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Inflammatory bowel disease

Find out about inflammatory bowel disease, what the symptoms are, how it’s treated, what causes it and where you can get support.

About this information

This NHS content is written for people in England. Services, entitlements and contact routes may differ in other countries.

Symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

The main symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can include:

  • diarrhoea that lasts longer than 4 weeks
  • tummy pain
  • blood or mucus (clear slime) in your poo
  • bleeding from your bottom
  • feeling tired all the time
  • losing weight without trying

See a GP if:

  • you have diarrhoea that lasts more than 7 days
  • you have tummy pain or bloating that will not go away or keeps coming back
  • you have blood or mucus (clear slime) in your poo
  • you've been losing a lot of weight without trying

Call 999 or go to A&E if:

  • you have severe tummy pain
  • you're bleeding non-stop from your bottom
  • there's a lot of blood, for example, the toilet water turns red or you see large blood clots
  • you're vomiting blood or poo, or your sick looks like coffee grounds or soil
Find your nearest A&E

A&E safety messaging

Do not drive to A&E. Ask someone to drive you or call 999 and ask for an ambulance.

Bring any medicines you take with you.

Treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

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:

  • medicines to help ease your symptoms, such as steroids, and other medicines that can help keep your symptoms under control
  • surgery to remove part of your bowel, if your symptoms are severe

Causes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

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.

Help and support

  • Crohn's and Colitis UK - a charity that provides help and support for people living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
  • IBD Registry - UK registry for IBD, which includes Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBD unclassified and other forms of IBD

Inflammatory bowel disease

Symptoms

Inflammatory bowel disease

Medical treatments

Inflammatory bowel disease

Causes

Symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) include diarrhoea that lasts longer than 4 weeks, tummy pain, and blood or mucus in your poo.

Treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may include medicines that help with your symptoms, and surgery.

It's not clear what causes inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but you're more likely to get it if a close relative has it.

Content supplied by the NHS website

Content supplied by the NHS website, refreshed 19 August 2026. View the original NHS article ↗

Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ↗. MyPHU is independent and is not endorsed by the NHS.