (GMT 0)
I only had a sigmoidoscopy so I don't really know what I have. I had proctitis in 07/08. In Sept 08 my symptoms got a lot worse and I had to see a new GI. She said my proctitis probably spread. No one can say what is going on for sure because I haven't had a colonoscopy or stool tests. I just say it is UC because I don't know what else to call it. I guess I should say "Colitis" since I am not sure. I didn't know there was a difference. confused
Posted 3/13/2009 6:33 PM (GMT 0)
Correct Qwerty...or it can mean sigmoiditis or that the person wasn't told exactly where there inflammation is other then that it spread.
Posted 3/13/2009 8:10 PM (GMT 0)

Red_34 said...
Scientifically, there is no overlap of Ulcerative Colitis and Colitis if the diagnosis is definate. Ulcerative colitis is under the umbrella name of IBD and there are only two IBD's within this category. UC and Crohns. All the other types of colitis has a chance of ceasing in the future with possibly the help of medication and/or diet changes. That is not the case with UC nor Crohns - these are lifelong chronic illnesses with no cure. There is also a difference between proctitis and Ulcerated Proctitis. The same differences apply. UP is within the Uc diagnosis, however the person with UP may never end up with UC but a person with UC ALWAYS has UP. Does that make sense?

Proctitis = inflammation in the rectum with no ulceration - curable
Ulcerative Proctitis = inflammation in the rectum with ulceration - not curable
Colitis = inflammation anywhere in the colon with no ulceration - curable
Ulcerative colitis = inflammation in the colon, starting from the rectum and moving upward with ulceration - not curable

I'm not sure about this. The dictionary states that Colitis is a chronic digestive disease characterized by inflammation of the colon. It does not state whether or not there is ulceration. Moreover, Wikipedia lists types of Colitis on its Colitis page.

I guess I should have explained what I meant about overlapping. Sorry about that. What I meant is that many of the symptoms--diarrhea, inflammation, blood--and treatments--Asacol, Colazal, Prednisone, diet, Probiotics--are the same. As a result, this forum is not just for people who suffer from Ulcerative Colitis but for people who suffer from other forms of Colitis.
Posted 3/13/2009 8:26 PM (GMT 0)
IMO, "colitis" is just a generic term that means irritation/inflammation of the colon. There are many types of colitis (ulcerative, C. diff-associated, microscopic, etc). Yes, the symptoms are all relatively the same.

"Ulcerative colitis" is a SPECIFIC disease, and can be classified according to how much of the colon is involved (pancolitis, sigmoiditis, proctitis).

subdued, I don't think your statement that the treatments being the same regardless of the type of colitis is true. It wouldn't be appropirate to treat someone with C. diff-associated colitis with Asacol. People who have that need antibiotics such as Cipro to kill off the C. diff and allow the good bacteria to come back into balance.

I don't like the way the Wiki page is written, as it starts out describing "colitis" as being an IBD. Then later, it talks about types of colitis, and includes things like C. diff-associated colitis. Then it talks about treatment, and lists common treatments for ulcerative colitis. It's kind of misleading.
Posted 3/13/2009 8:42 PM (GMT 0)

fruitgirl said...


subdued, I don't think your statement that the treatments being the same regardless of the type of colitis is true. It wouldn't be appropirate to treat someone with C. diff-associated colitis with Asacol. People who have that need antibiotics such as Cipro to kill off the C. diff and allow the good bacteria to come back into balance.

Hi fruitgirl,

I didn't state that they were the same, I wrote that many of the treatments are the same (such as Asacol, Colazal, Prednisone, diet, Probiotics). I guess it was the way I wrote the sentence--the "many" is far away from "treatments."

"many of the symptoms--diarrhea, inflammation, blood--and treatments--Asacol, Colazal, Prednisone, diet, Probiotics--are the same"

I agree that some antibiotics target C.diff. In fact, antibiotics are sometimes given before fecal transplantation is done. First the bad bacteria is targeted and then good bacteria (and probably some bad bacteria along with it) is put back in.

I wasn't too happy with the Wiki page either.

I also don't know about all the types of Colitis. There are so many of them, many of which don't apply to me.
Posted 3/13/2009 9:20 PM (GMT 0)
There is so much conflicting material on the web that it can make a person go insane. :)

It is true that many of the other colitis's use the same medication because colitis just means inflammation in the colon. The meds we use is designed to lower inflammation. In our case with Uc, these medications lower the inflammation which in turns allow our "ulcerated" sections to heal easier. In the other colitis's, it lowers the inflammation which in turn can get the colon back to operating the way it's supposed to. Some people that have the other types of colitis can get by with minimal usage of a 5-ASA and be cured.
Posted 3/13/2009 10:51 PM (GMT 0)

Red_34 said...
There is so much conflicting material on the web that it can make a person go insane. :)

It is true that many of the other colitis's use the same medication because colitis just means inflammation in the colon. The meds we use is designed to lower inflammation. In our case with Uc, these medications lower the inflammation which in turns allow our "ulcerated" sections to heal easier. In the other colitis's, it lowers the inflammation which in turn can get the colon back to operating the way it's supposed to. Some people that have the other types of colitis can get by with minimal usage of a 5-ASA and be cured.

Wow so some Colitis types are actually cureable.

And yer there seems to be alot of conflicting material throughout the web but this thread seems to make alot of sense! Thankyou to everyone for posting.

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