Colitis of the intestine: symptoms and treatment in a child and children

By the origin of the forms of the course, intestinal colitis in a child does not differ much from a polyetiological disease of the intestinal mucosa in an adult, as well as the manifestation of colitis symptoms.

Some differences are due to the specifics of the structure of internal organs in childhood or the presence in the baby's body of antibodies obtained from the body and mother's milk.

The danger of the onset and development of an inflammatory disease of the colon mucosa is present in any childhood period.

Although statistical studies have shown that it is most typical for older or middle-aged children who are in school.

The danger of childhood colitis consists not only in the loss of the regenerative abilities of the mucous membrane or its thinning and dystrophy.

The main risk is the possibility of developing more dangerous pathologies of the digestive system, if a certain type of disease does not receive timely treatment.

Typical forms of the disease: etiological sign

Colitis in children can be the result of various negative factors and is usually diagnosed by origin.

As in adults, the classification of colitis is very conditional and implies, as a distinctive feature, an inflammatory process in the intestine.

Treatment of colitis symptoms is impossible without eliminating the pathogenic agent or the main provocateur, therefore, requires reliable diagnostics that determines their presence.

Clinical practice has shown that the described types of factors causing intestinal inflammation can be present simultaneously and have a cumulative effect on the development of the disease.

Colitis in children can be a dangerous phenomenon, in the development of which there are bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms that can cause death.

Therefore, the main thing for parents is not to miss the developing disease, to discern its still vague symptoms in time.

At the initial stage, colitis in children develops according to a similar scenario, regardless of its origin.

The more time is missed, the more clearly the etiological factor appears, and the more difficult it is to cope with it.

For reasons that provoke inflammation, colitis in children can be broken down into the following negative processes:

• allergic colitis - when a reaction of the body's rejection to an irritating factor is present in the role of the cause of the development of inflammation (a wide variety of food products can act in its role);
• pseudomembranous type of the disease, where the symptoms of colitis and further negative processes are caused by the presence of Clostridium difficile infection in the intestine;
• ulcerative colitis, a characteristic feature of which is the development of mucosal defects (ulcerations), according to doctors, formed due to hereditary, genetically determined negative factors that interact with external conditions;
• infectious colitis caused by the presence of an infection in the intestine;
• parasitic (very common in children who neglect the norms of sanitation and hygiene), obtained from the presence in the body of a worm or other parasitic invasion;
• alimentary, caused by dystrophy, or dyspepsia, which occurs from congenital or acquired deficiency of certain enzymes in the body;
• secondary - a consequence of chronic diseases already existing in the body;
• of nervous origin (neurotic) - obtained from emotional instability or stressful situations (sometimes - the result of a violation of the conduction of nerve impulses);
• mechanical - caused by mechanical damage to the mucous membrane;
• autoimmune - when autoimmune diseases are the cause;
• mixed and unexplained etiology (there are several simultaneous reasons or they could not be established);
• medicinal, radiation and toxic - caused by exposure to certain factors, often - the result of treatment in a serious illness.

It is impossible to treat colitis without a precise definition of the etiology; it is extremely difficult to establish the origin by the initial stage and general symptoms.

Find out what exactly the intestinal mucosa is affected by only with the help of appropriate diagnostics.

Sometimes, in order to determine the form of colitis, it is necessary to conduct several studies, but still the wording of "unexplained etiology" remains.

The danger of the condition is that if parents miss the symptoms and signs of the acute stage, it develops into chronic colitis.

And it can lead to the development of much more dangerous conditions, which will have to be fiddled with for much longer (sometimes even in adulthood).

What do the symptoms of the disease depend on?

The described disease is not only a polyetiological phenomenon, but also takes various forms, depending on several conditions of its course.

Even infectious colitis can have different symptoms if it is caused by characteristic lesions or has passed from another organ.

The difference may be in age characteristics: in infants, the course of the disease may be different than in older children.

Because the baby still has antibodies obtained during gestation, or with breast milk, and in children over 3 years old, immunity is somewhat weakened.

A child's symptoms differ in several ways. For example, by:

• the place of localization of the disease in the intestine;
• the nature and severity of the damage that the disease managed to produce before it was diagnosed;
• the degree of functional disorders and the effect on other digestive organs;
• the reactions of the child's body as a whole to the negative factors present;
• the type of mucosal lesion that has occurred;
• clinical picture (how exactly colitis proceeds, in acute, chronic form, in the stage of remission or relapse);
• changes in stool (frequent diarrhea, constipation, mixed, unclassified);
• the presence of a pathogenic agent or for other objective reasons (from pseudomembranous colitis, spastic colitis differs at an early stage in precisely this way.

In the treatment of colitis, it is recommended to use medications, diet, surgery and psychological assistance in conjunction with folk remedies.

However, not all four components of the complex method are used in each specific case. Colitis treatment in children, even more. than in an adult state, requires differential diagnosis within a group of diseases, designated by the collective term intestinal inflammation.

In children, colitis can be more pronounced or pass faster and without a trace, but much depends on how quickly it was diagnosed and how the treatment was prescribed correctly.

Common symptoms of the disease

The diagnostic triad of characteristic symptoms, oddly enough, is the same for acute and chronic conditions.

Acute colitis begins with abnormal stool and abdominal pain along with other individual symptoms:

• flatulence, tenesmus, or cramps;
• nausea, vomiting, or both;
• fever and general worsening of the condition;
• changes in the contents of the stool;
• the consequences of dehydration with diarrhea or intoxication with constipation.

Chronic colitis presents the same clinical picture during relapse and a semblance of relative health during remission.

