Anyone stay med-free during pregnancy flare?

there's a Polish uc foundation and support group which is called j-elita and they publish quite reasonable papers on uc based on real experience. They have many articles on meds during pregnancy and according to what they say mesalazine shouldn't do any harm so maybe you should "put down" the present flare to be able to remain off the meds during the rest of your pregnancy.

I agree with toomuchpoopin. If you can tolerate mesalamine enemas, you should give them a try. They KOed my flare within 4 days but of course, everyone is different.

I had 3 very healthy 8+ lb babies while using lialda and Rowasa enemas/Canasa during my pregnancies. Please get on meds. I was paranoid about taking anything too, but my oldest is 5 and healthy as a horse. I think it's really important to stay as healthy as possible during pregnancy. If you don't nip it now with the category B drugs, you might have to take a Cat C like prednisone or biologics later!

feemur, while a healthy skepticism is good for you when dealing with doctors, irrational fears about dangerous drugs do you no good, especially when you're pregnant.

I remember in my first pregnancy, before I had any inkling of my future as an IBD patient, my asthma flared in my 2nd trimester. Autoimmune diseases take weird paths during pregnancy, and asthma flares are not uncommon. My OB/Gyn gave me a prescription for an oral albuterol and I took it.

It was a disaster. One of the side effects of oral albuterol is anxiety attacks and nightmares, and that is what happened to me. Not to mention that my pregnancy was itself the source of incredible anxiety (multiple IVFs, first trimester hemmorage, disappearing twin), this medication was just wrong for me. I stopped taking it and refused any other treatment for my asthma.

A few weeks into this my blood oxygen fell below 90%. My OB/Gyn looked me straight in the eye and pointed out that growing babies need oxygen. I had to do something. I agreed to a week long burst prednisone treatment, plus a rescue inhaler. Whew.

The mesalamines used to treat UC are poorly absorbed. They are active in the colon, which is not generally in the business of absorbing anything except water from your stool. Rectal mesalamine is even less likely to be absorbed in any amount, and is the most effective way to treat UC in the distal colon (rectum and sigmoid). If you choose to let this flare continue, it will get worse, and then you may need to take oral and/or rectal steroids.

I wouldn't stick with just the rectal meds, for you risk your UC spreading upward (no guarantee one way or the other) especially while being pregnant. Both oral and rectal would be the way to go.

And...if you get your UC controlled, you can lower the rectals to eventually twice a week if all goes well with every second night.

Your goal should be keeping things controlled during and AFTER pregnancy...once the baby is born, I'd assume exhaustion won't compare to when being pregnant. You have the needs of another to be put into priority.

Look after yourself first, and a flaring colon is a priority.

Start with baseline meds..
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