Bleeding was only symptom, worse after meds

Hello all, I am new to this site and the forums, I tried searching for my topic but had trouble finding exactly what I needed. Prior to being diagnosed with CD, the only symptom I had was bleeding during BM, no cramping, pain, severe D, etc. It started about 7-8 yrs ago with only one incident, then nothing for a couple years. The bleeding increased slightly in frequency over the years, ranging from a couple times a year to maybe one day a month, until I had one solid week of bleeding in Dec of 2012. This prompted me to make an appt with a GI. I had a colonoscopy this past May that showed ulcers in the colon. The GI put me on 2 Lialda a day following. about 2.5-3 months being on the med I encountered a bad flare with symptoms that I had never ever had before, severe urgency, D several times a day, mucous during BM in addition to bleeding. The GI put me on prednisone which did help after about a week, however, once I weaned down to 10mg I started bleeding and having some mucous again. The GI has since bumped me back up to 15mg and wants me to take 4 Lialda a day. Here's my problem...I am unnerved by the fact that prior to taking the Lialda, the only symptom I had was bleeding, and after starting the med I then entered my bad flare with brand new symptoms. Honestly, I have not taken the Lialda for a week now because I don't know if it's part of the problem. I am still taking the prednisone and will continue to do so until weaned off. Any advice from those of you out there?? How long does it usually take for you to quit bleeding after being on a steroid?? I don't know if I'm doing the right thing by not taking the Lialda...

Welcome smsladybug.

Some people are intolerant of mesalamine, the active ingredient in Lialda. The symptoms of intolerance are...diarrhea and bleeding. yeah. So it is entirely possible that the Lialda did make you worse, but the fact that you were on it for 2 months without this problem seems to indicate that this is not true for you.

The data on Lialda for Crohn's is not very promising. In fact, the data for any treatment other than steroids or biologics for Crohn's is really not promising. That is not to say that people shouldn't use meds like Lialda for Crohn's - what I mean is that your expectations for success with Lialda should not be very high.

I suggest you go back to your GI and talk about other treatment options. This disease will not go away.

That being said, following a restrictive diet like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet does seem to help some people. Based on what you wrote in your 2nd post you might be doing that already, but it is probably worth your time to do some research on this. You can search this forum for "SCD" and you will get a lot of results.