Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an umbrella term used to describe disorders that involve chronic inflammation of your digestive system. There are two types of IBD, and they are:

• Ulcerative colitis - this condition involves inflammation and ulcers along the superficial lining of your large intestine and rectum.
• Crohn's disease - this is the inflammation of the lining of your digestive tract, which often can involve the deeper layers of the digestive tract.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of IBD include:

• Diarrhoea
• Abdominal pain and cramping
• Blood in your stool
• Reduced appetite
• Fatigue
• Unintended weight loss

Causes

The exact cause of IBD still remains unknown. Previously, diet and stress levels were suspected to cause the disease, but now doctors know that these factors may aggravate but aren't the actual cause of IBD.

One possible cause is an immune system malfunction. When your immune system tries to fight off an invading virus or bacterium, an abnormal immune response causes the immune system to attack the cells in the digestive tract, too. Heredity also seems to play a role in that IBD is more common in people who have family members with the disease. However, most people with IBD don't have this family history.