which oral meds reach the farthest in the colon?

I am on lialda now.

wondering if there is a better drug.? is colazol or sulfasalazine worth a shot?

Inflammation mostly in my recto-sigmoid area, with a patch on the transverse (i think)

I am pretty frustrated.

Back in May I gave up coffee and dairy and noticed a huge improvement. I improved to about 99%

Now, I feel myself slipping again into that state where it all is just simmering, for me about 6x BMS a day with Blood, and urgency. 

So, if its not the coffee, then maybe i should start drinking it again!!

I was feeling better and I guess I got cocky, I stopped the maintenence rowasa (on the 2x a week i was doing it i seemed to have looser stools and more urgency and gas, could this be too much mesalamine?) and had wine ( 1-2 glasses once or twice a week).

On my own i increased my lialda from 2 a day to 3 a day, and my probiotic from 1 a day to 2 a day.  i noticed some improvement.  i restarted the rowasa.

is there another rectal med i should try? one that is different than mesalamine.  maybe i am getting too much mesalamine?

I dont know.

I guess I should make a gi appt, but I am holding off- i have toyed with the idea of switching.  My GI does not think much of diet or alternative methods. 

 

I have UC in the recto-sigmoid area. I tried sulfaslazine because it is cheaper. It worked better than asacol but after a month I had adverse reactions and had go back to asacol HD. I am trying colazal next. I frequently pass partially dissolved asacol pills. When flaring, I would pass entire pills. Colazal was supposed to be a miracle drug for distal colitus. It didn't get enough "customers" and the went generic early. Colazal like sulfasalazine is biologically broken down into meslamine in the intestines. All the other 5ASAs are meslamine with a coating but the coatings are different. I definitely have higher motility than most people(ie I pass everything I eat in under 24 hours). Normal for me.

There doesn't seem to be much information on which pills are going to work for patients with various digestive turn around times, gut Ph etc. So I guess it is just doctor experience and trial and error. Talk to the doctor and tell him your concerns.

Songlady is right. Basically the same drug that works topically. The difference between the pills is the delivery system.

I tried altering diet in remission or close and got nowhere. Probiotics and pscillium husk have very noticeable effects on me.

You might try finding a primary care doctor that is experienced with UC. GIs in this are pretty much into running the snake as many times a day as possible. I have gotten no where with them. I haven't found a good internist yet either. It gets pretty old after a short while

Thanks so far for the responses.

Quincy- I take the generic metamucil capsules, 5-6 a day

I did rowasa the past 2 nights, increased lialda to 3 , probiotic to 2

today is the best ive felt in a couple of weeks- 1x bm, formed only a small bit of blood on tp, my stomach just feels better.

I know i should probably just go to my GI, she seems better than most, but not as good as a few people mention here- she prescribes rectals and is not pred happy

 

Glad you are feeling some better!
My old GI liked me to update him every time I changed a med; my new GI is thrilled that I can basically treat myself appropriately (with a little help from my friends, lol....) So.... they all react differently to our taking the lead. Hopefully yours will just be happy you knew what to do!

I've had GIs tell me.... this disease changes. It can be one way, respond one way, for years, and then - change. So I'd guess that's what you're experiencing.

Because I'm on an annual scoping schedule, I see the GI pre-scoping, and then for the post-scoping follow up a few weeks later. Last year I was (mildly) flaring through all that, so I also had another follow-up to the follow-up 6 week later..... and then he said he didn't need to hear from me unless I had an issue.
So.... 2, 3 times a year for me?
With my old GI, it was one appointment per year and the scoping, and the rest by phone. We talked often - he said he hated to hear from people just when they were sick, so he encouraged frequent "check-in"s.

quincy- dont mean to confuse you but I actually have 2 screen names, i_love_coffee is my original name, but i forgot my password when i was at home and set up another account, UCNJ.  I plan to just post under i love coffee though, i set up UCNJ becasue i was home and desperate for advice!

anyway, 4 nights on the rowasa and definite improvements!

I think I am going to take your advice and just come clean with my GI when I see her, and tell her i have been making changes on my own.  I actually had been thinking i was not going to go into with her, but i guess i have no choice.

My last colonoscopy was 12/08.  How often do you get them?

So, is the general wisdom to stay on the rowasa nightly until improvement and then every other night?