Wow, thank you all for your feedback. We really have to be detectives here, don't we? Add Red's, rice's, and Elaine's experiences (and maybe mine, too) I suspect reactions to mesalamine might be dosage related.
It figures, last night I went to the pm and am cort enema and have had much less D today. I also have not taken any lomotil or imodium today and even did some work and errands for a couple of hours without cramps or D, which hasn't happened in a LONNGGG time. Like I said, day to day.
Quincy, I only had the one real flare in Jan. when I was off everything, in my denial phase. When I had my colonoscopy in Nov last year, the GI put me on asacol 2 3xday, which I did for about 3 weeks and then decided heck, I really didn't have much of a disease (hahahahahahahahahaha) and quit the meds. I did fine off of them until Jan., right before we went on a cruise. After we got back, things went downhill and that's when the GI put me back on the asacol and on about a 6 week prednisone regime. I have to say I didn't have many problems on it, and it's the only time I've ever been on it. I was pretty moody on it and at the end of the taper downright hostile sometimes. So, I'd rather keep it as a last choice if possible.
The benefiber, a GOOD question. Yes, I've been using the artificially flavored orange tablets AND I've been wondering if some of what I thought was blood colored might be the orange in them! I did do the max dose a couple of days ago, which probably added to the D problem. I don't do any other artificial sweeteners. But have you looked at the fiber choices lately? Almost all are artificially sweetened!
Yep, I began wondering about the higher blood count and stool samples last night. I'll request them if the D continues.
So many factors that can contribute to this disease! (and thanks for all the good input and questions)