New member... Seeking advice

I use the Rowasa enemas and they are very helpful when in a flare. I usually see a good improvement while using them. I don't know aobut the saloflax, but hopefully they will help!

When I'm in a flare I don't usually feel like or am able to eat much. I stick with a lot of liquids- broth, soup, hot tea, juice, water. If that goes okay I try other foods that my body usually likes- yogurt (I'm okay with dairy), eggs, bananas, applesauce, avocados, goat cheese, zucchini (when the flare is getting better), roasted chicken.

Hope you feel better soon. For me going from a flare to a real remission can take quite a while, but I usually start feeling better (maybe 75%) prior to full remission. Make sure you get a lot of rest too!

Have you tried the Pentasa suppositories this time around? Were you using any during your remission? UC has no cure so you should still take meds to some degree, even when in remisison, in order to stay in remission. If you don't you are eventually bound to flare again and flares often get worse and what worked before often won't work again or work as well, requiring you to use harsher and harsher meds with more side effects. Many use enemas. They can be very effective. This time around make sure that if you go into remission again you continue to take these same meds to some degree to maintain the remission.

When you reach remission you really should continue with some kind of treatment to stay in remission instead of completely coming off all meds. As I said before, future flares get harder and harder to treat and what worked before often won't work again, which is exactly what happened to you. Also, stress in life often brings on a flare so if you are in remission and start suffering from stress (or sicknesses) you need to immediately increase meds as if you were no longer in remission and stay that way until the stress or illness is over. You need to be proactive in this area instead of reactive.

You should eat whatever you want, within reason (I would not suggest going on a bender, nor would I think it wise to eat a bag of jalapeno chips or a bowl of hot curried beans). Generally eating a low residue diet during a flare will reduce your discomfort (but not your disease). Alcohol is not a helpful choice when you are fatigued and struggling with diarrhea.

Teacher-I have lots of experience with this. As I am sure that you know that when taking a drug & going into 'remission' does not mean you were healed. The drug just gave the body a little help in doing a little healing----like forming a scab. A rebound was bound to happen w/o question.
Sometimes stress can aggravate the condition but more likely you ate something that came along and prematurely tore that scab off. If you take another med---& do nothing to actually help heal it---you will repeat the cycle. As for diet-yes----you need to eat a low fiber diet-no raw fruit-no raw vegs-no nuts -seeds or corn. This should be temporary--as you are going to take a proactive approach & google or go to a health food store and ask what supplements heal skin & muscle tissue. That is all that the bowel is----skin & muscle. Chill out with the fiber-even take the med if needed---and feed that tissue. You can't just keep doing nothing.
Good luck Teach

think of your bowel as a body builder----

I'm in UK and just about to start the enemas tonight which is the liquid... Wish me luck

I always seem to flare when I go through something stressful relating to the well-being of a family member.

Fingers crossed you get out of this flare soon. I know I like to eat avocados, baked potatoes (removing most of the skin), macaroni & cheese, omelets and turkey burgers when flaring. Not sure why, but those options work really well for me. I have started consuming more raw spinach based on a conversation in this forum. That seems to work well, too. The conversation also mentioned sunflower seeds. Those were a big no for me. The seeds really hurt. They never seemed to be digested. Maybe I need to do a better job chewing them up.

Dralbert, I have a boat load of protein and l-glut in cupboard from when training a few months back.

Took Enema the last two nights and early morning symptoms have improved and blood not as bad early morning, blood does come back during the day but early signs are I must be improving...

I've started back on Protein Shakes with l'glut to help build myself back up having lost a little weight from all the visits to the toilet and lack of appetite.

Anyone got any ideas to help with the cramps that keep coming and going.

Hi,

I am also on half term holiday and I have also been using salofalk 2g liquid enemas nightly since June. They have been my best friend. It took about 2-3 weeks for all the blood to disappear (I have proctosigmoiditis). I am going to start tapering them soon to a maintenance dose. I take 3600mg of mezavant at the moment too. I have also had courses of pred.

Keep using them!

I was using asacol suppositories at first with out any benefit only to find that my initial proctitis had spread higher and the supps weren't reaching that high. Have you had a colonoscopy to make sure things haven't spread further.

I also am on a wheat free diet on the advice from my consultant. I have also found that psyllium helps with my frequency (I go twice in the morning now, although I think getting rid of the enemas contribute to gong twice). I was prescribed buscopan for cramps but I rarely get them.

Hope you get better soon

Post Edited (Mad Martha) : 10/24/2014 2:41:58 PM (GMT-6)

Few things I've noticed since starting on the enemas 2g....

My blood is clearing up slightly, some "visits" have none at all but the enema makes me want to visit lots of times in a morning and basically flushes me out.

I'm hoping once I've used the 14 that ive been prescribed I could possibly move back to the suppositories but will see how it goes.

On plus point I've managed to have a family trip to the zoo today and in 6 hours I only needed to visit twice.... Think that's around 7/8 today compared to 12/13 during the week.

Stomach still getting the cramps but hoping that dies down as my blood dies down too...

Anyone else who is on the enema have same problem at first thing in morning you seem to flush yourself out???