Symptoms

Pain: Pain in the abdominal area can be an indication of a disease of the colon. A distinction is made between cramping, stabbing, burning, pressing, colicky and pulling abdominal pain. Heat applications (e.g. hot water bottle) can provide relief in many cases.

Diarrhoea: Diarrhoea (diarrhoea) is the repeated occurrence of stools that are too fluid and is not an illness in its own right, but only a symptom. For example, it is often observed in inflammations of the colon. Uncomplicated progressions usually do not require therapy.

However, if diarrhoea persists over a longer period of time, the severe loss of fluids and minerals must be compensated for (e.g. by infusions). Constipation: Constipation is one of the most common diseases of our time. In addition to incorrect nutrition, lack of fluids and exercise or metabolic disorders, for example, adhesions, diverticula or even tumors in the colon can cause constipation. The therapy depends on the cause of the problem. Increased fluid intake is advisable in any case.

Common diseases

One of the most frequent intestinal diseases is the inflammation of the bulges of the intestinal wall, the so-called diverticulitis. If such diverticulitis occurs more frequently, it is called diverticulosis. It is assumed that this inflammation is caused by stool or food residues exerting pressure on the already thin wall of the diverticulum.

Bacterial infections in the surrounding connective tissue can thus trigger peritonitis. At 95%, diverticulitis occurs most frequently in the sigmoid – the S-shaped area of the colon that runs through the pelvis. Diverticulitis manifests itself through the classic symptom triad of pain in the left lower abdomen, fever and an elevated white blood cell count.

The therapy is usually conservative (i.e. surgical procedures are not performed), characterized by the administration of antibiotics and a strict diet. Another common disease is appendicitis, the so-called appendicitis. It can be caused by the naturally existing components of the intestinal flora or pathogens that reach the intestine via the blood.

The symptoms of appendicitis are usually diffuse, i.e. not clearly attributable. It manifests itself through nausea, vomiting and pain in the upper abdomen. Another common disease of the colon is the polyps.

These are thickened growths of the innermost intestinal mucosa, which protrude into the intestinal lumen. Polyps are benign tumors and therefore harmless in themselves, but there is an increased long-term risk of them degenerating into colon cancer. A serious intestinal disease that is not quite as common as the above-mentioned is Crohn’s disease (named after the American gastroenterologist Burril Crohn).

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, or more precisely of all wall layers of the intestine, which can occur in both the large and small intestine. It can also lead to the formation of ulcers, constrictions inside the bowel and so-called fistulas (connecting passages with other organs). Typical for Crohn’s disease is on the one hand the so-called segmental infestation pattern, i.e. that diseased sections of the intestine alternate with healthy ones and that occur in phases.

People who suffer from Crohn’s disease can therefore be free of symptoms for a long time. How exactly the disease develops has not yet been conclusively clarified. However, it is assumed that several factors are involved, such as a genetic predisposition, poor eating habits and an inflammatory reaction in which the body forms antibodies against the bowel’s own cells.

Crohn’s disease is apparently promoted by cigarette smoking and the use of the pill. In Crohn’s disease patients, the disease usually manifests itself through unspecific symptoms such as weight loss, fatigue, pain in the right lower abdomen and (mostly bloodless) diarrhea. Anal fissures or ulcers and aphthae in the oral cavity are also described.Crohn’s disease is incurable according to current knowledge.

The therapy consists of alleviating the attacks and their frequency by administering drugs that dampen the immune system. Another serious intestinal disease is ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that also occurs in relapses. It spreads continuously from the anus towards the oral cavity, causing ulcerations, i.e. defects of the intestinal mucosa.

Ulcerative colitis usually occurs between the ages of 20 and 40. The mechanism that leads to the triggering of the disease is similar to that of Crohn’s disease, not conclusively clarified and probably also a mixture of components such as genetic predisposition, infections and nutrition. The intestinal disease ulcerative colitis usually manifests itself through bloody-mucus diarrhea, which can also occur at night.

These are accompanied by so-called tenesmus, a painful urge to defecate or urinate. Affected persons sometimes complain of weight loss, fever and sometimes severe abdominal pain. Ulcerative colitis can be cured by a complete surgical removal of the colon.

Among the diseases of the colon, the so-called irritable bowel syndrome is also common. Irritable bowel syndrome is a disease of the colon that is not clearly defined and is presented in patients who complain of various symptoms in the abdominal cavity and in whom other organic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract have already been excluded. Irritable bowel syndrome is often classified as a psychosomatic disease.

Women are affected about twice as often as men. Since the complaints vary greatly and the causes are usually not clearly identifiable, the therapy varies considerably. Another inflammatory colon disease is the so-called pseudomembranous colitis, which can sometimes also spread to the small intestine, which is actually poor in bacteria.

This condition usually follows a longer antibiotic therapy. During this therapy, parts of the naturally occurring bacterial intestinal flora are also killed so that intestinal germs that are resistant to the antibiotics taken can multiply unhindered. Bacteria of the species Clostridium difficile in particular proliferate here.

They produce toxins that trigger inflammatory reactions in large quantities. In the course of this disease, a substance called fibrin is secreted from the intestinal walls, which appears like a coating (a membrane) when viewed during a colonoscopy, but can be stripped off (hence the prefix ‘pseudo’). The therapy of choice is the administration of antibiotics that can kill the said strains of bacteria.

Interesting are observations on the meridian of the colon. In traditional Chinese medicine, the meridian is a pathway of the human body through which the life energy flows, whereby each meridian can be assigned to an organ system. On these meridians lie the acupoints, which are treated with needles in acupuncture and with pressure with the finger in acupressure.

It must be mentioned that there is no sound scientific evidence either for the existence of meridians or for the broad effectiveness of acupuncture or pressure. The colon meridian has 20 acupuncture points. It runs from the index finger over the outside of the arm to the side wing of the nose.

However, puncture or pressure of points on the colon meridian does not only help with colon problems, puncture of the point where the bones of the index finger and thumb meet (which is considered the most important ‘anti-pain’ point) can allegedly also relieve fever and nosebleeds. It is also said to have an anti-inflammatory effect. With regard to the colon meridian, healers who treat according to the ideas of traditional Chinese medicine assume that the colon is also strongly involved in the formation of human emotions.

(There are certainly more recent findings in pharmacology that allow such a conclusion). In the sense of an interaction between the so-called abdominal brain (see also enteric nervous system) and the brain of the head, they attribute to it the fact that it is involved, among other things, in coming to terms with the past. According to this idea, it seems plausible that someone who has difficulty letting go of his past also has difficulty letting go of stool (in the sense of excreting). In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, constipation is explained in this way.