mesalamine (Delzicol) maximum dosage

I've been at 4.8gs of oral meslamine for nearly 2 years now with no side effects. The general recommendation is to use 4.8gs to try and get your uc into remission (that is to get rid of your uc symptoms). Once you are in remission, the dr reduces the dosage to 2.4g a day into what is considered to be a maintenance dose. I've never achieved remission.

Meslamine is an anti-inflammatory medication and it doesn't have any serious side effects to speak of (especially in comparison to the other uc meds). Some are intolerant of meslamine based medications, and they know shortly after starting it, that they are intolerant and stop taking it.

The literature also recommends "treating from both ends" so you should be on some rectal meslamine as well. Either a suppository (such as canasa) or an enema (such as Rowasa) depending on the extend of your uc. They quickly get to the problem area and reduce rectal inflammation which is the biggest cause of bm urgency.

I had been on Asacol (before it was D/C) and on that high a dose for several years with no side effects. I would try other things before I would try remicade, or even before I would go on prednisone, but that is just my opinion. Lots of great info and advice from people on this site! It is worth reading and researching what others have tried and what has worked for them.

Osman,

Welcome to the forum.

I"ve not heard of a doc insisting you get checked for liver/kidney functions weekly, the usual standard is every 3-4 months. And that is important with the mesalamines, as well as the biologics.

As a newbie to the forum, I think it's important for you to know that you have options, which your doc probably won't tell you about. So let me share with you what's worked for me in the hopes it might help you too.

Some meds work for some and not for others.

For me, the traditional meds failed me and the mesalamines I became intolerant of.
And when the doc gave me a choice of surgery or remicade, I balked and had to find my own way.

He also told me diet has nothing to do with UC, but I found that it has a great deal to do with exacerbating its symptoms!

I found that by doing these things it helped control my symptoms by 75%:
1) adequate high intake of vitamin d3 ( need to get your levels checked first)
2) probiotics are key, are you on any?
3) slippery elm powder to coate the intestinal tract helped greatly
4) l-glutamine amino acid powder for long term colonic repair
5) curcumin is an important anti-inflammatory
6) astaxanthin and omega 3's are also important
7) food combining
8) diet modification as in gluten and dairy free, Paleo diet
9) rectal meds help lots of folks out

Despite the decrease in symptoms, I was still BLEEDING very heavily at every BM. The Last 25% was taken care of by LDN, low dose naltrexone, which put me in remission. Within a week of starting LDN, the heavy bleeding ( too many times to count with blood clots and mucuous) which I had had for 1 1/2 years straight, went down to ZERO. And that is all thanks to LDN!

If any of this interests you, there are things IMO that you can control, which will have a direct impact on your disease, the symptoms you experience and their severity.

IMO, it isn't one size fits all, and you have to find what works for you, and it may be a combination of things like diet, meds, supplements, etc...

I was able to control my UC into remission through various supplements, probiotics, diet modification, and LDN , low dose naltrexone.

For more info on the protocol which has put me into remission, please go to this link: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1666318 , and look at the 11th post.

I hope you feel better and let us know how we can help you.

Nobody can answer how long it'll take the 40mgs of prednisone to heal you. Because it depends on how extensive and severe the damage to your large intestine is from your uc flare up and also the rate at which you heal. Some heal quickly and others take a while.

You should stay on prednisone until you are healed. Don't taper pred before you are healed. You should start seeing some sign of improvement within a couple weeks of starting pred. If you do not, then speak with your doctor as you might need a higher oral dosage, or you might need IV-administered steroids given at a hospital.

Once you get off pred, your other uc medications need to be enough to sustain your current quality of life, and keep your uc symptoms in-check. If they are not, then you will quickly flare up again. Good luck!

Thanks sheree18 for kind reply. May you get healthy.