Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a term used to describe conditions that cause severe tummy pain and diarrhoea. IBD is long-term, but there are treatments that can help with the symptoms.
The main types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
IBD is different to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), even though some of the symptoms may be similar.
The main symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can include:
Treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) will depend on your symptoms. If you're very unwell, you may need to be treated in hospital.
Treatments may include:
It's not clear what causes inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It happens when your immune system attacks your bowel, which causes it to get inflamed.
You're more likely to get IBD if one of your close relatives has it, for example, one of your parents, grandparents, or a sibling.