THE only health concern most 20-year-olds have is nursing a hangover after a night out.

But for thousands of teenagers it can be the start of a lifelong and often debilitating illness.

An illness that can cause diarrhoea, pain, severe tiredness and sudden weight loss.

More than 13,500 people are diagnosed with colitis or Crohn's Disease annually, and with an average diagnosis age of 20, it can play havoc with sufferers' social lives, education and career.

A recent survey of young people with the conditions found that almost half of the nearly 1,000 surveyed felt seriously isolated at the time of their diagnosis, with 20 per cent saying they still felt isolated today.

Ashley George, now 27, was just 22 when he first started suffering the symptoms. At the time he thought it was his party-loving lifestyle catching up with him. But when it left him bed-bound for days at a time, he knew even he hadn't partied that hard.

Ashley, of The Cube, Rochford, was eventually diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, but not until he'd been in hospital and his weight had dropped from a healthy 11 stone to a painfully thin eight stone did he discover what was wrong.

"In the summer of 2002 I got quite ill and didn't know why and the doctors didn't know why," remembers Ashley, who works in administration for local government in London. "I lost a lot of weight, but then it just seemed to get better.

"I used to smoke and I didn't probably eat as well as I could, so I just put it down to my lifestyle taking its toll, rather than anything more severe."

However, the reprieve was short-lived and a few months later the symptoms were back - and worse.

"The doctor told me I had irritable bowel syndrome and gave me the relevant medication, but it didn't work.

"I was losing a lot of weight, I was really tired, really sick and had a lack of appetite," said Ashley of his symptoms. "It got so bad that before I was admitted to hospital I couldn't get out of bed."

It finally got to the stage where he couldn't even digest water and rather than waiting the eight weeks for a scan on the NHS he went straight to the Wellesley Hospital, Southend.

"I was admitted straightaway and was immediately put on steroids," says Ashley. The steroids did the trick and within a day, he was feeling better.

"I was grateful that I was well again, but I was very annoyed that it had taken so long," admits Ashley. "I still think that I suffer from pain that I don't need to from where damage has been done.

"It should have been dealt with months before. I didn't need to go through the hospital treatment and all that pain."

Despite one setback later that year, Ashley has got the condition under control. He takes medication daily, and says he still gets cramping pains but has become used to them.

He has also changed his lifestyle as a result.

"I stopped smoking and joined a gym after I left hospital," he says. "I'm quite obsessive about keeping fit now."

"The condition hasn't stopped my social life. I can still go out drinking, I just have to keep myself fit and avoid cigarettes."

"I do think there needs to be more understanding about the condition. There is the embarrassment factor. It's certainly not something I bring up when I first meet people.

"But maybe I didn't make enough fuss. If you've got the symptoms don't brush them under the carpet, explain to your doctor exactly what's going on so you don't get diagnosed with something else."

Ulcerative colitis

Who is affected?

  • Between 6,000 and 12,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. It affects men and women equally

What are the symptoms?

  • Ulcerative colitis affects the colon (large intestine) or rectum and can cause a variety of distressing and sometimes embarrassing symptoms. Inflammation and ulcers develop on the inside lining of the colon resulting in pain, urgent and bloody diarrhoea, continual tiredness, weight loss and loss of appetite. The condition varies as to how much of the colon is affected and the severity of the symptoms also fluctuates unpredictably over time. Patients are likely to experience flare-ups in between intervals of reduced symptoms or remission. To date there is no cure for ulcerative colitis

How is it treated?

  • Most patients will be treated with drugs, including steroids, to control or reduce the inflammation.

What causes ulcerative colitis?

  • The cause has not been identified. However, ulcerative colitis is not a form of cancer and is not contagious nor infectious
  • For more information click on the link below.