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Stopping Asacol for the time-being

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 11/18/2009 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
I noticed the last couple of days my Asacol pills have ended up in the toilet, and the water was maroon colored. Has anyone experienced this?

Me taking Pred in the morning helps during the day but once I go to bed all the food that I consumed wants to come out of me every 2 hours or so. I'm not really having D, it's more like formed clumps (stinks pretty bad). I don't know what to think of this, does anyone here have any ideas what's going? Am I getting close to remission?
Posted 11/18/2009 11:51 PM (GMT 0)
My doc also said it was OK if I saw Asacol capsules in my stool. However, when I saw them, I carefully prodded at them with a wad of TP and discovered that there was still a LOT of the medicine in them...the pill was usually split open on one side, and I could see the white stuff in there still. So, I switched to Apriso, as it starts dissolving at a lower gut pH than Asacol, and there is some evidence that suggests UCers have a lower gut pH than normal folks do. I was in remission when I switched, but after I switched, my remission seemed to get more solid. Now, I can't know if that's because I had simply been in remission for longer and therefore had had more time to heal, or because the Apriso helped calm that last little bit of inflammation.
Posted 11/19/2009 12:04 AM (GMT 0)
I wouldn't stop it til talking the doctor.
Posted 11/19/2009 12:39 AM (GMT 0)
Just for the record, there are a number of studies that show a significant risk reduction of dysplasia and colorectal cancer in UC patients exposed to aminosalicylate (Colazal, Asacol, Canasa, Lialda, Rowasa, Dipentum and Azulfidine) therapy. Given that my mother passed away at age 36 from colon cancer, I'm inclined to keep taking Asacol regardless of the status of my UC.
Posted 11/19/2009 3:07 PM (GMT 0)
Per the following reference, "It may be concluded from the relevant studies that regular use of at least 1.2 g of mesalazine per day may effectively prevent about two out of three colon cancers in ulcerative colitis."

www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118572554/abstract
Posted 11/19/2009 6:30 PM (GMT 0)
I've never been instructed to take Folic Acid. Per the following reference, its required for patients taking a high dose of sulfasalazine.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatment_of_ulcerative_colitis

This is the first time that I have seen the referenced page. It's nice having so much information altogether.
Posted 11/19/2009 7:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hey guys, thanks for all the info. I guess I'll just take a low dose of it. My doctor told me to take it with food when I first started, and that I could start taking it without. So, should I take it with food, before I eat, or on an empty stomach?
Posted 11/19/2009 8:19 PM (GMT 0)
Colitiscope, I don't believe that it matters. I just browsed the Asacol web site and I couldn't find anything related to food consumption. It's going to get mixed with food before it makes it to the colon anyway. I take mine at the start of my meal so it's not forgotten. Based on the Asacol web site, it seems that failure to remember to take the medicine is a significant problem. (www.asacol.com)
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