Swollen Colon

15mg pred daily, 200mg Imuran, seems to be working fine, most days no blood, formed stools, still have morning urgency, but I have a swolen colon and was prescribed mesalamine enima but cannot keep it in for longer than 5 min. As a result of the swolen colon it is very difficult to have a bowel movement, lot of blockage, lots of trips to the bathroom, no fun. I'm calling the doc tomorrow but wondered if anyone out there has had this and what did you do?

I've been using Rowasa enemas almost nightly for at least four years at this point. I personally think they work better than any of the oral meds. Any time I've tried to taper, I flare.

So here are a few tips.

Use the enema when your colon is relatively quiet. In my experience, my colon gets into "chuck-everything-out" mode when I am having frequent bouts of D, so give it some time to quiet down before you try.

Squeeze all the air out of the bottle and put the medicine in sloooowwwwly while lying on your side. You can start with half the bottle (or even a quarter), gradually working your way up to the full dose.

Your colon will likely cramp when the medicine first gets in there but make a really really good attempt to lie quietly and calmly on your side and try to ride out the cramps. I know they hurt but if you breathe and relax for a minute or two they'll likely calm down.

Ideally you should do this before bedtime so you get a full 8 hours of lying down so the medication gets a good chance to get up as high as possible before it gets, ahem, expelled.

Try to stick with it. Rowasa is a really good med.

Jane

i feel like my rectum i swollen! i can feel it.
it is quite uncomfortable, feels full and, well, swollen.

not liking it very much. might try the colifoam again and see how that goes.

Yes, Adeel, Asacol enemas and rowasa enemas are the same thing. Any enema with mesalamine in it would be basically the same thing. The inactive ingredients will differ, and some people have issues with inactive ingredients in different products, but I'd definitely try them.

Proctofoam and Cortifoam helped me as it is easier to get in and won't come out.  My GI prescribed the Cortifoam twice a day followed by a steroid suppository.  Seemed to work good.  As I felt better I decreased to once a day and now a couple times a week when I feel I might need it.

ElaineNY