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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 11/24/2009 1:09 AM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone,

I am new to the site, and just want to see if anybody shares my feelings/experiences. I am a 25 year old male living in Korea. I had my first problem in May of 2009. I was in the hospital for two and a half weeks and put on steroids. The steroids worked perfectly, and I continued to take them in smaller and smaller doses for about three months. At the same time I was taking Asacol (is that what is perscribed in America and Canada?) as an anti-inflammatory (6 tablets a day). Pretty much the day my steroids ended, I got another flare up. It has been on-going for two months. Although my symptoms are not too severe, the duration of it is really bothering me. My doctor told me that the Asacol would increase my time in remission and reduce the symptoms when I do have a flare up. Although my symptoms may be reduced, I have had no remission other than when I was on steroids. I really don't know if the Asacol is doing anything so I am considering stopping it and starting alternative methods. Does anybody have any advice or a similar experience?

Thank you,

Tobes

Posted 11/24/2009 1:25 AM (GMT 0)
rectal meds
Posted 11/24/2009 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
yeah, what Dr. A said. I've not been on pred or any steroids but I did take Asacol only at first. It 'helped' but did not totally fix. I added Rowasa enemas (same med as Asacol) and I'm doing great so far!

They don't work for everyone but I wanted to try the 5-ASAs before moving on to anything stronger.
Posted 11/24/2009 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
Alternative methods are great but I would do them with medication at the same time. Aside from rectal meds, can you up the Asacol? I was on 9 a day before, and songlady is on, I THINK, 16 a day? If none of that stuff works you can consider 6mp or Imuran. Good luck! Hope the Asacol works out.
Posted 11/24/2009 3:24 AM (GMT 0)
I think you should ask your doctor about increasing your dose of Asacol and ask about mesalamine enemas. That's a pretty low dose of Asacol, so it might take more than that, plus rectal meds, to keep you in remission. If you want to look into alternative meds, I'd recommend adding them and see how it goes. Many people on here use probiotics, fiber, bee propolis (sp?), aloe, and more.
Posted 11/24/2009 6:49 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, I used korean/chinese herb med 3 different times (3 different docs) and they made my colitis worse. I had to stop them middle of 1 month long medicine. I have been taking following foods for 8 months, and they made me in remission. I still take them.
kelp using bone soup(miyukgook), ginger, kimchi, spinach, sunflower seed and probiotic. I take vsl#ds 3 packs/day. 1 or 2 does not work for me. I took above foods 3 times/day for 6 months. Right now, I am cutting back due to remission condition.
Good Luck
Jin
Posted 11/26/2009 12:06 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for all of your advice. I have tried Entocort (sp?) with no results. Are others more effective? Jin, That is great news for you. Obviously, living in korea I eat 김치 a lot. But I will try to see if 미역국 helps. I have tried Turmeric and spinach and drink 런 probiotics yogurt twice a day. I will try sunflower seeds as well. Thanks again,

Paul
Posted 11/26/2009 2:11 AM (GMT 0)
Right - I've been on 16 asacol a day for about 12 years. Before that I was on 12 a day.
For me they're not the miracle fix but they really do help.
Adding the rectal mesalamine, the enemas, has really helped me.
And the probiotics. Now if I have a few days of increased mucus or other "danger" signal, I double the probiotics for a few days until I'm calmed down again.
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