Go through these in order and stop at the first one that applies. If you are reading this for someone else, answer for them.
Severe pain, abdominal swelling, fainting, heavy bleeding, confusion, chest pain, or breathing difficulty requires urgent or emergency assessment.
Contact the care team sooner than planned if bleeding or diarrhea returns, bowel movements become more frequent, fever develops, food or fluids are difficult to tolerate, or treatment side effects occur.
After a severe episode, follow-up should confirm that symptoms and inflammation are improving.
The care plan may include blood tests, stool markers, medication monitoring, and later endoscopy.
The timing depends on the cause, treatment response, and overall health.
Routine follow-up may address vaccination, nutrition, anemia, bone health, medication side effects, mental well-being, and colorectal cancer surveillance.
People taking medicines that affect the immune system may need infection screening and periodic blood tests.
The article also says
For ulcerative colitis, feeling better does not always mean that inflammation has fully settled.
Ongoing maintenance treatment is often needed to reduce the chance of another flare.
Do not stop corticosteroids suddenly or change immune-targeting medicine without guidance from the prescribing clinician.
Every sign above is quoted from the sofidex article on Colitis gravis. If you are not sure, err upward — it is always reasonable to be checked.