Treatment plan

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Proctitis in January 2013. My dr. put me on asacol HD and canasa sups. It definitely helped a lot but never fully cleared things up. Because of insurance, I had my dr. switch me from Asacol HD to Balsalazide about two months into the diagnosis. Things seemed great for about a month and a half, and then everything started to go downhill. The problem, is that I had to go out of town for over a month, so I wasn't able to meet with the Dr. until last week. My flare is really bad right now, I go to the bathroom 10+ times a day and have no energy and basically do nothing. He said he wants to put me on Cortifoam and Imuran. I feel like the Imuran is such a drastic step. I asked about going back to a name brand pill instead of the balsalazide but he said that it wouldn't work. I have three small children and I'm really nervous to take Imuran and have a compromised immune system. Are there any other options for me? Would the mesalamine enemas be better than the suppositories?

This is really a disease where you have to educate yourself as to all the treatment options and be a part of the decision making process. Doctors often tell us that you only have this option or that option because they all have their own preferences and it can be very surprising how different their options can be. This is your life and you need to sometimes tell the doctor what you want to do instead of being passive and letting them make all of the decisions. The fact is no one knows that much about UC and what will work and what won't in any particular patient. Sometimes you have to be the doctor yourself and take the professional along for the ride with you. If your doctor is uncomfortable with this then you find another doctor who will be.

I would try the cortifoam and the mesalamine enemas before going on Imuran. Canasa is good but the enemas cover a larger area and the cortifoam may actually give you a little boost in the right direction.

I would try hydrocortenems they work better then the foam, at least for me. I would ask your GI about trying that before Imuran..Rod