Medical

There are many different types of colitis, with different causes.  Stress and diet may be relevant in some forms.

http://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?input-form=simple&v%3Asources=medlineplus-bundle&v%3Aproject=medlineplus&query=colitis&x=0&y=0

See this listing of articles for more specific information.

I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis about a year and a half ago. It was really bad, I was bleeding a lot each time I went to the toilet and had constant bouts of diarea where sometimes I had accidents in my pants because I was unable to unbuckle my pants in time. And burning pains in my belly. Well, it was all due to stress. Mostly because of a very stressful relationship I was having. After I left my ex boyfriend, my bouts with colitis began lessen and lessen, until now, 9 months later, I am without pains and now have normal bowel movements (I remember actually praying to have a normal bowel movement again when my colitis was at its worst). I did not change my diet, and I have stopped taking all the medications. I feel great. I read a medical book once that said if you have colitis, first thing is that you should free yourself of any stress (not always easy, I know) or that you should start seeing a psychiatrist to try and eleviate your stressful situations. I laughed again. At the beginning, I thought it was all diet related for me, too much pork and fatty foods like pasta and lasagna etc. (I had moved to Italy to be with my stressful exboyfriend, which only added to my stress level on top of my horrible relationship problems!) Well, in short........A LOT of it has to do with stress levels. I wish you the best, and I'm sorry you're dealing with Colitis. I hope things get better for you.