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Asacol HD in Stool?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/2/2012 8:37 PM (GMT 0)
Have any of you who take or have taken Asacol HD noticed them in your stools? I have been taking them for about a week, and this afternoon I noticed what looked like a tablet in my stools, except that it wasn't the dark brown color of the undigested pills, but more light red. Has this happened to any of you? Did you have to switch meds because of this?

Thanks you all! 

Posted 10/2/2012 10:11 PM (GMT 0)
Were you able to figure out if there was any medicine inside? Sorry, I think there's only one way to determine that. Anyway, I posted about this a few weeks ago as I found it very interesting that every once in a while I would find one unused asacol in my stools when I always took two at a time. I found that fascinating. If it is just the covering from the meds I wouldn't worry about it but depending on the frequency you might need a med adjustment. I'm not sure what was happening to me but I haven't seen one in my stool for a long time now. The outside layer disolves by the ph of your system and if your asacol is regularly passing all of the way through you should switch to something like Apriso which is basically the same medicine but it disolves more quickly.
Posted 10/2/2012 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
Yes. It happened to me when I was on Asacol and occasionally happens now that I am on Lialda. Both times complete tablets. I asked my GI and he told me it was normal. I find it happens when I eat the wrong thing or too much.
Posted 10/3/2012 2:23 AM (GMT 0)
When that happened to me I thought they were unused. My doctor said they slightly crack in the intestine from acid, then medicine is released in the lower intestine.
Posted 10/3/2012 6:33 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, they do break open and if your colon is moving fast, you'll have some come out that aren't fully emptied. The shells will always be in the stool or toilet, so don't freak about it.

As you heal, they'll stay in the colon longer. Mine end up orange and totally squished/mangled...

No, you shouldn't have to change meds...unless they're totally not opening.

q
Posted 10/3/2012 11:52 AM (GMT 0)
I was finding regular Asacol pills in my stool, and by (carefully) poking around in the toilet discovered they still had quite a bit of medication in them. It's part of the reason I switched to Apriso, as it starts dissolving at a lower gut pH than Asacol, and UCers are thought to have a lower gut pH than the "normal" population.
Posted 10/3/2012 1:29 PM (GMT 0)
I used to find Asacol coating with some medication intact left in my stool. I switched to Lialda a few years ago and it happened a little more frequently, but usually only one pill.
Yesterday I had the shell coating and all 4 pills mixed in the toilet yesterday. They were all broken and slightly dissolved, but I'd never seen them that intact before. It was really weird to me because I'm in 3rd trimester and I'm pretty sure that digestion is still slowed significantly at this point, so if anything, they should be spending a little more time inside. Then again, I had constant and explosive diarrhea for 2 days straight, perhaps that could be the culprit. Otherwise, while in remission, I only have the coating left in the toilet.
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