Just Diagnosed...I need help

Did you have a colonoscopy? The only way to get a true diagnosis is with biopsies taken during a colonoscopy or flex sigmoidoscopy. Have you had stool tests to check for bacteria? I hope Asacol helps you, it helps many of us, many people take it as a maintenece medication indefinitely.

I take klonopin for anxiety but I don't take it often and I don't find that it helps my UC.

Goodluck tomorrow!

The oral med may work on it's own or you may need some rectal meds too which can eventually be tapered down. I know it sux to be ill at 18 but with the right combo of meds you stand a very good chance of living a normal life. Once you get dialed on with meds spend some time doing searches for supplements, diet etc.

Be well

Hi Gavin,

Welcome to the forum.

First off, I was diagnosed with UC about your age. I started taking a few tablets of Sulfasalazine (like Asacol) for some time, then reached remission and quit the pills. I was told that I need to take the yellow pills for the rest of my life. That sounded awful, so I refused.

Stress is the main trigger of my UC, although food can do that as well. As notsosicklygirl wrote, I've not got never any relief from meds for the stress. Only different relaxation exercises have worked out great.

It is so unfair that stress triggers this monster which increases stress which ...

I'm certain your GI doc will know what meds to prescribe for you so that you will reach remission (if you have UC) and what maintenance meds to take.

Do whatever you can do keep the stress out of your life, and - more important - quit worrying. In the long run worrying is so futile.

You will get better.

Hang in there and good luck.

Uummmm...You just had a colonoscopy with biopsies two days ago??? and the doc did a barium enema to see if you had more inflammation?? I'm missing the point here.


or do you mean a barium swallow?

q

I had to do a quick google search because the HD to Asacol HD is new to me. I take regular old Asacol. According to the website asacol.com the HD version is prescribed in 800 mg tablets, so depending on the mg dosage on the Rx should tell you how many to take if you haven't asked your GI that questioned since your original post. I find it hard to believe it would just be one, but what do I know. Asacol is a maintenance drug so you could be on it until your remission status is stable and consistent. I've been on it for 10 years even though I've been in remission for 9 of those years because I want to get done with college before I even think about stopping anything.

The weird thing about his prescription though is that the HD version is supposed to be for more moderate flares vs. the mild to moderate Asacol is for which is prescribed in 400 mg tablets. You said your pain was not very much and the inflammation was on a few inches. Maybe he thinks it will be easier to take only a few HD ones vs. a lot of Regular ones. I take 12 a day which equals 4800 mg. 6 800 mg tablets would be a lot easier. I'll have to ask my GI about the differences in Aug when I go in for my appt.

Also, Colitis is just another variation of IBD. The name really just describes the location of the inflammation. Chron's, UC, Colitis, pancolitis, etc is basically the same thing. Some people like me are diagnosed as Indeterminate Colitis because we had or have inflammation in multiple places that aren't specific to one or the other. When explaining to other people I use Chron's a lot because people are more familiar with that term.