Cortenema

How long have you been on corteenema and how often do you use it? If you had to use it long term, would you think it safe a couple times a week?

I cant use Mes enemas so i think this is my only choIce. But maybe canasa because i just read here that it comes in 1 mg dose. So maybe lower dose would work.

I think i am more tired of chasing this thing around meds than anything.

For some, intollerance/sensitivity is quantity triggered and not an allergic reaction in which case quantity wouldn't be much of a factor. I believe that may have been my issue that the combination of lialda, canasa, and rowasa was just too much mesalamine for my system and resulted in my symptoms getting dramatically worse.

At some point I am going to try and go back to it, but have had to take a break for the last month or so.

DMC2011, using cortenema longterm would carry the same risks as being on a longterm but low dose of prednisone. about 10% of the steroid in cortenema would be systematic and hit your bloodstream and that's the little bit you worry about as over the longhaul it can cause glaucoma, osteoporosis, diabetes and other nasty things. Is twice a week really all that dangerous, it certainly carries risk of those things the odds of which I do not know.

I'd say if you need cortenema that often then it is clear your other uc meds are no longer enough to hold you in the quality of life you've been accustomed to enjoy. Rather than be dependent on regular use of cortenema, I'd recommend you increase the dosage of your other uc meds (if not at maximums) or add something else to your other meds (ask your GI). As that will likely mean you either no longer need the cortenema or would certainly need it a whole lot less.

yeah, and apriso is a low quantity of mesalamine when compared against lialda, asacol, etc...

i literally almost burned a holde in my rectum from the canasa. while it isn't as high a quantity, it is extremely concentrated in one spot so be careful with it!

I had looked into the cortenema absorption rates and found this from the NIH website...

"The hydrocortisone enema is absorbed to some extent; the manufacturer has reported an absorption rate of 40%. In other words, if the enema contains 100 mg of hydrocortisone, then there is a systemic exposure of 40 mg, which is the equivalent of 10 mg of prednisone."

So it definitely would not be good to use them daily long term. but a couple times a week probably wouldn't cause too much longer term issues.

Oh and i could not tolerate balsalazide either! Maj headaches!!!