Many people with ulcerative colitis keep having stomach pain, bloating, and urgent bowel movements even after tests show their inflammation has healed. A new five-year, $4 million National Institutes of Health grant to UCLA Health and Mount Sinai will try to find out why. The research is just beginning, and no findings have been released.
According to UCLA, about one in three ulcerative colitis patients continue to have these irritable bowel syndrome-like symptoms when inflammation is minimal or absent. For patients, that can mean years of disrupted work, travel, and daily life despite being told their disease is under control.
