How long does it take?

I am sure this has been exhausted and I apologize in advance..

I had a mild flare, mod proctitis seen by MD on 8/8. Started cortenema at night continued w my canasa twice daily.

Ten days later, half cortenema half rowasa. At night still canasa twice daily.

Just started full rowasa last night and cont with twice canasa daily.

I have very little to no rectal pressure...just some times in the am after I go.

There is still on and off stain of pink to sometimes a little darker blood on toilet paper...about a quarter size.

There is still some blood on stool.

For the most part stool is formed...still going a few times in the morning, but within 10 minutes of each usually.

Bloating is gone stomach pain gone...


So I don't get it..how long will I see blood?

And when do I need to call doctor to see if I need to do something else?

It's just so confusing to me ...

My last flare was severe..2 years ago, and they put me on oral prednisone for I think 7 days...in addition to the rowasa and canasa...and I'm pretty sure the blood stopped sooner, although I could be wrong...

Can anyone offer any insight on this?

Yes, prednisone does tend to be faster-acting, but I would stay away from it unless you really need it. If you are continuing to see improvement, even if slow, then stay the course. I agree with Quincy that maybe you should have stayed on the cortenema (or cortifoam) for longer... Generally I stay on the "harder" stuff until bleeding stops before I start peeling away those treatments to get back down to a maintenance program. Maybe talk to your doc about that. But either way you've been under treatment for barely over two weeks... Have patience, as it usually takes a while (sometimes months) for things to fully settle down and get under control. Mesalamine enema can be pretty effective in and of itself if your disease is limited to proctitis.

Sounds like a good plan. Having one with different options is less stressful.


Yes, possibly months. sucks, doesn't it? But if you are able to get out of this flare with the meds you're on...AND remain on a maintenance (plus the oral), it hopefully will be something that you'll be able to do without systemic meds.
Time will tell.


Bad timing right now...Especially since you are near your period, you might have a minor increase of activity since hormonal changes affect the colon.

you're improving...again, a good thing. Looking forward to hearing how your appointment goes on Monday.

Hang tough...

q

Do you know if you have internal hemmies? If you don't know, I'd ask your doc to check for them.

Hi...this is with UC, don't know about CD. But I parallel the healing described by my doc to a thermometer (since we all know how they work).

Basically, UC starts at the rectum/anal junction and goes upward in a classic continuous pattern. It can be limited or throughout. No matter how high it goes, the rectum will be inflamed first. Hence my push for both rectal and oral meds.

During a flare, usually the rectum is the worst in inflammation, but it seems that if it's being treated, it will gradually lessen in severity. If the higher part of the rectum is involved and going toward the sigmoid, etc...enemas are obviously going to reach those areas. The oral meds can get into the sigmoid and treat it from that end or help prevent it from working its way upward.

So, the both end approach or a very limited inflammation rectal approach, UC recedes in a downward healing manor, with the lowest part still harder to treat. Sometimes adding the suppositories continues a more concentrated amount of med to help deal with that.

So, think of the thermometer bulb the lowest part of the rectum and the raising temp the pattern.
A constantly reacting lower rectum can be part of one's disease pattern and for some it might never heal.

There's one form of UC where there's cecal involvement, and my theory is that if it's not treated, the lower area will continue to be in an extreme fussy state, not reacting as well to the rectal approach.

It's possible that for some with this form, a imited disease diagnosis that has been determined with only a sig-scope and missing the cecal inflammation they aren't being treated fully.
I don't know, but suspect, that for some....this form is like the candle at both ends and they eventually meet to become a pancolitis.
Symptoms such as diarrhea with very limited UC can be suspect of this.

To me...ANY and all areas should be treated...regardless.  5ASA meds exhausted and considered as to where they release.  Low dosages can also be used initially and increased if necessary.  Better than starting high and having side effects and saying 5ASA meds don't work. 
q

Qunicy!

Thank you for the bump!

So the appointment went well...he still sees inflammation
, but said that is was improved. Still inflamed, but better, about 70% better. He said 2 weeks ago when he went it I bled, this time, is was not friable.

Wants me to continue with the rowasa at night and canasa during the day. Didn't say anything about orals yet, but he wants me to email him in 2 weeks with an update. So I'm sure we will discuss then.

I told him still have some sort of bleeding every morning, but all stools are formed and brown. Blood is pink, maybe red some times, but only on the tissue and if I push a drop in toilet.

He said the area could take weeks to heal completely, like poison ivy...itching will stop way before rash goes away.

In the meantime, I have rare urgency and almost no rectal pressure and pain.
I swear the Metamucil saved me.
I'm up to 3 in the am and about to start 3 in the evening.

No more bloating, stomach feels fine...starting to eat more...without being scared.

Today was hubby's colonoscopy, that's why I didn't update. I freeze until the all clear..and we got the all clear...so I think we are now on an every 2 year schedule! So we will both be doing it again together in 2 years, unless I get a bad flare again...


Prometheus blood results not back yet, will call him tomorrow ...so stil
Unsure of the chrons thing...although I did find the Prometheus blood test from 2006. Tested positive for IBD first step, and the the second test tested no markers found.

So I really am interested in seeing what this repeat 6 years larger says...

How are you feeling? Hemmies? Fissure?

J

my bleeding has gone up and down but has not stopped in over 3 years.

My cat's 18. She's having somewhat constipation and we're trying to change the additions to her wet food to increase the bms so that she's not distressed.

That's just one issue....she has hip/leg/shoulder pain, so we use topical tramadol rubbed in her ear. When she poops, her crouching can hurt to the point of her bolting out of the box in mid evacuation. It then ends up she runs to finally have the poo somewhere else on the basement floor. So, it's become a goal to create softer poos that come out easily without causing loose/soft-serve, etc. If that happens, then there's the scooting...she has written us interesting messages on the floor as well. We're obsessed with cleaning and checking a multitude of times a day. When we see her the first question is "did you have poopies?".

She also has had bouts of interstitial cystitis which can be super stimulated by large bowel movements. So, it's been a few years of hell watching her go through this. Ultimately, if a + b = C....intervening within that formula creates more calm in the system, less pain and hopefully better bms. We want them to be smaller, definitely softer, but easily coming out without urgency..etc.

Her distress and intolerance for discomfort has changed her demeanor because we've had to use the tramadol. Just to add, she's always had the herpes upper respiratory virus from the humane society....so as a result, she's now going deaf and her pupils are cloudy.

As well, she had dizziness/imbalance probably from the herpes virus.

Basically, she's the child I never wanted...and she has many of the same issues I have. OMG, it's stressful for us, but as long as she's eating, we're continually seeking appropriate additions. She might have had a mild stroke that has changed her focus/interests, or the pain med has done that, or the deafness. But it seems like overnight things have changed....so it is what it is and we're doing what we can to maintain the balance.

We will definitely know when it's time...but until then...her quality of life is still very good.
I do miss the old her, but in turn I've gotten a break from her consistent demanding. bittersweet. I dread the day it ends, for she's been an integral and active part of our life for a long time.

q

Well, butter wasn't a good idea...omg.
Yes, today was a tad stressful...oily RIGHT NOW poops, thankfully in the basement. Slippery butt syndrome magnified. She was ticked bigtime.

She gets metamucil as well....trying to adjust the dosage between an eighth and a quarter tsp with each meal (2 - 3 daily).

Fifteen years for a GS is amazing! sad to hear of the tumour. Our previous cat Quincy had adhesions all throught her intestines. One day she was in agony, a few days later we had to have her pts. She was 15.

We'll see how tomorrow fares..

q