Rowasa/Mesalamine side effect or the UC?

Towards the end of October I started having a tiny bit of bleeding on the paper, but aside from that everything was normal. Since it didn't go away I started using the Rowasa enemas and changed my diet to only bland items like eggs, chicken soup, boiled salmon/chicken, etc. The bleeding lasted for a while, but finally went away in November.

After the bleeding stopped I continued using the Rowasa for a week then stopped. about 3 days later I had diarrhea, but normal frequency, then the diarrhea became more frequent along with bleeding/huge urgency till I had to go 10+ times a day. I was traveling when the diarrhea started so I didn't start on the Rowasa again for about 4 days after the diarrhea started. After going back to the plain diet and just resting the frequency decreased to 5x-6x a day. but no improvement in the stool.

My doctor put me on 4 pills of Lialda (I was only taking Align before) and scheduled a sigmoidoscopy, which I did last week. He said it looked like I "caught it early" and I had only mild inflammation. I've been taking the Lialda and the Rowasa and haven't seen any improvement in a week.

When I looked at the side effects for both, they both show UC like symptoms of diarrhea, bleeding, and other problems.

Does anyone know how to tell if what I'm experiencing is a side effect of the medication or if it's in fact the UC? I think its strange I had only mild inflammation when my symptoms are so bad still.

Everyone is different with how long it can take for symptoms to subside. I am on Lialda and Rowasa and I do not get any D from either of them. Even mild inflammation gave give you horrendous symptoms unfortunately. Stick with it...it will get better and keep up the diet of bland stuff...then when your feeling better slowly introduce foods back in...and make a note if your having issues after eating a certain thing. Also once you do feel better keep up on a maintenance dose of the meds. When I'm flaring I do lialda 2 pills twice a day and enemas nightly. When I feel good I only take 2 lialda in the am and the enemas once a week (most people use them every third day or twice a week). So far this has worked for me.

I will say that my stool when taking 4 pills a day is a little less formed than it is when I take only 2 pills but its not even close to D. I would give it some more time...there are other options before that nasty pred.

My son had an extremely mild case of UP and with Apriso, canassa, rowasa it took him a good

 6-8 weeks to see results. Hang in there. If you don't start seeing some improvements in 3 weeks maybe contact the doctor. But if things get worse call the doctor sooner.

Hope you get well soon

Thanks everyone. I don't know what I'd do without this forum.

The only change I've noticed since my last post is that my stomach is pretty sensitive, so I'm having trouble wearing my normal underwear or PJs because it feels like I'm wearing something too tight even though I've actually lost weight. The other thing is my stomach is hurting sometimes right before and while I have to go.

I'm still taking the Lialda and Rowasa and last Thursday started the SCD after reading about it online. Its pretty difficult to follow, but I haven't deviated at all. Unfortunately I haven't improved at all.

Should I call my doctor tomorrow or give it some time? If the SCD was going to help would I have started seeing some improvements by now? Is there anything else diet wise that might help? I'm leery of new meds as the doctors said to give the Lialda 2 weeks, but I thought I'd see some kind of improvement before then. It will be 2 weeks this Thursday