Ulcerative Colitis: Luke Coutinho Shares All You Need To Know About The Condition

Lifestyle coach Luke Coutinho, in a video released on social media, speaks about Ulcerative Colitis – a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that “plagues millions of people” around the world. Explaining that it is not a disease that can be cured, Coutinho shares that it is a condition that can go into remission if you follow the right steps and make the appropriate lifestyle changes. Eating the right food, getting adequate sleep, and performing an adequate exercise can all help you go into remission. About the challenging nature of Ulcerative Colitis, Coutinho says, “When I speak to Ulcerative Colitis patients from around the world, they've already set their mind to believe that nothing can ever be done.” But this need not be the case, the lifestyle coach adds.

Adding that the first step towards recovery is believing that you will get better, Coutinho states, “It's a kind of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It is a disease this happens in the large intestine of your body – the colon. So, you start to have these cells that get inflamed on the inner lining and outlining of your colon. They get inflamed, they die and then they form ulcers. These ulcers can sometimes bleed; they can form other ulcers and polyps. They can form mucus and they can form pus and that's when you have an infection. You need antibiotics as well besides anti-inflammatories and steroids to control it.”

Speaking about the symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis, Coutinho explains, “You'll have abdominal pain, you will have rectal pain, you will have blood in your stools.” Adding that different person may have different symptoms, he said: “You can have diarrhoea, you can also have extreme constipation.” Coutinho stated that extreme constipation can also lead to other issues such as excessive storage of fecal matter in the large intestine.

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Other symptoms include joint pain, mouth sores, swelling in the joints, skin issues, and even eye inflammation. However, one need not panic if they experience one or two symptoms, Coutinho said, adding that it's better to go to your doctor and get checked up. “Your doctor may advise you a stool test, CT scan, certain blood tests that can help you determine that there is inflammation,” he states.

He shares that despite consuming healthy, organic foods one may have nutritional deficiencies because an unhealthy gut can lead to malabsorption, leading to malnutrition.

Given that Ulcerative Colitis is an autoimmune condition, Coutinho says that stress can worsen the disease as can sleep deprivation.

Watch the complete video here:

Through the video, Luke Coutinho reiterates that one must "treat ulcerative colitis and put it into remission as quickly as possible."

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.