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Pentasa help with flare??

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 12/29/2007 4:01 PM (GMT 0)
I am in a worsening flare and cannot contact my GP or gastro until next week Jan. 3 at earliest, then will have to wait for an appointment. A month of mesalamine enemas (Salofalk) has not helped my distal colitis, so I am upping/doubling my dose of Pentasa to 8 times 500mg a day from 4. I have plenty of Penatasa on hand and repeats on my prescription.

Does anyone know if this might help? I am also psyllium seeding to try to reduce the number of movements, which are now 5 painful ones a day plus lots of bloody mucous.

Posted 12/29/2007 7:41 PM (GMT 0)
From what I've read about oral 5-ASA meds, Pentasa is preferred by IBD gastros for treating right-sided colon inflammation & Crohns in terminal ileum. You might do better on Colazal; several members with distal UC writing to this site report that it has made a big difference, including yours truly./ Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC; currently on 3 Colazal daily for maintenance of remission)
Posted 12/29/2007 11:29 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks. What I will want first from my doc is entocort/budenoside enemas, which have always zapped the evil from my left side in no time flat. Meanwhile, sssshhhhh... the megadoses of pentasa may be working a bit, we'll see what the next two days bring. Colazal is something fairly new, isn't it?
Posted 12/29/2007 11:58 PM (GMT 0)
Colazal was patented in 2000, so it's been around for 7 years. When I first started with my GI, who is terrific, he had a fit because I was on Pentasa with my left-sided UC. He quickly switched me to Colazal, which worked better for me.

If Pentasa has been working for you, I'd give it a bit more of a chance. There are "facts" and "truths" about this disease that just don't seem to apply to all of us all the time.
Posted 1/3/2008 8:48 PM (GMT 0)
Oh my God, it worked! The 8 pentasa a day and tapered off mesalamine enemas to every 2nd day has suddenly, like, overnight 3 days ago, stopped my flare which had been out of control since late July!
Posted 1/4/2008 2:20 PM (GMT 0)
Well, today I got a bit of a dose of the old reality and my celebration of remission may have been premature. We'll see, but things are a lot better in some ways.
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