IBD Red Flags: When to Call or Seek Urgent Care
This guide is educational and conservative. If symptoms feel severe, new, or unsafe, contact your gastroenterologist, urgent care, emergency services, or local emergency number.
Call your GI team promptly
- Symptoms are clearly worsening compared with your usual baseline.
- New or increasing blood in stool.
- Persistent diarrhea, urgency, or nighttime stools.
- Fever, chills, or signs of infection while on immune-suppressing medicine.
- You cannot keep medications down or missed an infusion, injection, or refill.
- Weight loss, poor intake, or dehydration symptoms that are not improving.
Consider urgent care or emergency care now
- Severe or rapidly worsening abdominal pain.
- Fainting, confusion, chest pain, trouble breathing, or signs of shock.
- Inability to keep fluids down, very dark urine, dizziness, or rapid heartbeat.
- Heavy rectal bleeding or black/tarry stool.
- Severe vomiting, swollen abdomen, or inability to pass stool or gas.
- High fever, severe weakness, or concern for infection after surgery or while immunosuppressed.
What to keep ready
- GI clinic phone number and after-hours instructions.
- Current medication list, allergies, recent procedures, and diagnosis summary.
- Insurance card, photo ID, and preferred hospital if your team has one.
- IBDPal export or symptom log if you have it, without delaying urgent care.
Flare emergency supplies guide · When to go to the ER article · Flare help hub
Do not wait for a website to decide
IBDPal cannot triage your symptoms. When you are unsure whether symptoms are urgent, it is reasonable to call your care team or seek urgent medical advice.