What are the symptoms of intestinal tuberculosis?

Intestinal tuberculosis is actually a chronic intestinal infection disease. Patients with this disease are actually quite uncomfortable because it not only affects the entire digestive system, but also causes persistent nausea. After intestinal tuberculosis occurs, there are usually obvious symptoms, such as abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, abdominal swelling and pain, etc., so friends must pay attention to this disease.

Most cases have a slow onset and a long course of disease. Most patients with intestinal tuberculosis lack specific clinical manifestations. The main clinical manifestations are summarized as follows:

1. Abdominal pain

Because the lesions often involve the ileocecal region, the pain is most commonly felt in the right lower abdomen, and localized tenderness points may be found during palpation. The pain may also be located around the umbilicus, which is caused by traction from ileocecal lesions. The pain is generally mild, presenting as dull or dull pain, or intermittent pain, often induced during or after meals. This is caused by gastroileal reflex or gastrocolic reflex caused by eating. Postprandial pain is caused by spasm or increased peristalsis of the diseased intestines, so the pain is often accompanied by the urge to defecate, which can be relieved after defecation. When proliferative intestinal tuberculosis is complicated by intestinal obstruction, the abdominal pain is mainly colic, and there are corresponding symptoms of intestinal obstruction.

2. Diarrhea and constipation

Diarrhea is one of the main symptoms of ulcerative intestinal tuberculosis. It is caused by the stimulation of intestinal inflammation and ulcers, which accelerate intestinal peristalsis, emptying too quickly and secondary malabsorption. Bowel movements are generally 2 to 4 times a day, and are mostly mushy. In mild cases, they only contain a small amount of mucus. In severe cases, diarrhea can occur more than 10 times a day, with mucus and pus in the stool. Bloody stools are less common. In addition, there may be occasional constipation, the stool may be sheep-dung-like, or diarrhea and constipation may occur alternately.

3. Abdominal mass

It is mainly seen in hyperplastic intestinal tuberculosis, in which the intestinal wall locally thickens to form a mass. When ulcerative intestinal tuberculosis adheres to surrounding tissues, or is accompanied by mesenteric lymph node tuberculosis, a lump may form and be palpable. The abdominal mass is often located in the right lower abdomen, with medium hardness, mild tenderness, and sometimes an uneven surface and little mobility.

4. Systemic symptoms

Ulcerative intestinal tuberculosis often has tuberculosis toxemia, such as low-grade fever in the afternoon, irregular fever, remittent fever or retained fever, accompanied by night sweats, and may have symptoms and signs such as fatigue, weight loss, anemia and malnutrition edema, and may have related manifestations of extraintestinal tuberculosis, especially tuberculous peritonitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, etc. Proliferative intestinal tuberculosis usually has no symptoms of tuberculosis poisoning, has a longer course of disease, and is in good general condition.