Are you familiar with left sided colitis? Do you want to know the symptoms when you are experiencing left sided colitis? If so, this article will help you understand what colitis is and its symptoms.

Left sided colitis is one the types of ulcerative colitis which is a condition that usually affects the large intestine, colon and the rectum. Ulcerative colitis may affect either your large intestine or the whole rectum and colon. Sometimes, it also can affect the small intestine which is the ileum. When you have ulcerative colitis, the affected part is inflamed and develops ulcers. People may feel symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloody Diarrhea and fever.

The initial response of the body to injury or irritation is inflammation. Usually when your tissues are inflamed the part of the body that is affected becomes swollen, painful, warm and reddish. Actually left sided colitis only infects the inner lining of your large bowel. While a similar problem which is the Crohn's disease can sometimes cause a part of your gastrointestinal tract to be inflamed and can certainly affect the thickness of the wall of your bowel.

Ulcerative colitis has four classifications, these are the:

• Pancolitis - wherein the entire colon is affected by the ulcerative colitis.
• Proctosigmoiditis - where in the sigmoid colon and the rectum is affected by ulcerative colitis.
• Left sided colitis - wherein the entire colon, sigmoid colon, rectum and the descending colon are all affected by ulcerative colitis.
• Ulcerative proctitis - wherein the rectum is the only one affected by ulcerative colitis.

The symptoms of left sided colitis may either be mild or severe. The symptoms will usually be characterized by the active disease. That is why it is important to have a check-up with your doctor for him to diagnose if you have ulcerative colitis. These are some of the most common symptoms that are related to ulcerative colitis:

• Fever

As you have read above, a left sided colitis can cause inflammation, and one of the most common effect is fever. Some people who are suffering from left sided colitis often have high fever, especially when the case of the disease is already acute. While some people run a low grade fever. This fever may sometimes include fatigue and irritability. Some people experience of having a fever every other day, or sometimes during their sleep which causes night sweats.

• Diarrhea

Usually Diarrhea occurs when three or more stools that are watery per day happen. When you are suffering from this disease, stools may sometimes be accompanied by blood that is think, this happens because the hemorrhoid is bleeding. Sometimes pus and mucus is also in the stool, which is the most common problem when you are suffering from ulcerative colitis.

• Abdominal pain

When a person is suffering from ulcerative colitis, you will often feel a cramp nature on the left side of your abdomen. This happens because the rectum which is located at the top of the anus moves to the left side of the body where it then connects to the entire colon. After a bowel movement the cramps and pain will disappear right after.

These are some of the information about left sided colitis and its symptoms. If you experience one or more of the symptoms stated above, it is best to immediately seek your doctors help.