I'm the idiot who stopped Rowasa for no reason...

I was in full remission!! Was taking asacol x 9 and Rowasa enemas every other night. Somehow I got it in my head that I'm not getting pregnant again because of the Rowasa (the meds have definitely messed with my hormones), and I quit, just quit Rowasa cold turkey. I was feeling so good, I guess I forgot what a ***** uc is, and I didn't use Rowasa for three weeks. Hellloooo?! youre probably not getting pregnant again because youre 40 years old! and you cant get pregnant with a flare anyway! What a huge mistake!! Now I'm flaring, although the Asacol has got my upper colon ok I think, I think I'm just flaring left sided right now.

But really, I'm in tears! What a freaking stupid move! I'm terrified this is not going to work and I'll have to take some harsher drugs, steroids or worse, and I'm so angry with myself! I've been back on Rowasa for a week now, and it got rid of the blood the first few days, but now it seems it's back. Is that a bad sign? I also started scd for a few days, but I couldn't hang. I thought it would be easy for me to do since I had no appetite, but apparently I have a huge appetite when I can't have carbs, and it just made me nauseous and hungry with zero energy.

I know I'm pretty much going to have to do scd because last night I had an Oreo cookie (I know, dumb) and this morning more blood. I need to ease myself into it I guess.

Any encouragement or positive words would be greatly appreciated. My husband is tired of hearing me complain this whole week and he's not really understanding any of this (nor is he trying to at this point :-(().

idiot is such a harsh word - dummy sounds much better

i agree with fgirl -

don't freak about scd/diet - you gotta eat - just keep in mind that excess carbs may not be the best thing - i would try just going gluten free if you haven't already - and just eat simple, basic, good food - you know, meat, veggies, fruit - try to limit things that come in a box or can -

and tell your husband to try and be a little more patient and understanding - this is hard on both of you -

It could just be a mental thing -- rectal meds aren't exactly sexy! But I doubt there's anything in the Rowasa that would affect your hormones/sex drive that aren't in the Asacol as well. I had pretty low sex drive for a while after being diagnosed; I think partly because I was so ill and partly because it's such an un-sexy disease. And I had a newborn at home -- they're really effective at killing a woman's sex drive!

And thanks. My UC has been perfect the entire pregnancy so far. I have had some issues with constipation if I don't get quite enough dietary fiber, but that's such a normal pregnancy thing that I'm actually sort of glad it's happening! As my UC started up shortly after my first kiddo was born, I'm fairly nervous about what'll happen this time around.

Have you thought about charting your cycle to see if you're ovulating or not?

Don't beat yourself up for stopping them. Plenty of people have gone off all meds and had this happen. Now you know you can't stop them. I would stick with them and like fruitgirl said if in another week still not helping enough try a steriod enema. I have never noticed a lack of sex drive from the Rowasa.

You're just overly optimistic and a bit removed from reality.

So you've learned your lesson regarding the importance of meds. What you risk being on or off.

What you don't want is to be flaring while you're trying to get pregnant. As well...ovulating can set off a flare.

Please stop the punishment of believing that a cookie or food caused you to bleed or flare. It's not BAD! or STUPID!.

Hang tough, welcome back to reality and common sense. Stay on the enemas nightly for a while. Reevaluate in about 3 weeks and see how you're doing.

Remember that you can alternate during the tapering phase with either a lower dosage of the mesalamine enemas or with supps.

Stick with your SCD if you believe it's something that suits you.

Stop punishing yourself...the distress of that alone, hormones, adhering to a diet, having a UC flare..etc will snowball.

Keep us all updated, hopefully the support will get you through this phase.

q

Yes, definitely wait until you've been in remission for at least a few months before you TTC again. If you're flaring when you get pregnant, you're much more likely to flare throughout the pregnancy, which isn't a good thing. My GI and OBGYN were both in full support of me getting pregnant because I'd been in remission for so long (2.5 years or so) when we started TTC.

The OPK's are pretty good, but charting is a bit more accurate. It's not something that everyone is interested in, though. I charted when we were TTC our first child, mostly to make sure I was ovulating after being on BCP for so long.  With this pregnancy only made a half-@ssed effort, because I was 99% certain I was ovulating based on the regularity of my cycle.