Is this remission?

I feel silly asking this because I am so newly diagnosed, but since I used the Mesalamine enemas and started the Asacol, I have had no more D, formed BMs every day, no blood and no mucus. Does this mean I am in remission?

soystud said...
without question !

yay

I am thrilled! Thank you!

garylouisville said...
How long has this been going on? It certainly appears to be remission. Please, please, please, whatever you do, do not EVER decrease your Asacol to less than what you are currently taking and please, please, please, continue to do the enemas FOREVER, at least once per week anyway. So many people come here thinking that they can decrease or eliminate their meds and if they flare again they will know what to do. Often times future flares get harder and harder to treat and what worked before either won't work again or won't work as well, causing you to have to take harsher and harsher meds. Even if you feel like you have been in remission for 30 years, don't let up! UC will always be hiding in the darkness just waiting for you to get lax and then WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please always remember this. Oh, and if you come across a stressful time in your life or come down with a bad sickness or have to take antibiotics, immediately go back to what you are doing now so you can head off a potential flare.

My UC symptoms went away the week I started the enemas and Asacol, so it's ben a while. I was worried last week when I felt constipated but that was only one day and now everything is back to normal. I will definitely keep up with the meds! Thanks for the warning!

That's how Asacol worked for me when I first started it. I was in a terrible flare up and under a week later with just Asacol, I was going once a day, formed. It sounds like remission for sure. I hope it lasts a VERY LONG time.

Congrats!..yes its symptomatic remission for sure..

Thank you all!

i prefer mine in 3 minutes d man ;-)

Dreadsteel said...
if you are symptoms free for 3 months, then you have achieved remission

It' only been a month so I am not there yet I guess. I will be patient!

Congratulations! Some never reach the full remission of no symptoms that you describe. Be sure to keep a close eye on your maintenance medications and check stools for any changes.

All the best in the future,
C

deltaforce said...
If you can fart loudly or in stealth mode without mucus, you are in remission. This is my definition. Many a times, I felt I am in remission, had solid formed poop, just like Bristol stool scale 4, but I could not fart without mucus.

LOL, I have been able to do that before but still had to do a 40 yd dash to the toilet when the urge hit. Maybe edit that to also include a casual stroll to the toilet.

Dr-A said...

deltaforce said...
If you can fart loudly or in stealth mode without mucus, you are in remission. This is my definition. Many a times, I felt I am in remission, had solid formed poop, just like Bristol stool scale 4, but I could not fart without mucus.

LOL, I have been able to do that before but still had to do a 40 yd dash to the toilet when the urge hit. Maybe edit that to also include a casual stroll to the toilet.

No Dr-A. Its my experience that if I can fart without mucus, I do not have to run to the toilet. The 'feeling' of farting without mucus and 'may have to run to the toilet' is lot different, at least to me. Everyone must judge the answer/reply by putting them in context.

Jean123! said...
I feel silly asking this because I am so newly diagnosed, but since I used the Mesalamine enemas and started the Asacol, I have had no more D, formed BMs every day, no blood and no mucus. Does this mean I am in remission?

I feel like I am approaching a similar situation. I've been on Lialda (also a Mesalamine variant like Asachol) for 2.5 years and tried a bunch of other compliments along the way but was never able to get rid of the urgency (though the mucus / blood / D are usually under control by the Lialda alone). I started taking mesalamine enemas (Rowasa) for the first time about 2.5 weeks ago and just over the last couple of days have started seeing an improvement in urgency, and knock on wood, hope it continues. I too have proctitis at up to about 20 cm from the colon and I think you and I are lucky in that our UC is pretty close to the colon so the enemas are effective at treating it, and we both react well to mesalamine.

I've been taking VSL#3 for about 2 months but can't say I've noticed it doing anything and feel like I can attribute most of the improvement to the Rowasa. Do you feel like you can point to VSL#3 as something that specifically helped and do you think you'll continue taking it? I'm weighing that decision myself and it's hard because we try so many different things and it's hard to pinpoint what to keep and how different things interact together.

garylouisville! said...
and please, please, please, continue to do the enemas FOREVER, at least once per week anyway.

Thank you for this reminder Gary, this is a good tip.

Alex917 said...

Jean123! said...
I feel silly asking this because I am so newly diagnosed, but since I used the Mesalamine enemas and started the Asacol, I have had no more D, formed BMs every day, no blood and no mucus. Does this mean I am in remission?

I feel like I am approaching a similar situation. I've been on Lialda (also a Mesalamine variant like Asachol) for 2.5 years and tried a bunch of other compliments along the way but was never able to get rid of the urgency (though the mucus / blood / D are usually under control by the Lialda alone). I started taking mesalamine enemas (Rowasa) for the first time about 2.5 weeks ago and just over the last couple of days have started seeing an improvement in urgency, and knock on wood, hope it continues. I too have proctitis at up to about 20 cm from the colon and I think you and I are lucky in that our UC is pretty close to the colon so the enemas are effective at treating it, and we both react well to mesalamine.

I've been taking VSL#3 for about 2 months but can't say I've noticed it doing anything and feel like I can attribute most of the improvement to the Rowasa. Do you feel like you can point to VSL#3 as something that specifically helped and do you think you'll continue taking it? I'm weighing that decision myself and it's hard because we try so many different things and it's hard to pinpoint what to keep and how different things interact together.

garylouisville! said...
and please, please, please, continue to do the enemas FOREVER, at least once per week anyway.

Thank you for this reminder Gary, this is a good tip.

My UC symptoms had gone away before I started the VSL so I don't know if it really helped or not. However, I have other issues that I feel are benefiting from the VSL. I really believe yeast played a part in my UC.