What crohn's and colitis can involve
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are inflammatory bowel diseases, and both run in cycles: weeks where things are settled, then a flare that rearranges everything. Urgency decides where you can go and how long you can stay. Fatigue arrives whether or not the gut is busy, and joint aches and mouth ulcers often come with it.
Appointments are frequently months apart, and by the time one arrives the last flare has blurred. Writing down how often, how urgent and how long, as it happens, gives your IBD team something concrete. It also shows the quiet weeks, which matter just as much when you're working out whether something has changed.
Symptoms checklist
Crohn's and colitis symptoms checklist to take to your GP
Below are some of the symptoms associated with Crohn's and colitis. You can print the Crohn's and colitis checklist and weekly diary and fill it in by hand.
See what applies to you, note how often it happens, and take it to your appointment, so the conversation starts further along. It describes your experience. It does not say what is causing anything: having many of these does not mean you have Crohn's and colitis, and having few does not mean you do not. Only a clinician can work that out with you.
- Abdominal pain
- Urgency
- Loose or frequent stools
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Loss of appetite
- Joint aches
- Mouth ulcers
- Blood in stool
- Something else I want to mention
Print the Crohn's and colitis checklist and weekly diary Download as PDF
The list comes from the NHS and charity sources linked further down this page, and from what people living with crohn's and colitis tell us they keep an eye on. It is a starting point, not a test.
How a day can feel
If your days sound anything like this, taluvu was made with you in mind.
- “I know where every toilet is on my route.”
- “The fatigue is worse than the pain and nobody asks about it.”
- “I cancelled again and I'm running out of ways to explain.”
- “Remission doesn't mean I feel well.”
- “By my appointment I can't remember how bad it got.”
These are the kinds of things taluvu invites you to say in your own words, never a checklist of what anyone “should” have.
