Rowasa

Hey-

  I've recently been experiencing an ulcerative colitis flare-up.  Thinking i was out of the woods, I quit taking the Rowasa enema and the suppositories and tried to keep my bowels in line with just Lialda.  Dumb idea.

  Now, my doctor told me I must take the enemas and the suppositories.  MY PROBLEM?  After squeezing the enema up my rectum, I have about 4 minutes of INTENSE pain.  I can barely stand it. Cramping and slight burning sensation.  What is causing that?  Is it normal for feel this?  Will it ever NOT feel like that when I use this medication?

On the other hand, the suppository feels nothing like this.

I always warm up the bottle too. I have never had 4 minutes of intense pain, but I do find it harder to retain the worse my flare is. When I make it past about a minute, my discomfort usually subsides. Sometimes the discomfort is reallly bad, like I feel like I won't be able to hold it in, but if I can suffer through it for about 30-60 seconds, I'm usually good. Sorry you are dealing with this.

i do experience very uncomfortable cramping pain for about a minute or two when I first use the enema and almost like clock work I get another very strong cramping at about the 10 minute mark... - close my eyes, deep breaths, and moving my legs around a bit seems to help- it was definitely more intense while i was trying to calm the flare, but still after a few months I get the cramps ( like really strong menstrual cramps is the best way I can describe it)

When I am flaring pretty bad, the cramping and burning pain can be intense...more so then when I am in only a mild flare. It can be that you are really inflamed in there and usually when the flare settles down a bit, that severe burning and pain will subside. The cramping can be tough because like Notso, it varies for me. I take deep breaths, relax and try to think of something else. But to help reduce the cramping, like the others suggested, warm the bottle up a bit and squeeze the air out before inserting.