Colifoam and steroids' side effects?

A friend got me colifoam enemas from Australia. As I never used it before, I took 2 doses at the same time instead of one but I'm not worried and if things become worse I'll call my GI. This foam consists of 90 mg corticosteroids. My rectum is really flaring up and it is v v swollen like a ball but I'm worried of the dose. It's mentioned in the leaflet that it is to be taken twice/day. But I don't want to get steroid's side effects again. I have been on 40mg for one year and a half and got reversible hypertension, weight gain, moon face and severe gastritis then. I don't want these to happen again. Should I reduce the dose? My GI told me to just take it 2 times/week since he knows I don't have enough of it but my rectum is really painful and narrowed and I can hardly have a bm.
Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Pb4, thank you very much. You made my day.

I have been taking enemas regularly since July 2012. A month ago, my GI decided that it's high time I tapered the steroid enema. So, it was his decision. As a result, I'm flaring up again and have to start from square 1 again.

The fact that over time they can thin the tissue (indefinite long term use) is the very reason I don't agree with those on the UC board that believe in "treating both ends" indefinitely, many of them say their docs are behind the "treat both ends continuously" but too much of anything is not a good thing IMO. I know that proctitis is common with having UC compared to CD since with UC it's often where the disease starts...at least for most CDers it's not that way thankfully and we don't have to use rectal meds as often or generally as long as UCers may.

Kazbern and Pb4, thank you. I'm a CDer so far but my rectum is really giving me hard time. When I was taking mesalamine enemas along side the steroid enemas, things became better. This happened after taking the enemas regularly for 2 months. After my GI suggested alternating the enemas every other day, things became worse. Now, I have to begin from the beginning. The constant flaring of the proctitis made me feel 100% sure that I do have Crohn's though a lot of doctors apart from my GI deny it. When I get away from the enemas, I simply flare up. In addition, if I skip pentasa sachets (the 4g), I get nonstop watery diarrhea and if I don't take Entocort, I have severe intestinal pain. I decided to follow my intuition no matter what doctors tell me.

Welcome to Healing Well, S-ham! You posted on a somewhat older thread. Not sure how many responses you will get. As to the colifoam - it is a steroid and the warnings are on every insert for any steroid product. Steroids are great at stopping the inflammation associated with Crohn's disease. Many, many people when first diagnosed are given steroids to stomp down the inflammation and get the person relief. Ideally, they are used only short turn before they can cause problems associated with steroid usage.

It is your decision whether to try the medication. But if nothing else is working then the Crohn's is causing damage to the lining of your rectum.

Feel free to post your own thread and ask for more opinions on this. Just click "Post New Topic" and type away!