Colitis

Something is burning inside you. Not in the stomach, not in the throat — deeper, further down, in an area that hardly anyone talks about. The large intestine. More precisely: its mucous membrane, the gossamer-thin inner lining that normally does its quiet work extracting the last nutrients from your food, absorbing water, preserving what is usable, and preparing the rest for excretion. In colitis, this very layer is irritated, reddened, inflamed. Cramps, urges, frequent trips to the toilet, sometimes mucus, sometimes blood, often a diffuse burning that won't let you sleep.