People with mild UC, what drugs did you take ?

Currently in a second flare (after 3 months of remission), which I suspect has been brought on by stomach flu. I have 1 bm a day (almost liquid diarrhea) and currently no urgency at all, which is good. I never had mucus in my stool. Blood in my stool only twice so far. I have a weakened appetite. No cramps, some stomach pain and some nausea after I eat.

When I was diagnosed, I was given Salazopyrin, but I guess I didn't react to this. Then they gave me Prednisone. Which a lot of people mentioned was weird and was not usually given to someone with mild UC. I took Prednisone for 3 months. Prednisone caused me serious acne... upper chest, entire back, neck, face, upper hands... all covered with acne.

Currently, I am waiting for blood results to come in and then I will visit my GI. Currently I am on Salazopyrin and Pentasa rectal suppositories.

I really really really hope that they wont give me Prednisone anymore, and I am thinking of asking them not to give me Prednisone if it comes to that. So I was going over some alternatives and I don't like what I see. All of them mention higher risk of getting cancer. I would rather have acne than cancer and with my mild UC, I wonder whether it's worth it.

So I am interested, what drugs were you given ?

Thanks

Post Edited (emilp89) : 11/16/2015 11:46:21 AM (GMT-7)

Do you manage to get into remission with this? How long did/does it take?

... but I guess you have inflammation in the lower parts of your colon. So the rectal drugs help more than with others who have it higher where the rectal meds can't reach?

Post Edited (emilp89) : 11/16/2015 11:58:24 AM (GMT-7)

What's full dose 4.5g? I have been on that two weeks, but bleeding keep coming and going every few days this time - but normally I get into remission with it - along with Flagyl antibiotics.

DBwithUC said...
you did not get a benefit from brand name sulfasalazine, so they tried a course of PRED to help the drug get a foothold and added a rectal med.

This is reasonable even if the UC is mild, because PRED s often used short term to let the daily drugs get a foot hold.

With Sulfasalazine type drugs there is not good control on the release. It breaks down to mesalamine when it is cleaved by gut microbes.

It would make sense to try a mesalamine with a delayed release coating (Like Lialda or AsacolHD). These can be pricey. Mesalamine has no particular risk of cancer.

The next step up is Imuran or 6mp (or similar) or upto a biologic. These do increase risk of some cancer slightly, but not as much as the risk of untreated inflammation increases risk of colon cancer. In other words, not being on a regimen that works is worse than the cancer risk of any of the meds.

If you inflammation is as mild as you symptoms (they do not always match) you might control it with avoiding your personal trigger foods, eating known anti-inflammatory foods/supplements, and possibly with the right probiotics. However there is a lot of trial an error here.

good luck

I have Asacol on my shelf, but not AsacolHD, which I read is different from Asacol. I switched from Asacol to Salazopyrin. Asacol was prescribed to me when I was mid Prednisone, not sure why my GI decided to switch. I don't see a difference really and Salazopyrin is cheaper and easier to get here.

Thanks for the heads up about delayed release coating. Though I googled a little and I am skeptical whether it is available here.

Yes, I know that symptoms can differ from the actual range of the disease. My diagnosis says "UC of mild level of activity".

Thanks

@ London Red if that was to me I was taking 4 Lialda tablets, 1.2 grams each. I'm now down to just 2 in the morning but I'll double up at the first sign of any change in symptoms.

be careful about the diagnosis. "Activity" can refer more to symptoms. Spread and severity generally refer to inflammation.

If you have the Asacol, may as well do it. The non-HD is not available here any more. It can take days to weeks to show a result.

Pentasa(Mesalamine) 4mg sachet of granules. I was in a flare up in march, the sachets were making little or no difference, i got put on suppostries in july and saw an almost immediate effect, i'm off the suppositries 2 weeks now and just on the 4mg of pentasa granules. so far so good.

Yes, mezavant = lialda. It's a proprietary delayed release coating formulation developed by shire pharmaceuticals and marketed under those names in different countries. The primary advantage is fewer (but big 1,200 mg) pills, taken at one time in the morning. As opposed to two or three times a day with asacol.

I've been prescribed:

Asacol 400mg 4+0+4
Flagyl 400mg 3x1 for 10 days
Salofalk 4g Enemas for 14 days (finally managed to find where to buy them!)

Next appointment is 2 weeks, I hope this works so that I don't have to get stronger drugs.