Ulcerative Colitis - Kids & Teens

Treatment plan for Ulcerative Colitis

What are the treatment options for ulcerative colitis?

Ulcerative colitis can affect different people in different ways. One person with ulcerative colitis may get better on their own without needing to take medicine every day, while someone else may be so ill that they need to have surgery right away. That is why your plan is just for you, based on your situation and how your ulcerative colitis is affecting you.

Your treatment plan will be based on four things:

• How ill your ulcerative colitis makes you feel
• Your health in general and any medicines you have tried in the past
• How your illness is likely to affect you in the future (called 'prognosis')
• Your personal needs, wishes and expectations

How can treatment help?

Medicine or surgery for ulcerative colitis helps to:

• Treat a flare-up of symptoms quickly
• Keep you free from having any symptoms (remission)
• identify people who need to have surgery
• Make sure you are getting proper nutrition
• Identify any special needs of people in the hospital or getting care at home
• Weigh the benefits and risks for any approach

When you are unwell, the goal is to get you feeling better as quickly as possible - what doctors call 'induction of remission'. Once you are feeling better, the next goal is to keep you free from symptoms for as long as possible. That is called 'maintenance'.