"mild" flare... my first relapse, kinda worried

So I was diagnosed in about june/july with moderate colitis after bad symptoms for abut 3 months.

I achieved remission with asacol alone, in about 1-1.5 months, and all was well for quite a while, no diet restrictions, nothing.

I began to fear that asacol was causing hairloss, so I began to take a bit less, this still worked very well, but I ran out of the meds and had about a few days downtime before I could get more.

So sure enough, a few symptoms returned. First softer stool, then a bit of diarrhea first thing in the am. Not bad but definitely bringing back memories. Its been like this for a few days now, and Ive really upped the asacol considerably but my doc told me it sometimes doesnt work on round two as well as round one...

Anyway, Im a little worried, a bit of blood, not much, a bit of mucus, not much, and a bit of increase in gas and the rest. How worried should I be?

I don't know why your DR would say that Asacol might not work the second time around. It's not a drug like the biologics where you develop a tolerance or anything. I have confidence that, given time, you will recover from this flare. Take note, though, that you shouldn't stop taking your meds, even for a little while. That's one of the lessons I had trouble learning - this is a chronic condition and needs to be treated without stopping.

If you find that your current symptoms aren't relieved after a couple of weeks of Asacol, you could talk to your DR about a short round of pred. And also, if you are not using rectal meds, that is something you should have in your arsenal and would probably help a lot in making this little flare very short-lived.

Asacol might cause hair loss, but if you take folic acid you should be alright.

As Colonstorm said, there are some people who respond very well to dietary changes and you should start thinking about that. A food diary is a good place to start.

Tuna is high in mercury....you really shouldn't eat it more than once or twice a week at most!

Get on rectal meds, I would suggest the mesalamine retention enemas (Rowasa in the US...Salofalk in Canada).

It's not the food causing your flare, but understanding that some foods can exacerbate some symptoms or help some symptoms (namely diarrhea, constipation, cramping, gas..etc). Just don't make it all about food...you need to be on proper meds.

q

Pick up the book "what to eat with ibd". Lots of good info and recipes. Good luck getting back into remission.

apples, peanut butter lentils, some rice/beans mexican food, cheese, some sandwiches, kale, chard, spinach, fish/shellfish

no, I do, mostly ground beef if I do meat, with seafood also. Usually breakfast is apples/pb or oatmeal and rasins. I also eat vitamineral green (drink it, rather)

Also avocado.

Sandwiches, sometimes meat but usually chesse/avo. I try no to eat conventional meat and good meat is hard to get/expensive.