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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/26/2008 2:53 AM (GMT 0)
Does anybody with moderate colitis have alot of success with this??? Thanks
Posted 7/26/2008 3:28 AM (GMT 0)
Yes. this drug has been with me for 2 years now and hold my remission strong. when I am not flaring
Posted 7/26/2008 10:27 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, indeed. It has done the most for me of any 5-ASA med. It really seems to curb flares in my descending colon especially. I cannot take it at full-dose (6 or more caps daily) for more than 10 weeks, though, because it starts to give me side effects. Drink plenty of water while taking it & you'll likely benefit. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC; currently on 3 Colazal daily for maintenance of remission)
Posted 7/27/2008 3:26 AM (GMT 0)
Yeppers, I've been on it for almost 3 years now. It has helped me much more then Asacol which is what I was taking before I started Colazal. I have left sided and when I started it, I was considered in the moderate/severe category. Within a month of taking it, it had put me in remission.
Posted 7/27/2008 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
It seemed to make all the symptoms worse for me during this last flare, bad D and cramping, did little to stop the bleeding. I had even tried it once before two years ago when in remission and it was the same story. I haven't been on it for more than two weeks. Maybe it would have gotten better over time, but it the side effects were more than I could stand. It's kind of a shame because a months supply is only a $10 co-pay, and it seems to work well for lots of other people. However, I've had better success with Lialda over the last three weeks.
Posted 7/27/2008 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
JRob - we are in a similiar situation. How long have you been on prednisone? Have you tried asacol? I was originally on that 2 years ago and I took myself off of it when I got pg back in January. The Docs switched me to colazal when I was hospitalized...said he reaches the rectum better than the asacol for proctitis patients.

Right now I am pretty symptom free..since last Saturday night. I plan to drop the prednisone Tuesday. For some reason my Doc. keep saying drop it in 10mgs. I have such pain in my legs and a terrible rash on my chest...not to mention the other side effects.

I am doing the canasa in the AM and the hydrocortisone enema at night. Hoping to taper that soon.

The problem/worry I have is...I was only in remission with no blood from when I was released from the hospital in March, through tapering and having one month and a half of just being on colazal.

So I am wondering if the colazal works or is asacol the drug for me? And why don't I just take canasa as a precautionary drug every morning. I have all these questions....
Posted 7/28/2008 12:41 AM (GMT 0)
WishfulMA, I've been on the prednisone for just over three weeks. Started on 40mgs/day for a week, 30mgs/day for the last two. Been using the hydrocortisone enemas for only a week now. My GI wants me to stay at 30mgs and use the enemas until the bleeding stops. Between the prednisone, Lialda, and hydrocortisone, my symptoms have been much more under control (maybe 85%). I was using the canasa daily and still slowly developed a flare over a period of a couple of months. The doc said that the the canasa might not have reached all of the inflamed area which allowed the flare to slowly develop. So I'm hoping that after tapering the prednisone and enemas I can go to a maintenance dosage of Lialda (or maybe try Asacol) AND use the canasa as needed.
Posted 7/28/2008 10:22 AM (GMT 0)
My bleeding finally stopped after about 11 days on 40mgs. When you taper are you going to do a 10mgs or 5mgs taper? have you tried any pro-biotics? Is bleeding your only symptom or do you have mucus? Love to chat offline...
Posted 7/28/2008 4:12 PM (GMT 0)
I think he wants me to do the 10mgs taper. I have tried Digestive Advantage (does that count a probiotic?). I could not tell if it helped or not. Any effects that it might have had were probably overshadowed after starting the prednisone. Right now bleeding is the only symptom, I still have to go about three times first thing in the morning. And the first time I go after waking up there is some kind of mucus-like stuff, but I think that's just the leftovers from the hydrocortisone enema. Nice to know I'm not completely alone with all this.
Posted 7/28/2008 5:22 PM (GMT 0)
I worked well for about 6 years on Colazal. I went off it last year because I seemed to start having issues at that time.
Posted 7/28/2008 10:22 PM (GMT 0)
JRob-- mucusy stuff in the AM would be from your inflammation, not from the hydrocortisone enemas. When your inflammation comes under control, your colon can practically whistle "Dixie"! (Meaning that the walls won't ooze anything icky.) / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC; currently on 3 Colazal daily for maintenance of remission)
Posted 7/28/2008 11:27 PM (GMT 0)
Old Hat, good to know. Thanks! I've always kind of been in the dark about what to truly expect a remission to be. For a long time, I thought three BM's an hour after getting up in the morning and blood on tissue was "normal". I didn't make too much of deal out of it as long as it didn't interfere with the rest of my day. I told my GI this and he said, "No, you should be normal." Now I'll just keep at it until I hear whistling.
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