HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

What's your go-to remedy for urgency?

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 12/14/2011 4:56 PM (GMT 0)
I've heard that mesalamine enemas are effective in controlling urgency. Is that your experience?

I'm off prednisone and I have no (or virtually no) bleeding. However, I have diarrhea still with no formed stools (a teeny bit formed the morning after I use a corticosteroid enema) and serious urgency issues.
Posted 12/14/2011 5:22 PM (GMT 0)
Urgency stems from tenesmus. Tenesmus is usually due to inflammation, when the stool hits the inflamed area. Using a rectal med can eliminate inflammation which in turn can help stop urgency. Also using an anti-spasm med such as Bentyl helps as well.
Posted 12/14/2011 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think we need to over state the importance of rectal meds since UC starts at the rectum. All of us will have rectal inflammation, and urgency is an obvious that you're flaring.

Continued neglect of that area can cause one for permanent damage....and improper functioning of the rectum.

I would personally treat that area with great care since it has an important job...

q
Posted 12/14/2011 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
Sherry,

I did get anti-spasmodics from my dr at the beginning of this flare, because I was having very intense cramping in my abdomen -- this was when I was having orgasms because of the cramping :-( -- But I didn't think that they would actually help with urgency, for some reason I thought that was a different kind of physiological cause. I'll start carrying them with me again.

oh hey by the way, the reason I don't have a signature is that I feel like none of this has ever come to rest long enough to be able to memorialize it in a sig. :-(
Posted 12/14/2011 6:11 PM (GMT 0)
Please put a signature and update it frequently if you have to. We all know it's a moving target. :-)

Anyway, the rectal enemas will tamp down the inflammation and stop the urgency. It's really an easy solution. You'll be happy you at least tried it.
Posted 12/14/2011 6:20 PM (GMT 0)
I use generic rowasa enemas nightly & canasa in the day. Even throw a hydrocortisone supp up there if I feel im getting off balance. Rectal meds are veryyyy important. Rowasa generics are cheap, i use them a lot, if i happen to have a bowel shortly after using one, i do another enema right after.
Posted 12/14/2011 8:50 PM (GMT 0)

Cadillac Lover said...
I use generic rowasa enemas nightly & canasa in the day. Even throw a hydrocortisone supp up there if I feel im getting off balance. Rectal meds are veryyyy important. Rowasa generics are cheap, i use them a lot, if i happen to have a bowel shortly after using one, i do another enema right after.

Me too! I was also prescribed Hyoscyamine but it makes me loopy so I wont take it unless its really bad.

Carlie
Posted 12/14/2011 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
Since I can't use any form of mesalamine, I keep hydrocortisone suppositories, enemas and Predfoam on stock. Depending on where the problem is, one of those will usually do away with it within a few days.
Posted 12/15/2011 12:10 AM (GMT 0)
janey47,

If you want to go holistic, you could try slippery elm powder - it is nature's mesalamine, and will serve to coat your whole tract. And then there's L-Glutamine powder : about 1 teaspoon in a little water on an empty stomach. For long term healing: L-Glutamine several times a day or in a shake - it's for colonic  repair.

Posted 12/15/2011 1:46 AM (GMT 0)
I tried Slippery Elm a while back but it's hard for me to remember to take it in between other medications. I love the idea of holistic but I can't really commit to it totally because I have a few meds I take for other reasons. Does the L-Glutamine have restrictions other than being taken on an empty stomach?
Posted 12/15/2011 3:40 PM (GMT 0)
Treating my UC from both ends has really helped me. I started with Canasa and that helped to alleviate the tenesmus. I went to mesalamine enemas after a couple of months they helped even more. I do the enema nightly. If I don't retain it, I'll do a Canasa in the morning. No more urgency and sleeping thru the night.
Posted 12/15/2011 4:26 PM (GMT 0)
go-to remedy for urgency = Remission.
Posted 12/15/2011 4:49 PM (GMT 0)
I agree with the others. The only thing that has helped my urgency is remission. It takes a while for the area to heal enough that the urgency goes away. When you first start feeling better, you usually continue to have urgency for some time until you're healed. The urgency doesn't go away over night from my experience, it's a process that happens over time.
Posted 12/15/2011 9:13 PM (GMT 0)
Depends extra absorbency! Because, as Notso writes above, the mesalamine remedies take a while to reduce urgency-- unlike the steroid jobs, as Judy2 points out-- but these are more likely to bring on side effects if one stays on them for long. So-- the Depends at least protect your clothing when you need to be out in the world ... / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 12/17/2011 1:41 PM (GMT 0)
janey47,

Does the L-Glutamine have restrictions other than being taken on an empty stomach?

First I would recommend you take it in powdered form rather than pill form, as it's much more effective that way.

It depends if you're taking it for urgency or for colonic repair.

If you're taking it for urgency, it has to be on an empty stomach.

If you're taking it for colonic repair, then it doesn't.

Other than that, there are no restrictions  on taking L-glutamine that I know of.

You should be aware though, that there is a difference between L-Glutamine and GLutamic Acid.

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply