New to enemas

Hey everyone I'm new here but I've had UC for about 8 years (I'm 20). I've been in remission for almost 2 years until a few weeks ago. Basically I stopped taking my medicine, Colazal, because I didn't have medical insurance. Thank goodness that Aetna decided to cover me.

Anyway, scheduled an appointment with a gastroenterologist but I won't be able to see him until next week. He went ahead and prescribed me generic rowasa and an antibiotic. He told me to keep taking my Colazal, which I still have about 3 months worth left and to do the enemas every night.

I'm having problems holding in the enema and I started 2 days ago. The first night I was able to use up 3/4ths of the bottle and last night I was able to get 1/2 of the bottle but both times I was only able to hold it for 4 hours before I woke up cramping. I'm also having trouble going to sleep because of the enema. The feeling of the medicine "working" for the first 30-60 minutes...tickles? lol

I was thinking of taking melatonin because it knocks me out but I'm afraid of having an accident if I don't wake up.

And if there is any other thing that can help me go in to remission faster would be helpful. Anything besides prednisone. I causes me to have very bad headaches and bipolar and depression run in my family.

I'm currently taking this:
12 colazal daily
1 mesalamine enema
2 fish oil capsules
1 multivitamin
3 metronidazole daily

Welcome to HealingWell. My, you're certainly a veteran of this disease at an early age, aren't you? I'm glad you found us, but sorry you needed to because of your flare.

If you've held the fluid in for 4 hours, I'd say you're doing great for someone who's new to enemas. You will get some benefit from that, and it should start decreasing the inflammation enough to help you retain the enemas longer.

Yea at two nights I'm already starting to notice a lot less blood, although I'm still having the same amount of bm but I guess I will have to give the medicine more time to work.

Yea I've had the disease for quite some time but I've only had about 3 major flareups, this being my third. The other times I've only had small flareups that only lasted a week. Before I was diagnosed with the disease I had a flare up for 8 months with no medication at all. The doctors kept running all kinds of stool samples and blood tests. Then I found a doctor in Atlanta that set me up for a colonoscopy and finally figured out what I had.

As for the fiber diet, I was actually thinking more of a liquid diet for awhile to give my body some time to rest and heal itself. I was thinking of a soup/gatorade diet and gradually going back to solid food.

If I remember correctly, I have a mild form of left sided colitis. I have about 5 actual bms but if I am at the house I will run to the bathroom if I'm cramping.

This morning was horrible I went to the bathroom 5 times, but only passed stuff on the first time, the rest was blood :/
Through out the day yesterday I had granola with raspberries, yogurt, and chicken noodle, so I dunno why that happened.

As for consistency, it is mostly D, but I have noticed very loose formed stools.

I think eating foods that have a substance but don't necessarily contribute to an increased action in the digestive tract would be best.

Granola isn't something I'd ever think to eat, interestingly....

Can you have eggs? chicken? any meat? toast, potatoes, rice, whatever?

Basic foods.....with protein.

Fibre supplements such as metamucil smooth can help bind foods.

You could also consider probiotics.

The reason you had bms such as you did today is because you're flaring....expect that for a while until your colon heals.

You should see a bit more improvement over the next week or so....

quincy

Rio in Maryland said...
Holding an enema in for 4 hours is still very good, and don't worry if you're not able to do the whole bottle, as it can be tricky getting it all through. After using it for a short while you'll get a better hang of it.

The first 20-30 minutes after inserting you feel it more, and it helps to not move much and let the enema settle down. I stay on my left side for about the first 10 mins and then roll over to the opposite side for the rest of the time.

Also using ky jelly lubricant for the enema makes it a lot easier and quicker to insert.

I think an antibiotic is a quick fix but it doesn't really help for too long as it also gets rid of the good bacteria. Maybe you could consider trying a probiotic as well.

Also if the meds don't work soon for you, and if you're advised to take prednisone....before you try prednisone pills you could try the prednisone foam or pred enema as they are a lot gentler on the system.

I would give the rowasa a bit of time to work before even considering any steroids.

If I roll over, I have to go and have a BM.

All sounds positive....continue the enemas nightly until you feel "normal"..then continue them for another few days to a week and taper to every second night.

See how you do on them for at least a few weeks. The process continues...

The nausea is possibly the weight of the med in the lower colon...as well...inflammation causes nausea as well. I have it often .

The orange could be the colazal...but I've never been on it to experience it.

Take note of your experience...it won't be the only one, however. At least you'll know what to expect in the future.

Oh, as you're healing, some symptoms will be what you will experience in early symptom flaring...to be recognised as well...

Keep us posted.

quincy

I'd never take gatoraid (full of too much sugar and junky stuff) I'd use pedialyte instead and I'd add a fibre supplement (I use caps, no junky stuff) and probiotics, both daily and indefinitely...as my GI suggested to me.

:)

Went to the doctor yesterday. We both decided that would go back on pred just because I want this flare up over with as soon as possible (it is starting to affect my job). He also gave me a months worth of samples for Lialda to try them out to see if I like them better than Colazal (4 pills daily, although I though it was 1 pill a day, but I think he did that if I wanted to start taking them right away to see if it would help me out of the flare up).
Also they have a stinky smell, lol :(
bms have starting to decrease, but I missed the enema last night so I'm starting to see blood again :/
I tried taking benadryl so I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night but I ended up falling asleep before I could take the medicine.

But, yay for taking 40mg of pred a day and tapering down 10mg a week.

Although, I haven't starting taking the Lialda. Is it better than Colazal? I've been taking Colazal for the last month, which is when my flare up starting happening, but I don't seem to be getting any better. And the only that that seems to be helping is the enema.