Ulcerative Proctitis - CANASA question

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Abdominal pains can be from lots of different things with IBD patients. We can get abdominal pains from trapped stool or gas, and from ulcerative colitis flares. Spasms can cause a lot of pain, and some of us take anti-spasmatic medications.

What makes you think that Canasa is causing it?

Canasa can cause me to have more gas. Try to pay attention and see if that is what is causing you the discomfort...like to you pass gas some time after this occurs? When your colon is damaged, the gas can cause pain and discomfort. It took me a while to figure this out because the gas may not pass for an hour or two after the cramps. Like ipoop said, having some pains is normal while you heal up. Its good news that the canasa is working for you.

Hi and yes thank you for your service! My hubby was a CO in the Army for years and has told many stories of being out in the field or deployed during Desert Storm, yep, we are old! Lol! So, I can only imagine the stress of dealing with UC and the stresses of your daily life. Again, thank you for your service. Canasa has always provided some immediate/quick relief when used, however, I also have had the gas/bloating feeling with it as well. I have discovered gas in general is very different when you have UC. It is more painful, last longer(or so it seems) and comes with that horrible thought process of is it "just gas" that is going to pass?? My GI, whom I love and have great respect for said you need to take it constantly for a minimum of 30 days, regardless to your symptoms, i.e., feeling better. Stick with it and be safe!!

Pains are tough, maybe ask your doctor the next time you see him/her?

We can get joint pains, including at our spine at any age as an extra-intestinal complication of UC. Makes me think of that, like a hip thing or spine thing, if it's worse when you're in motion. www.ccfa.org/assets/pdfs/arthritiscomplications.pdf

Hey Ryan -
Sorry to hear you're suffering with this. And one of the worst things for me with this disease is the mind games that pop up from it. I see blood on toilet paper after 7 months of not and I immediately think I have colon cancer or something horrific - since it comes on without a warning.

I started with Ulcerative proctitis and was told that it was Ulcerative colitis months after the first colonoscopy by my regular doctor instead of the GI.

In any event - perhaps since the blood has stopped for you, they'll switch you to Llialda? That's what I did when I was first diagnosed. Went from canasa to Llialda 4 tabs once a day and kept canasa on hand whenever started to see signs of a flare. Which for about 4 years kind of kept UC at bay. I would imagine taking the 4 tabs would be easier to deal with than the suppository while being deployed (thank you for all you do for all of us, btw) and I can't say I remember any side effects with Llialda (although as people here will tell you, it can be different for everyone)

Right now I'm taking canasa 2 x a day, and definitely notice more cramps, bloating, even some queasiness/nausea. Which I'm attributing to the canasa - since the blood and bowel movements have improved a lot over the last 5 days.

Anyway - Hope you're feeling better. And welcome to the forums. They've been a major help in chilling me out when I start to get anxious about this.

Jim

Still having some cramping and abdominal discomfort, but things have improved somewhat over the past couple months.

I started taking the CANASA every other day a few weeks ago, which has correlated with the improvement in my symptoms.

I tried taking Lialda for a few days, but it gave me bad cramps. I hope the Proctitis never spreads to become Colitis, because it don't think I tolerate Lialda.

Last week I felt really good for about 6 days straight... pretty much back to normal, but then the symptoms returned. Frustrating for sure, but it could be worse.