Are suppositories alone enough to stop a flare?

So, usually I’m pretty much in remission & have no symptoms. Unfortunately I’ve been extremely stressed & symptoms are bad. I can’t stress enough how much I don’t want to take pills. My hair is already extremely thin, I’m assuming due to the colitis itself, & it bothers me on a daily basis, especially since I’m in cosmetology school & see everyone with significantly better hair than me daily. Literally every single UC medication has the potential for hair loss, & previous medicines have already reeked havoc on my hair. I was wondering if anyone else has had success curing a flare just using suppositories & steroid enemas without the pills. I know being sick itself will make my hair fall out as well, so I want to fix this asap...

I have no fear at all of swallowing pills, I take tons of vitamins daily. What I do have a fear of is losing even more hair. I already have 1/4 the amount of hair I used to have due to this horrible disease & I’d like to keep the remainder of it on my head. That’s why I’d rather just do a few suppositories until this clears up. Not exactly pleasant, but at least they don’t have side effects...

Honestly, I’m too embarrassed to talk about specifics with symptoms. It’s hard for me to even talk about it with my doctor. But as far as diet goes, I eat very healthy for the most part to begin with, since I’ve been on a diet for 2 years & 1/2 years. As well as I take a load of vitamins in an unsuccessful effort to fix my hair. So I don’t think changing up my diet will do much.

I had luck stopping my first flare up with supps alone (it was classified as mild proctitis at that time). After that one, the following ones were much more difficult to turn around.

I think the bottom line is, you will continue to lose hair if you are not healthy, but the medications can cause temporary hair-loss, so you have to choose. Take the hit now, get on medication, and lose some hair, but get your health back and get your hair to regrow. Or put it off, try supps and enemas, perhaps get worse, continue to lose hair, and end up on the pills losing hair when you have even less from being sick longer.

I think I'd just take the pills (depending on the severity of your UC), if it comes to that, and get a nice hat to wear until you're strong and healthy with great hair again. I lost so much hair when I started the drugs, but i have tons. I had surgery and my hair is bigger than ever.

I dont think you understand about hairloss or UC yet.
Rather than look at it from vanity.....look at it with actual knowledge, because you havent dont the indepth research yet.. That will serve you and your clients much better.
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I can feel for you --as a woman even though it is not a necessity per se... our hair is very important. That being said...I think the flare itself or if you were on pred (although I didn't get the impression that you were) that would be bigger reason for hair thinning/loss. Not that other meds can't do it, but I think that would be the biggest culprit. On the flip side, I suspect a flare can be helped with supps and enemas depending on how far the flare extends. If the enema can reach it than it has the possibility. It is not guaranteed that taking an oral mesalamine would cause hair loss--you can take it and not have a problem.

Another thought would be to make sure you don't have anemia (if you have alot of blood loss) this can also cause thinning. You may want to get a blood panel to check other things out just in case such as thyroid etc... Just don't want to overlook anything else. I would focus on getting the UC under control so than health improves, than hair improves.

Also you can consider adding a Biotin supplement --that helps some and see that you are washing with a mild shampoo that keeps the follicles clear. Quincy is a hair dresser as ipoop said so she may have additional good suggestions.

Finally when you are ready (or if you are ready) you can share symptoms. We are all in a very similiar boat and let's face it, you can remain anonymous. It may be easier to help if we had more info. Although I respect your need for additional privacy.
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