Symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

by Debra Wood, RN

Diarrhea and abdominal pain are usually the first symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease. Symptoms may come and go. People with this disease may sometimes have periods of few or no symptoms.

Many symptoms are related to the inflammation in the digestive system, these include:

Persistent diarrhea, often with blood and/or mucous appearing in stools
Abdominal cramps and pain
Rectal bleeding
Mouth sores as well as sores and abscesses in the anal area (with Crohn’s disease)

Symptoms caused by the diarrhea and rectal bleeding include:

Anemia
Weight loss
Fatigue
Weakness

Symptoms related to a system-wide inflammatory process associated with inflammatory bowel disease may include:

Fever
Arthritis
Skin rashes
Eye pain or inflammation
Kidney stones
Other system-wide conditions

References:

American Gastroenterological Association website. Available at: http://www.gastro.org/ . Accessed March 6, 2006.

Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America website. Available at: http://www.ccfa.org/ . Accessed March 6, 2006.

National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse website. Available at: http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ . Accessed March 6, 2006.

Primary Care Medicine . 4th ed. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2000.

Rakel RE, Bope ET. Conn's Current Therapy 2001 . 53rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders Company; 2001.

Last reviewed September 2012 by Daus Mahnke, MD
Last Updated: 09/11/2012

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