Anyone on PENTASA?

People with Crohn's take Pentasa because it is effective throughout the entire bowel, small and large. People with UC don't need medication in the small bowel. Also, since Pentasa is active in the small bowel, it is more likely to be absorbed into the blood stream, unlike medications released in the colon.

Proctitis really needs local treatment, best delivered through enemas.

I'm glad to hear that you're doing better!

I was on pentasa and prednisone and immuran when I was diagnosed with Pancolitis -severe UC in 2008.
After I stabilized -6 months - they slowly weaned me off of everything but immuran.

All my hair fell out and the doctors blamed the disease, I blamed the combo of pentasa and prednisone.

Pentasa did help with the horrible pain in my gut but only if I had it right before eating. I was taking 2 big tablets before every meal and was on 8 a day.

Well the first few years i treated my uc with only 4 pills of 400mg of asacol daily and my uc was in my rectum. When i was dx the gi put me on 30 days of suppositories with oral and after only oral.
So even oral meds at one point kept my rectum fine.

However when my uc flared again and was more moderate i needed rectal meds at one point. And on a regular basis to keep the area quiet.

If the 4 gr enemas didnt work surely there is one for you. And if no suppository or enemas work for you i wouldnt rely on pentasa alone. But yes its a nice chuncky conversation you have to have with your doctor. And follow ups as well as you usually need a few weeks of new med regiment to really see if it works.

It's really bad for us patient to feel we need to be precise and hurry up with the gi. I don/ think its te doctrs fault most of time as my gp said to me once: we are given only 10 minutes per appointment wich is hard and ridiculous.

So that's why they get to the prescription sheet quite quick.

Hi conquer yes chunky like campbell's chunky soups! Packed with lots of bits!

Well I'm not an expert on 5ASA so wouldn't know what is a high dosage exactly. Your doctor would know however im on 2400gr (6 pills) of asacol a day. I heard it's pretty much a maintenance standard dose. I topped that dose with either 2g or 4g enemas 2 times a week.

I was experiencing lots of urgencies, , once in a while blood. Im not completly in remission as my scope 2 weeks ago showed very mild inflammation. But to bes honest after years of symptoms ill take that any day.

Now the mucus has stopped a month ago and that was the last symptom really. But it came after about 9 months of efforts with meds. I started with enemas 5-6 times a week for a few months and then 3 months ago I added the asacol pills.

My old gi said to me once that when the rectum is affected even though its milder than others there is quite a lot of symptoms because the rectum is the last passage to the bowel movement. So that's why I haD LOTS of mucus, gas, urgencies but i rarely had episodes of cramping, 10+ bms a day with blood like others on here can experiment. So thats why my old gi went very slowly with the meds with only a few suppositories once in a while. But I noticed after a while i was under medicated.

Don't be afraid to be on medication for most part of your life. It's not as dramatic. My gi told me asacol is like a tylenol for the colon and it kin of dedramatised it. Those meds have very low side effects if none (unless you are allergic) and can bring you lots of plus. The right medication for you can be your best friend to leading a less frustrating life and a fuller social and love life. So talk to your doc!!

Pentasa, Rowasa, and Salofalk enemas are all brand names for mesalamine enemas. So there are likely differences in the inactive ingredients, but not the active ingredient, which is mesalamine.