Cortifoam: GOOD

And, Canasa: BAD!!!! (At least, for me.)

I kind of knew that before, having taken all the 5-ASAs during my first year with UC and not improving. When I went off them and onto some dietary modification, I thought I had figured out the answer.

However, eating a pizza put me into a bad flare, the first in years (though I had been low-level flaring for a good bit of that time). Back to the doc. Doc put me on Cortifoam (my request) plus Canasa (despite some objections), at a 2 x daily dosage.

I've posted a lengthier description of my experience, along with some fun graphics, on my shiny new UC blog (https://moderncolitis.wordpress.com), since we can't post images here. This shows my symptoms in all their gory detail, and without any doubt, the fact that the Canasa was making me worse.

Now I'm just on the Cortifoam (1 x daily) and I feel like a million dollars. Seriously, every day I am grateful for how healthy I am. I am running again, will be going for a long hike this Sunday, and generally have my energy back. Heck, I have my life back!

Unfortunately, I know that Cortifoam isn't a long-term solution. My *hope* is that it's kicked me into a real remission; one that a little questionable food won't completely destroy again. In reality, of course, I won't know until I start tapering. I'm really kind of worried that the Dr. will want me to go on more "serious" meds, like 6MP, and I don't think I'm ready for that. ... but will cross that bridge when I reach it. For now, I'm just enjoying my symptom-free life!

Ah, the diet -- here's my attempt at a (relatively) brief description:

I was on the SCD diet for 6 weeks, and was getting better but losing a lot of weight. I was very strict, and was preparing everything at home. When I decided that I had to add some carbs back in, I also decided to keep preparing everything from scratch, and continuing with a few other restrictions. I kept getting better, even with the carbs back in. My guidelines are currently:

ONLY organic dairy, meat, eggs
NO chemical additives or preservatives, including "natural" flavors
NO food at restaurants (never really know what's in there)

So, the pizza was a cheat because it didn't have organic cheese AND I had it out at a restaurant. Kind of a double cheat. But cheese pizza sounded so good at the time!

After that, even with a strict diet, I wasn't getting back to normal. Hence the doctor visit, hence the Cortifoam and Canasa. Hopefully my healing remains when I taper the Cortifoam and go back to the diet, and the doctor doesn't fight me too much when I decline to go on any other meds...

That's kind of what I'm hoping at this point. I'll keep fingers crossed when I start tapering the Cortifoam! (And I'll be very strict about not eating out again!)

Hmm, I don't know if it would -- but the side effects are pretty limited (since it's topical, not oral, it doesn't really go systemic like many steroid treatments). Worth a try! Good luck :).

Old Hat, thank you very much for the advice! I was wondering what a reasonable taper schedule would look like. I know I've read in a few places that people get symptoms back when they start to taper steroids, but I'm really hoping that I've knocked myself into a real remission this time, and with the careful diet can maintain even without the Cortifoam.

Re. cheeses -- yes, I have also found that aged cheeses from outside the US, particularly ones from cows that are grass-fed, are good. I like a grass-fed cheddar from New Zealand as well as "Kerrygold" grass-fed cheddar from Ireland (and their butter is pretty awesome too). Those, plus organic cheese from the US seems to be OK (eek -- I keep typing UC when I want to type US!) I haven't noticed any issues with salt levels. Would never touch American cheese or anything processed (or even non-organic, for that matter) from our own country.