It differs from the acute form by the permanent renewal of negative signs, when the provoking factor leads to an exacerbation.

The acute form, which has been observed repeatedly, inevitably leads to a transition to the chronic form, if treatment is not taken in a timely manner. Therefore, the child's symptoms must be monitored especially carefully.

Inflammation of the intestines can also be assumed by lack of appetite, weight loss, constant complaints of abdominal pain, but the most characteristic diagnostic sign is changes in stool.

It is enough to pay attention to the not very favorable picture, when the child refuses to eat, complains of nausea and abdominal pain, and then follow his natural departures in order to find a reason for contacting a certain address: gastroenterology-diagnostics will be able to establish the nature of the disease and recommend the necessary therapeutic measures.

Stool change as a diagnostic criterion

Defecation disorders are one of the main diagnostic criteria for any form of diseases of the digestive system.

The nature of the stool can always be an opportunity to determine a negative state, but a coprogram or microscopic examination is required for diagnosis.

Any deviation from the norm - a change in color, consistency, the presence of foreign inclusions, mucus, blood, undigested particles - may serve as a basis for assumptions about the disease, but not a reason for hasty conclusions.

In 10 percent of cases, colitis accompanying an adult in chronic form is a sad legacy of unnoticed childhood deviations.

By monitoring the condition of the child's stool, it is possible to avoid the presence of the colitis disease, which greatly complicates life, being present permanently.

As in adults, inflammation of the intestinal mucosa in children proceeds with different types of changes in natural functions:

• persistent or recurrent diarrhea (depending on the clinical picture);
• permanent difficulties with the administration of natural needs (constipation, difficulty with defecation);
• mixed form, with alternating diarrhea and constipation;
• the course of violations that do not lend themselves to classification (characteristic of colitis of unexplained etiology, or non-infectious origin).

In children, a thorough examination of the contents of the intestine is carried out to determine the presence of a pathogenic agent, changes that have occurred or individual functional failures.

Stool analysis can show:

1. Changes in the intestinal microflora, with the suppression of natural beneficial forms and the activation of the vital activity of pathogenic microorganisms (it is necessary to eliminate the bacterial or infectious agent and restore the beneficial biotic background).
2. Lack of essential enzymes for normal digestion (hence the bits of undigested food).
3. The presence of an external parasitic agent requiring immediate treatment, or, conversely, to refute its presence in order to direct the search for the cause in a different direction.
4. Confirm or refute the presence of steatorrhea (fatty blotches), amilorrhea (starch grains absent in the norm), creatorrhea (undigested muscle fibers).
5. Confirm dysbiosis and the presence of staphylococci, proteus, or mycotic lesions (eg, candidiasis).

Colitis of the intestine in children can be of any etiology - drug, parasitic, allergic (eosinophilic colitis), toxic nature.

Be the result of congenital or acquired anomalies present, secretory insufficiency, psychogenic factors and even a consequence a sedentary lifestyle - and all this can be determined by a comprehensive diagnostic study, in which the coprogram is indispensable component.

Typical diagnostic signs of certain forms of the disease

Certain forms of the disease may have characteristic signs of development, but they, as a rule, appear already at a later stage of the disease.

If the parents overlooked the early one, with its uncharacteristic symptoms, the course of the disease, the causes of which are quite typical, can be identified by the distinctive features that appeared later.

Allergic colitis in an infant resembles a blurred picture of a mild food infection, upon exiting the infant's age, colitis is diagnosed much simpler - the picture is vivid, characteristic of the disease, but manifests itself as a reaction to certain foods, and this relationship is easy notice.

For allergic colitis at a later age, severe stool disturbances, soreness in the umbilical region, dehydration, lethargy, general weakness, and a complete lack of appetite are characteristic.

When you reach an older age, colitis, as a result of the rejection reaction, can lead to serious violations of the usual composition of the stool, manifest itself as impurities of mucus, blood, feces and even bile.

The manifestations of ulcerative colitis, which has recently spread among children due to immune disorders, unfavorable ecology, uncontrolled intake of drugs and even for psychogenic reasons, differ in extreme variability.

Acute, fulminant, fulminant, distal or total lesion is not always easy to associate with a specific cause; this requires special research.

But you can determine its presence by:

• pathological frequency of natural discharges (sometimes up to 20 times a day);
• impurities of blood, mucus and pus (these can reach a significant extent in some conditions)
• constant complaints of spastic abdominal pain.

Symptoms and treatment of colitis of different etiology depends not only on the origin.

Much is determined by how much the pathology has managed to develop and take root in the body, lead to additional lesions in the child's body, and pass into a terminal or chronic form.

Much here is determined by how quickly the parents reacted. Timeliness of seeking medical help and diagnostics affects the treatment of colitis.

Treatment and prevention

Medical treatment is not always an indispensable component of therapeutic measures in childhood.

Sometimes drug withdrawal becomes an etiological treatment (for example, with medication or pseudomembranous colitis).

Do not rush to spontaneously prescribe medications, even if the clinical picture resembles food poisoning.

Colitis of the intestine in a child in many cases is quite simply cured by simple preventive measures - lifestyle changes, withdrawal of medications, restoration of the bacterial background and a therapeutic diet.

Often it all depends on the timeliness of treatment and the scrupulousness of adherence to medical appointments.

Quite often, further prognosis is assumed to be favorable, but the course of the disease depends on how much a therapeutic diet is prescribed in a timely manner, the presence of a pathogenic agent is eliminated or congenital developmental anomalies.

You need to sound the alarm as soon as the child has noticed abnormalities in normal digestion. It is much easier to fix them in childhood than to suffer with it all your life.

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