Advice on adding supplements!

Hello everyone, I am currently in the middle of a bad flare with my UC, getting fed up with my meds not working and things getting worse all the time! I am currently on 40mg/day Prednisone and I have just started Lialda 2/day first thing in the morning. I have been trying SCD diet for the past 2 weeks, saw some improvment (which was short lived) but the weightloss has been awesome :) I also take probiotics in the morning as well, I have been reading up on boswellia and tumeric supplements and I really want to try them but wanted to know if anyone has experience taking these while on other meds as well? I'm only concerns because of side effects and interactions with the meds I am already on. Any suggestions/advice are welcome!

In general, most supplements are not going to interfere with your meds. Slippery Elm is the only one that pops into my mind which definetly has to be watched when taking other meds at the same time. I've taken both Boswellia and Turmeric before without much success, although both are well documented with independent studies showing effectiveness vs UC. I don't believe there are any independent studies anywhere showing that Colostrum benefits anyone for anything, only studies done by those who are trying to sell the product. I highly recommend taking only one new thing at a time so that you know what works and what doesn't. If you notice a benefit then you can keep that one and try adding another and hope that the combination works better than one alone.

I have been on the prednisone for about 5 weeks now, it has not done a thing at all to help. I saw my GI about 3 weeks ago for a sigmoidoscopy due to my flare being worse than when I was just diagnosed in Feb of this year with UC, so this is all new to me. I had an appt last Thurs with him again which is when we discusses options and meds etc...I have tried Asacol and mesalamine enemas also another kind of suppository (canasa I believe) and I had bad reactions to all of it, horrible stomach cramping, increased blood and diarrhea. We decided to try Lialda in the hopes that I wouldn't react, but sadly, I have been in pain most of my day today, but I am going to give it a little longer to see if my body will adjust. I am an all natural kind of person, the idea of being on meds with horrible side effects like Humeria, terrifies me, hence why I am trying out the mesalamine at the lowest dose again to see if with the steroid it might help. I know it's going to take a lot more than just a change of diet to pull me out of this flare right now, but I figured the supplement could help, even if just a little. I'm afraid I'm becoming anemic, my blood loss seems so much, if that would just go away soon, it would make me happy!

what gary said -

My suggestion:

Try a steroid enema to see if you can get your symptoms under control. Totally different medicine than mesalamine and hitting the area more directly than oral steroid.

Sorry that the mesalamine enema was not tolerated. Some people cannot tolerate mesalamine but if you are not having adverse reaction to Lialda then you should try the sulfate-free mesalamine called Rowasa SF. In other words it might not be the mesalamine it might be the suspension liquid.

Some of us (and hope it's not you) don't respond to meds much. In my case only the enemas gave any benefit, no other meds helped me. Diet is the reason for my remission but it took a long time to figure it out. Like you SCD helped but not enough.

Good luck.

Gary, Psyllium seed powder has the same cautionary few hours away from regular meds as slippery elm powder.

 

What dosage of pred are you on? I'm surprised it hasn't given you any relief.

A high quality probiotic was the supplement that made the most difference for me. I'd rate high doses of omega-3s (fish and flax oil) to reduce inflammation as the second most helpful.

Have you been tested for viral or bacterial infections? Could be something else going on that's making the UC worse.

Princesa, sorry it's taken so long to get back, I have not been well. I am on 40mg Pred once daily...I started Lialda last Thurs in the hopes that I would not react to the mesalamine like I had before when I was first diagnosed about 7mo ago....sadly, thats not the case. Just 48 hours after the first dose, the worsening of my symptoms began along with the horrific pain. I gave it a week to see if it would go away, but I just couldn't take it anymore, and I stopped the Lialda. I started Boswellia and Tumeric yesterday, along with a new probiotic I purchased. I am so conflicted. I am stuck between wanting to treat this with diet and supplementments and trying more meds. So far neither has been successful for me. I know a diet change will take a while to start working, I have been attempting SCD but honestly, that diet is hard and I'm not sure I have what it takes to stick with it. I was getting pretty miserable with the food choices, everything all mashed up day after day was making me nauseous. I guess my concern is, if my symptoms don't improve drastically and I'm willing to give the diet time to work, am I causing damage to myself and my health? I do not have any infections, the dr just performed some testing on my stool samples....I've read a lot about hormones, vitamin deficiencies etc. that one should be tested for, but with so many ways to go, how do I know where the heck to start? I'm so tired of being sick and tired and it's starting to stress me out, I have had anxiety issues all my life just about, and my UC decided to rear it's ugly head right after the birth of my daughter in Nov...talk about a stressful time in my life!! If anyone reads this and responds, thanks for the vent and your support, this is all just so confusing! I just want to be as informed as I can be so when I see my doc again, I can make the best of our appt :)