It usually begins with lower abdominal cramping and pain. Soon, you have the urge to pass stool or gas. Before long, a trip to the toilet reveals blood in your stool. An episode like this may signal one of several serious diseases or conditions, including infections and inflammatory bowel disease.
If you’re 60 or older, there’s a chance the pain and bloody diarrhea results from a sudden reduction in blood flow to part of the colon. The condition that causes this sudden reduction is colonic ischemia (is-KEE-me-uh), also known as ischemic colitis.
Colonic ischemia happens more frequently in women than in men, although both are susceptible. It can lead to areas of colon inflammation and, in some instances, permanent colon damage or holes in the colon (perforation), a life-threatening injury.
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